Navigate Your Way to Success in Your Government Assignments

Six categories of personnel serve the federal government.

There are four main groups of employees in the federal government with fences between them and little camaraderie. A fifth category—contractors—support the government as an invisible workforce with almost five times the number of government employees. A sixth group—congressional staff—serve elected officials and have little power of their own, but can be important to agencies seeking support their programs.

I list these categories in the order of their power:

Elected officials:

This is the smallest yet it is the most powerful group in government because it appropriates money for government programs and because it writes the laws that govern society. There are 100 U.S. Senators, and 435 members of the House of Representatives.

Political appointees:

There are about 7,800 political positions in the federal government. Almost half of them are part-time jobs on boards and commissions, according to John Kaminsky, a senior fellow with the IBM Center for the Business of Government. The others are mainline players.

Senior career officials:

There are 6,000 career officials in the Senior Executive Service and they are at the top of the career ladder in the civil service system. Many SES officials have 20 years or more of experience making the judgment calls and tradeoffs that determine the success or failure of an agency’s programs. They are also the key communications channel between political appointees and the lower levels of the career service and contractors.

The larger part of the career service:

In addition, there are about 1.6 million career civil servants, not counting the Postal Service and the uniformed military. All occupy positions in General Schedule slots, ranging from GS-1 to GS-15. The GS-15s, excluding scientists, run the day-to-day machinery of government, with those at lower ratings assisting. The number of government employees is about the same as in 1950, but the composition of skills has vastly changed.

Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 50 current or former government employees for contributions including eradication of polio, mapping the human genome and the harnessing of atomic energy.

The invisible workforce:

There are an estimated 7.6 million contractors serving the federal government. They do a lot of good work. In fact, the government could not meet its responsibilities without contractor support, but, as I will discuss in more detail later in this book, there are problems associated with contractors.

Congressional staff personnel:       

There are about 20,000 personnel working for Senators and congressional representatives mainly writing speeches and developing new programs for their elected officials to propose as new legislation. While very junior, these individuals can be very important to an agency official when support is needed from new political appointees with an agenda to kill the program.

In brief, here is how these powerful forces work with each other within the American political system:

Congress has the most power because its members control the amount of money given to government. Congress also creates new laws to oversee the White House and its agencies, and to govern all aspects of American society. 

However, the White House, with only two elected officials, thinks it is in control. It can stonewall the intent of Congress by “misinterpreting” laws and it can redirect funds supplied by Congress, although Congress can respond to such actions, sometimes harshly.

Importantly, the White House is augmented by 7,800 political appointees resembling an informal elite guard to force the implementation of the will of the president and his party.

Contractors outnumber the other groups by a factor of almost 500 percent and have greater resources available to them in terms of lawyers, lobbyists and money to influence elections. 

So it goes year after year, president after president, election after election. But unlike the organized combat of American professional sports, there are no victors at the end of the season, there is no Super Bowl Sunday. The players play their game endlessly without pause and are destined to do so into eternity. There are tiny, temporary advances, a three-yard gain and a cloud of dust, a successful Hail Mary pass to bring cheering supporters to their feet. Then the other party takes over, gains a little advantage, then loses it.

This is a summary of a chapter from “Navigate Your Way to Success in Your Government Assignments,” a book being written by Frank McDonough, a longtime senior federal executive. His book discusses 20 things that an executive needs to know before the first day on the job in a senior federal position and 20 other things that one needs to know after assuming the job.

To view the entire current chapter, go to: http://frankamcdonough.com/chaptersummary.html