Question

Describe the organizational structure and composition of the federal bureaucracy. Specifically, what are the differences between departments, agencies, and bureaus and what are the lines of authority within the executive branch? How representative is the federal bureaucracy of the American public, how is it staffed, and how has this changed since the nineteenth century?

Answer 1

The Structure of the Federal Bureaucracy

The bureaucracy that implements, administers, and regulates federal programs is in the executive branch. However, Congress and the courts have bureaucracies of their own. Each member of Congress, for example, has a staff that manages the office and helps draft legislation. Congressional committees also have their own staffs, as do the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). (Congress created the latter in the 1970s.) These two offices provide in-depth analysis of the operations of federal agencies. The following sections focus only on the executive branch bureaucracies

Bureaucratic Growth

The federal bureaucracy was small throughout much of American history. But the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs greatly expanded the role of the federal government. George W. Bush’s War on Terror has also expanded and redefined the role of the federal government and has necessitated the creation of new organizations, such as the Department of Homeland Security.

There are five types of organizations in the federal bureaucracy:

1. Cabinet Departments
   1. The executive office consists of fifteen departments, as shown by the table on the next page. Each department is headed by a secretary.
   2. The president must oversee the executive bureaucracy, which includes what are known as Line Organizations, or the federal agencies that report directly to the president. The fifteen cabinet departments are line organizations. Political scientists sometimes refer to modern presidents as managerial presidents because they spend so much time overseeing and managing the bureaucracy.Line Organizations And Managerial Presidents
2. Independent Executive Agencies
   1. Independent Executive Agencies are line organizations that do not fall under the control of any one department. Presidents often like new agencies to be independent so that they have more direct control over them. Congress decides how to fit new independent executive agencies within the existing bureaucracy.
   2. Very Important Agencies
   3. The government needs money to function, so generating revenue is crucial. A number of different federal agencies are Revenue Agencies: They raise money by collecting taxes and fees. The most notorious revenue agency is the Internal Revenue Service, but it is not the only one. The Department of the Interior, for example, collects fees from people who use national parks.
3. Independent Regulatory Agencies
   1. An Independent Regulatory Agency is an agency outside of the cabinet departments that makes and enforces rules and regulations. The president nominates people to regulatory boards and agencies, and the Senate confirms them. Generally, these bureaucrats serve set terms in office and can only be removed for illegal behavior. Regulatory agencies tend to function independently from the elected parts of government, which gives them the freedom to make policy without any political interference.
   2. Example: The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Election Commission, and the Federal Reserve Board are all powerful independent regulatory agencies.
   3. Agency Capture
   4. Scholars argue that some agencies have been taken over by the very industries they are supposed to regulate. The industries then dictate terms and policies to the agency rather than the other way around. Scholars use the term Agency Capture to describe this process. Agency capture causes decreased competition and higher prices.
4. Government Corporations
   1. Some federal agencies resemble corporations in that they function in a businesslike manner and charge clients for their services. Government Corporations differ in some important ways from private corporations. For example, government corporations do not have stockholders and do not pay dividends if they make a profit; instead, the government corporation retains all profits.
   2. Examples: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guarantees deposits up to $250,000, and the Post Office are government corporations.
5. Presidential Commissions
   1. Presidents regularly appoint Presidential Commissions to investigate problems and make recommendations. Although most of these commissions are temporary—such as President George W. Bush’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security or the September 11th Commission—some are permanent, such as the Commission on Civil Rights. Presidents are not bound to follow the recommendations of commissions, even though they often do.

source : google

The Growth of the Federal Bureaucracy

The federal bureaucracy began with the three cabinet departments established by George Washington in 1789. Since that time, not only have the number of departments in the cabinet more than tripled, but now there are also myriad agencies, bureaus, government corporations, authorities, and administrations that take care of the government's business.

The nature of the civil service

• Wealthy men dominated the bureaucracy through the 1820s. This changed with the election of President Andrew Jackson (1828), who opened government jobs to the common people. He inaugurated the spoils system, under which party loyalty — not experience or talent — became the criterion for a federal job.
• This was the beginning of patronage, and it continued through the late 19th century.
• Congress passed the Pendleton Act in 1883, which created a system for hiring federal workers based on qualifications rather than political allegiance; employees were also protected from losing their jobs when the administration changed.
• To encourage a nonpartisan bureaucracy, the Hatch Act (1939) prohibited federal workers from running for office or actively campaigning for other candidates. Such limitations on civil liberties are considered by many the price that has to be paid for a professional, nonpolitical bureaucracy.

The rise of the welfare state

• During the 1930s, the size of the federal bureaucracy mushroomed due to President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal agencies.
• Although many were short-lived, others continue to play a role in the lives of Americans: the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Out of these agencies' programs grew the concept of the welfare state, under which the federal government (rather than individuals, municipalities, or the states) assumes the major responsibility for the well-being of the people.
• President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society during the 1960s expanded the welfare state with such programs as Medicare, Head Start, the Job Corps, and the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). As with the New Deal, many Great Society programs became a permanent part of the federal bureaucracy. The idea of the government seeing to the needs of its citizens carried on into the 1970s:
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created by the Nixon administration, the new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the Labor Department transformed the workplace for most Americans, and new cabinet departments were established.

National security bureaucracy

• The federal bureaucracy deals with more than social and economic policies.
• A large number of agencies are responsible for protecting the American people from both foreign and domestic dangers.
• The national security bureaucracy includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
• Responding to late 20th-century public concern about violent crime, drugs, and illegal immigration into the United States, agencies such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) have increased in size.