Bureaucracy is a complex structure of offices, tasks, rules, and principles used by large-scale institutions to coordinate personnel work.
It coordinates different parts of the government to provide services.
It employs specialists and provides resources and tools.
It effectively reaches out to the public.
Implements policies passed by Congress and the president, as well as policies adjudicated by the courts.
Bureaucracy and Bureaucrats: What Bureaucrats Do
Bureaucrats execute and implement laws.
Implementation: the efforts of departments and agencies to translate laws into specific bureaucratic rules and actions.
They make rules that guide the implementation of laws passed by Congress.
Rule-making is often highly political, and rules can be easily reversed by subsequent administrations.
Bureaucracies innovate and enforce laws.
Help devise new ways of doing things (e.g., facilitated the creation of the internet).
Key Characteristics of Bureaucracies
Mission-driven: Each department has its own mission statement.
Expertise: Many are policy experts in their area.
Hierarchical structure: They function along clear lines of authority using standard operating procedures.
The Creation of the Bureaucracy
Bureaucratic organizations are formed because Congress delegates some of its power to the executive branch.
Congress passes enabling legislation that creates an entity, establishes its purposes, and defines its scope.
Congress can change an organization’s power, alter its purpose, reduce its funding, or eliminate it altogether.
Bureaucrats use the congressionally delegated power to develop rules and regulations that have the effect of law.
Delegating to the Bureaucracy
Congress delegates significant policy-making responsibility to the bureaucracy.
This delegation of authority sets up a principal-agent problem: a conflict in priorities between an actor (Congress) and the representative authorized to act on the actor’s behalf (the bureaucracy).
Additional Considerations
The bureaucracy has:
Quasi-legislative power (it makes rules and regulations).
Quasi-executive power (bureaucrats implement and enforce their own rules and regulations).
Quasi-judicial power (the bureaucracy implements and enforces its rules and regulations and has the ability to adjudicate administrative conflicts).
Federal Bureaucracy: Location within the Executive Branch
Congress decides where to locate the agency within the government and who will head the agency.
The president has more control over organizations within the executive branch and less over independent agencies.
Agencies can be headed by one person or by a multi-person board.
Organization of the Executive Branch: Executive Departments
There are 15 executive departments that employ over 80 percent of the federal civilian workforce.
The executive departments: State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security.
The secretaries of these departments, along with the vice president and the attorney general, make up the Cabinet.
Organization of the Executive Branch: Independent Agencies
Independent agencies are not part of executive departments but have independent authority to implement policy and design regulations.
The president still appoints and directs the heads of these agencies.
They usually have broad powers to provide public services.
Examples: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Organization of the Executive Branch: Corporations and Commissions
Independent regulatory commissions are rule-making bodies outside the executive department, usually headed by commissioners.
Commissioners are appointed by the president for fixed terms.
Examples: Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
A government corporation is a government agency that performs a market-oriented public service and raises revenues to fund its activities.
Federal Bureaucracy: National Security
Some bureaucratic agencies work to promote national security.
State Department: Primary mission is diplomacy; also staffs U.S. embassies.
Department of Defense: Provides military forces to deter war and protect the nation.
Includes Joint Chiefs of Staff
Three military departments (Army, Navy, and Air Force)
Six regional Unified Combatant Commands
Department of Homeland Security: Responsible for maintaining domestic security.
Created after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Integrates information from intelligence agencies and law enforcement.
Responsible for border security, emergency preparedness, and science-related concerns (biological, chemical, or nuclear threats).
Federal Bureaucracy: Maintaining a Strong National Economy
Other federal agencies work to maintain a strong economy.
Treasury Department: Collects taxes, manages national debt, prints currency, and performs economic policy analysis.
Federal Reserve System (the Fed): The nation’s major monetary agency.
It has authority over interest rates and lending activities.
Adjusts the supply of money and credit.
Other agencies work to strengthen other parts of the economy.
The Agriculture Department disseminates information on farming practices.
The Transportation Department oversees the nation’s highway and air traffic system.
The Small Business Administration, within the Commerce Department, provides loans and technical assistance to small businesses across the country.
Federal Bureaucracy: Public Welfare
Another set of agencies promotes citizen well-being.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) includes the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which conducts biomedical research.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) monitors the safety and efficacy of human and veterinary drugs, cosmetics, and the nation’s food supply.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protects public health and safety.
