Summer 2011 Glenn Fellows Arrive D.C.

We have had our orientation for the summer 2011 WAIP and G-WAIP fellows (see photo above, taken at the Pension Building). Mike McCandlish and I encouraged the fellows to read a daily newspaper or two, and I referred explicitly to The Washington Post. As I did so, I felt a little guilty, as I always do, about withholding an endorsement of The New York Times, which is, all things considered, the better paper.

But here in the nation’s capital, The Washington Post is our hometown rag, and that means more complete coverage of local events, reviews of museum exhibitions, local theaters and restaurants, and the like. But mainly, the Post does a better job of covering the company in what is essentially a company town. And that company is, of course, the federal government.

There is, for starters, Joe Davidson’s regular column in the Post. Today’s "Federal Diary" explores some of the reasons why the federal government seems to have such a hard time hiring and firing, and why it is so difficult for recent college graduates and MPAs to secure federal employment through USAJOBS. According to Davidson, Congress is looking into the matter, and it comes at an opportune time for us, since the fellows will be engaging in a conversation next Tuesday evening with former U.S. Senator John Glenn, an eloquent spokesman for the merits of public service. And in the following week, we’ll hear a presentation on federal hiring by Julie Saad, a thoughtful WAIP alumna who now works for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal government's HR office.

Congress’s inquiry, undertaken by the Senate subcommittee on the federal workforce, chaired by Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), appears to be targeting OPM policies. Ironically, based on my experience in the executive branch, I would submit that the roots of the federal government’s hiring problems may be statutory—i.e., embedded in the fine print of legislation passed by Congress--rather than regulatory.

Whatever the cause, the fact is that for so long as the federal hiring process is deeply flawed, America’s best and brightest young people, such as those in the photo above, will be discouraged from entering the federal service. That may not constitute a national crisis--not yet, anyway--but certainly, it is a pity.