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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 9, 2003
CONTACT: Eric Landau
(202) 204-3624
September 9, 2003 - Washington,
DC - Organizers at the newly formed Department of Homeland
Security can learn valuable lessons from past departmental
reorganizations states a report from the National Academy
of Public Administration entitled Protecting the Homeland:
Lessons from Prior Government Reorganizations. The report
reflects the advice of 11 panelists with more than 400 years
of collective experience in government administration and
reorganization. This is the first in a series of Academy forum
reports to tackle the complex administrative issues surrounding
the formation of the new government department. A copy of
the report is available at www.napawash.org.
"Organizing any new government
department or agency can be overwhelming," states Frank
Carlucci, moderator of the Academy forum and former Secretary
of Defense and National Security Advisor. "Since this
will be the largest reorganization since the creation of the
Department of Defense during World War II, homeland security
departmental leadership would be wise to draw on the knowledge
of those who have directed large-scale reorganizations in
the past."
The report identifies six major challenges
(diversity, coordination, sharing authority, personnel systems,
budgeting, and public expectations) and reflects how those
obstacles have been met, successfully or unsuccessfully, during
past reorganizations. In addition,
the report offers insights into principles for successful
reorganization.
Other Academy Panelists included:
Cora Beebe, involved in the organization of the Department
of Education; Howard Messner, involved in the organization
of the Environmental Protection Agency; Alan Boyd and Alan
Dean, both of whom worked on the organization of the Department
of Transportation; Dwight Ink, involved in the organization
of the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Murray
Comarow, who was staff director of the Ash Commission, which
dealt with the reorganization of executive agencies; Jacques
Gansler, who worked on process reorganization at the Department
of Defense; and Chris Sale, who was instrumental in the reorganization
of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
The National Academy of Public Administration
is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan corporation chartered
by Congress to provide "trusted advice" on issues
of governance and public management.
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