Another set of agencies help low-income and elderly citizens.
Medicaid and Medicare provide health insurance to low-income and elderly Americans.
The Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service administers the federal school lunch program and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Bureaucracy: Who Are Bureaucrats?
Bureaucrats are members of the “civil service.”
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 created a hiring system for bureaucracy based on merit.
The merit system requires that appointees to positions in public bureaucracies be objectively qualified.
It helped end the “spoils system,” which awarded jobs based on political connections.
At higher levels of government, jobs are still filled with political appointees (e.g., Cabinet secretaries).
Political appointees: the presidentially appointed layer of the bureaucracy on top of the civil service.
The top executives in many agencies are part of the Senior Executive Services (SES): the top, presidentially appointed management rank for career civil servants.
Size of the Bureaucracy
Contrary to popular assertions, federal service has shrunk in size both absolutely and relative to the total population.
1980s: 3 million civilian employees; 3.6 million military personnel
2019: 2.8 million civilian employees; 1.3 million military personnel
As a percentage of the total workforce, federal employment has declined since the 1950s. However, the number of state and local government employees has grown.
Size of the Bureaucracy: Private Contracting
The number of federal contractors exceeds the number of federal employees.
Some of the decline in the size of the bureaucracy is because of privatization.
Privatization: the process by which a formerly public service becomes a service provided by a private company but paid for by the government.
Controlling the Bureaucracy: The President
Presidents may have goals related to both management and control of the bureaucracy. How do they achieve these goals?
Appointment powers: the president can appoint those loyal to them to head bureaucratic departments and agencies.
The Executive Office of the President (EOP), particularly the Office of Management and Budget, controls the federal budget and regulations.
Controlling the Bureaucracy: Congress
Congress can control the bureaucracy through approval of funding, changing the location or structure of agencies, and organizational choices.
Oversight is the effort by Congress to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies through hearings, investigations, and other techniques.
“Police patrol” oversight involves regular or preemptive hearings.
“Fire alarm” oversight is prompted by media attention or group complaints.
Congress created the inspectors general (IGs) in 1978, independent audit organizations located in most federal agencies.
IGs can audit agency operations to uncover waste, fraud, or misconduct.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congressional Research Service (CRS), and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provide important information that can assist Congress in its oversight duties.
Controlling the Bureaucracy: A Case Study
The formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) illustrates the struggle between the president and Congress over the bureaucracy.
The CFPB was created in 2010 after the financial crisis that started in 2007.
President Obama and congressional Republicans disagreed about the structure, funding, and location of the CFPB.
Congressional Republicans wanted funding to annually appointed by Congress, not as automatic funding from a fixed percentage of the Federal Reserve System’s operating expenses.
Controlling the Bureaucracy: Other Forms of Oversight
Judicial oversight: Federal courts have the authority to judge the constitutionality of bureaucratic actions, settle disputes between Congress and executive agencies, and monitor the implementation of laws.
Internal oversight: Whistleblowers may report wrongdoing within federal agencies.
Citizen oversight: Ordinary citizens and journalists can file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
The Difficulties of Bureaucratic Control
Bureaucratic control is difficult as the tools of control are imperfect.
There are sometimes outright failures of the bureaucracy, such as the 2014 waiting-list scandal at the Veterans Health Administration.
There is also the issue of regulatory capture: a form of government failure in which an agency becomes more concerned with serving interest groups and businesses than with regulating them.
Public Opinion Poll Questions
Q1: Do you generally approve or disapprove of the way the federal bureaucracy handles its job?
Approve / Disapprove
Q2: Is the U.S. military an effective and efficient bureaucracy?
Yes, it is effective and efficient.
No, the military is neither effective nor efficient.
It is effective, but not efficient.
It is not effective, but it is efficient.
Q3: Do online service options make bureaucracies better at their core business?
Yes, online services make bureaucracy work better.
No, online services make bureaucracy worse.
Online service options make no difference.
Q4: Why do you think most Americans have a negative view of the federal bureaucracy?
Negative personal experiences (long lines, poor service, etc.)
Opinions that the public costs exceed the benefits
Both a and b apply.
Most Americans do not hold negative views of the bureaucracy.
Q5: Who should be credited or blamed for the smaller size of government?
Presidents
Congress
Both presidents and Congress have been responsible.