That is exactly what I am saying. Look at the law. The President only has direct control over a very limited number of people in any of the bureaucracies. The appointees can tansfer people they don't like to other groups, etc., but their power is limited.
And believe me, the people inside differentiate between the President's people (appointees) and their people (civil servants). Most of these folks are just regular people, but the culture of the bureaucracies sometimes encourages them to work against the President, and there isn't a whole lot to be done about it. Picking good appointees is a big part of success. When insiders talk about Tom Ridge's failure at Homeland Security and Michael Chertoff's success, what they are talking about is how Ridge didn't understand how the DC bureaucracies work, and Chertoff does, and so he has been better at getting them to do what needs to be done. As for the CIA, Tenet seems like he was a disaster, but it's hard to tell with a secret agency. The new head of the CIA, Porter Goss, is a guy that the President picked specifically to go in and clean house. If you remember, a number of very senior CIA officials resigned right after he started, and others were moved to different areas. I believe that Goss' appointment is the final payback, if you will, in this whole nasty fight between the White House and the CIA. It's the Persident's way of saying, "Mess with the bull and you get the horns,", and Porter Goss is the horns. So the President has done basically everything he can do to reign in the CIA. How much difference that makes, who knows? > As for the CIA, are those civil service positions? Are you saying > that > the agency is wholely unaccountable to the president? I find it > strangely hard to believe that an executive branch agency is out of > the control of the president. > > Dana > > > What EXACTLY was his error? Allowing Rove to be a policy advisor? > Hardly an impeachable offense given that the President is allowed to > choose his own advisors. Just because you don't like his choice > doesn't make it wrong. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:166692 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
