United States Federal Government: Restructuring Today for a Safer Tomorrow?

Conclusion

This research has tried to highlight the problems surrounding the restructuring process. The matter of fact is that there are various issues staring in our eye and demanding our attention even before we start looking at this restructuring exercise. There is a need to pause for a moment and evaluate the current situation. We have seen that contractors have no respect for law and are themselves law breakers too. The contractors, who are originally given the contract, hire incompetent sub-contractors for the same job, the end result being compromise with the security of America and Americans. The government just seems to be bending the laws left, right and center to accommodate more and more contractors. There are laws which allow the contractors to adopt monopolistic characteristics. Even looking at the core motive of contractors vs. the motive of civil servants, we find that the propelling forces are largely different and have an influence on their commitment to secure America from foreign threats. While one is driven by money, the other is driven by passion. Then the enforcement agencies themselves are incompetent and don’t respect even the directives which they themselves set. Quite a bit of information is withheld from the general public in the United States. Surrounding this lack of information is a lack of oversight for those in power. Restructuring seems more like frenzy of getting more and more contractors on board. If these employees are performing work crucial to the function of government, then we should integrate them more fully into the government workforce — with the same responsibilities and benefits as other government employees. Where will this frenzy end? Will it end with contracting of the post of the head of state? It’s about time that we gave it a thought.

References

• www.whitehouse.gov
• www.dhs.gov
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• House Government Reform Committee, 2005
• http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2004/homeland.htm
• http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=9&content=2973
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• Testimony of Steven Bellew, Vice Chairman, Fraternal order of Police Federal Protective Service Labor Committee – http://epw.senate.gov/107th/bel_0928.htm
• Linda Bilmes, an assistant secretary of commerce during the Clinton administration, teaches public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/news/opeds/2004/bilmes_usinc_lat_071804.htm
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• 11/22/04, William Jackson (GCN Staff), A few steps forward, a few back, http://www.gcn.com/23_33/news/27966-1.html
• Army Turns to Private Guards by T. Christian Miller Los Angeles Times Staff Writer August 12, 2004 (http://webserve.govst.edu/users/ghrank/Political/Not-So-Great%20Expectations/civilian.htm)