The US Constitution has set up our government to use checks and balances to prevent misdeeds. It is time to increase the checks, and remove many of the balances. Alvin Trivelpiece (who was Director of the Department of Energy) characterized the current procedure as "battalion punishment"—set up things so that no one can transgress. But this is very expensive and unnecessary because almost all employees are dedicated, hard-working, and honest. Let me give some examples.
I spent most of my career working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In 1971 when I started there, if we needed to travel somewhere, we made our own reservations. Since it was my budget being spent, I was very assiduous at finding the cheapest transportation, and reserving far enough in advance to obtain the cheapest fares. I used a local travel agent (this was before the Internet), which also boosted the local economy. But apparently there was a scandal of some sort at our Managing Contractor's facilities (we had so many, I cannot remember which it was). As a result, ORNL had to set up a Travel Office which we were obliged to use—and pay for via added overhead. Also, the office was understaffed, and they never made reservations in time to get the lowest air fares. So we were obliged to pay extra in two different ways for a "balance" that was unnecessary.
Also, we used to run our own meetings. I managed to feed rib roast to a handful of Soviet scientists and about 20 of my ORNL colleagues for about $100. But then someone misbehaved, and the Lab set up a Meetings Department that we were forced to use, and which we had to pay for out of our overhead again. Instead, the miscreant should have been fired and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I later ran a meeting using the Meetings Office, and the Meeting person stole the registration fees. Who guards the guards???
A lot of money would be saved by beefing up the Inspectors General's offices and removing the unnecessary and costly overhead bureaucracies.
The US Constitution has set up our government to use checks and balances to prevent misdeeds. It is time to increase the checks, and remove many of the balances. Alvin Trivelpiece (who was Director of the Department of Energy) characterized the current procedure as "battalion punishment"—set up things so that no one can transgress. But this is very expensive and unnecessary because almost all employees are dedicated, hard-working, and honest. Let me give some examples.
I spent most of my career working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In 1971 when I started there, if we needed to travel somewhere, we made our own reservations. Since it was my budget being spent, I was very assiduous at finding the cheapest transportation, and reserving far enough in advance to obtain the cheapest fares. I used a local travel agent (this was before the Internet), which also boosted the local economy. But apparently there was a scandal of some sort at our Managing Contractor's facilities (we had so many, I cannot remember which it was). As a result, ORNL had to set up a Travel Office which we were obliged to use—and pay for via added overhead. Also, the office was understaffed, and they never made reservations in time to get the lowest air fares. So we were obliged to pay extra in two different ways for a "balance" that was unnecessary.
Also, we used to run our own meetings. I managed to feed rib roast to a handful of Soviet scientists and about 20 of my ORNL colleagues for about $100. But then someone misbehaved, and the Lab set up a Meetings Department that we were forced to use, and which we had to pay for out of our overhead again. Instead, the miscreant should have been fired and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I later ran a meeting using the Meetings Office, and the Meeting person stole the registration fees. Who guards the guards???
A lot of money would be saved by beefing up the Inspectors General's offices and removing the unnecessary and costly overhead bureaucracies.