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Cross Department Programs Don't Work

From a Washington Times report on the findings of the DOJ OIG:

A partnership begun in 2004 by the Justice, Homeland Security and Treasury departments to create an Integrated Wireless Network has "fractured" and is at a "high risk for failure," according to a government report issued yesterday.
Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said that despite years of development and more than $195 million in funding, the project "does not appear to be on the path" to providing the seamless interoperable communications system envisioned.
"The causes for the high risk of project failure include uncertain and disparate funding mechanisms for IWN, the fractured IWN partnership and the lack of an effective governing structure for the project," Mr. Fine said.

Reminds me of the abortive USDA projects for cross-agency computerization. Same sort of problems, even though the issues were at the agency level and not the department level. Things like OMB and GSA were developed as cross-governmental institutions, but they took a long time to get going.

Hobby Farmers

The LA Times has an article on hobby farmers:

Hobby farmers — loosely defined as those whose incomes are derived not solely from farming — often bring little or no hands-on experience to their new avocation. Their business acumen and marketing skills from previous jobs, however, can turn their pastimes into gainful enterprises, said Karen K. Acevedo, editor in chief of 6-year-old Hobby Farms magazine, which has a circulation of about 81,000.

These "ruralpolitans" are willing to invest beaucoup bucks to pay for equipment to reap and sow organic vegetables; raise niche crops, such as herbs, grass-fed beef or organic pork; shear sheep or llamas for wool production; or harvest grapes for wine.

Based on the prices at the end of the piece, I'd define their hobby farmers as people able to afford $100,000 per acre. It's also true, I think, that most farmers rely on off-farm income of some sort.

Northern Ireland and Northern Iraq

In the last few days, Rev. Ian Paisley, leader of the Unionists in Northern Ireland, agreed to join Sein Fein in a government. I remember in the 1960's thinking that Paisley's continued existence was a proof for atheism. It shows that time changes many things, including some zealots. (Some of my ancestors seem to have tried to balance between the Catholics and the Protestants in Ireland--see Marjorie Robie's book. But even taking this development at face value, it's another step in a long long process, bridging divisions that go back hundreds of years. It seems as if the Northern Ireland peace process now has enough momentum not to be derailed by spectacular violence, like the Omagh bombing (killed 29).

But we know that the peace process in the Middle East (Palestine/Israel) has repeatedly been derailed by violence (intifadas, the killings of militants, the killing of Rabin, etc.). And we can see that even in Tall Afar, which was held up as a model by President Bush, spectacular violence leads to more violence. With this in mind, even if the "surge" succeeds in subduing violence in and around Baghdad, my guess is the result will be closer to the Palestine/Israel situation than Northern Ireland. In other words, the best Bush and we can hope for is "simmering" violence in Iraq, as opposed to "boiling".

Mismanagement and Agency Culture

NASCOE (National Association of County Office Employees) is the organization for Farm Service Agency employees. I occasionally look at their web site. Today I skimmed some of the items that employees submitted for "negotiation" (i.e., the back and forth process that NASCOE reps conduct with FSA management. Several related to problems with current IT systems, both design and operation. Some made me shudder, because it seems as if the agency has repeated some of the same mistakes it (i.e., "we", i.e. "I") made back in 1985. Specifically, the "stovepipe" design of systems where the operator in the county office is forced to do extra work instead of having the system do it.

The problem at agriculture was that people lacked the background, mission, and authority to look across the board at what was happening in different offices and different programs and direct a rational approach to problems. This statement is true everywhere you look in government, whether it's the military or law enforcement. (Look at the recent news of the problems the wireless communication system that is to be shared by DHS, DOJ, and Treasury.)

I don't have any solutions. I wonder whether big corporations are any better at this. (My impression of GE is that separate units operate pretty separately.)

Surprising Tidbit on Women

I was surprised to read in this Washington Times article on the predominance of women on college campuses that:

"In 1870, the first year a national survey was conducted, 7,993 men and 1,378 women received bachelor's degrees."

My grandmother graduated from Monmouth College in Illinois around 1884 but I was still surprised by the number.

Getting Privacy for Farm Payment Data

Ken Cook at EWG explains why they don't publish the names of food stamp recipients, as they do for farmers. Of course, times have changed since the court decision that forced FSA to give EWG the payment data with identities. Ken points out that adopting the $200K limit, as proposed by the administration, might reopen the argument that convinced the court.

(A personal note--I well remember Gerry Diebert being concerned about the prospect of losing the case. He was the liaison with our data processing people who had to figure out how to give EWG what they'd won. I also remember that I was, although not directly involved, rather aggravated. During my career I'd had some responsibility for implementing the Privacy Act of 1974. Effectively the court threw out a bunch of the work we'd done in the initial implementation--it was almost a catch-22 situation: farmers were covered by the Privacy Act until we'd done all the work; then they weren't covered by the Privacy act and FOIA required giving out the data. Make up your damn minds, policymakers.

In this context "policymakers" means those faceless bureaucrats in Congress and the courts who could tell us good guys what to do. :-) )

Office Closing and Pandering

Another in a series, from the Aberdeen SD paper:

Sen. John Thune has introduced legislation that would stop any potential Farm Service Agency county office closures until the Secretary of Agriculture conducts a study on cost savings and/or efficiencies at the three FSA headquarters locations and all state FSA offices.

The legislation also requires that the report recommendations must be implemented at all FSA headquarters and state offices before any county FSA offices may be closed.

I've no doubt there's costs that could be saved at headquarters, but it's not a logical stand, it's pandering to the voters. (Of course, it's easy for a retired bureaucrat living in a thriving county outside of DC to mock, quite another matter for the people in the small towns who are affected, particularly those who have taken risks or invested heavily in staying in their particular town.)

Why It's Hard to Cut Offices

Read this account from the Hays (Kansas) Daily News of a meeting discussing closing a county office. If each of the 223 people at the meeting write their Representative and Senators, don't you think that Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback will respond to the concerns?

Or read this account from the Emporia Gazette.

[Note: I've set up a Google Alert for Farm Service Agency items. From that haphazard sampling, it appears that Kansans raise the most hell about closings. Maybe they're all descended from Mary Elizabeth Lease, who famously talked about raising less corn and more hell.]

To govern is to choose, but mostly humans would prefer not to.

Structure and Systems Make a Difference

An article in the NY Times today reported this:

The Long Island Index, which is financed by the Rauch Foundation, a nonprofit group, compared per capita spending in Nassau and Suffolk Counties with that in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties in northern Virginia.

While the regions have similar demographics, housing prices and population densities, Long Island has a total of 239 counties, cities, towns, villages and school districts (and another 200 special districts), compared with the two northern Virginia counties, which have 17.

The extra layers, as well as more higher personnel costs, are a big reason local governments on Long Island spent $15.5 billion in 2002, more than triple what the two counties in Virginia spent.

Long Island residents spent $5,562 per capita for public services, 45 percent more than in the two Virginia counties.

But to the surprise of the study’s authors, 88 percent of those surveyed in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties said, for example, that services provided by police officers, firefighters and teachers were good or excellent, while on Long Island the figure was 75 percent."

It's inconvenient for libertarians, who believe the smallest and most local government is the least worst government.