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Subject: Bipartisan Group Recommends Overhauling the White House; Former Senior
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 04:42:03 EST
Message-ID: <9.1992Nov11.044204@AmeriCast.com>

Bipartisan Group Recommends Overhauling the White House; Former
Senior Officials Call Current Structure 'Seriously Outdated'<By
Ann Devroy=Washington Post Staff Writer=

A bipartisan group of senior officials who served in the last
eight administrations have recommended to President-elect Clinton
a series of far-reaching changes in the way the White House is
organized, a proposal that in part coincides with the president-
elect's call for greater emphasis on economics and domestic poli-
cy.

The report, "Harnessing Process to Purpose," recommends a White
House structured with three key, co-equal senior policy advisers
to the president: one each for national security, domestic policy
and economic policy, who would be the "policy workhorses" of the
administration. It recommends that Clinton name a strong chief of
staff, rare for a Democratic president, and suggests that the
White House, not any Cabinet agency or other group, be the
"center for strategic planning and policy formulation."

The report, in memo form, was given to Clinton transition
advisers a week ago. It differs from the gush of memos deluging
the new president in that it is bipartisan and focuses on struc-
ture rather than policy.

The report, prepared before Election Day, was intended for either
candidate to help him deal with an existing structure of govern-
ment described as "seriously outdated." Not since Harry S. Truman
overhauled the national security component of government in 1947
has the basic structure changed. Each president since then has
tinkered at the edges, adding Cabinet agencies and departments,
but much of the structure has remained the same.

"New circumstances and new policies require new machinery," the
report notes, adding: "If we wish to compete in the new global
economy and deal effectively with other new priorities, reorgan-
izing the government for the post-Cold War world is a necessity,
not a luxury."

The report gathers the collective executive branch experience of
30 senior officials - from Theodore Sorenson, who served as John
F. Kennedy's special counsel, to Kenneth Dubertstein, who served
as Ronald Reagan's chief of staff -  in the executive branch and
how problems might be fixed.

During the  campaign Clinton often spoke of shrinking the size of
government to focus more efficiently on problems of the post-Cold
War era.

In August, he called for an "economic security council" similar
to the current national security council, making economic policy
as important as foreign policy.  The report, a project of the
Carnegie Endowment's Commission on Government Renewal, recommends
just that.

Neither Reagan nor President Bush relied on domestic policy
advisers as key policy coordinators, and neither used an economic
policy council, although Bush tried one briefly and proposed one
for a second term.

Republicans who served in the White House when there were chiefs
of staff, as well as Democrats who served in administrations
without them, "unanimously felt that the White House needs a
strong chief of staff, senior to all other White House staff, not
as an all-powerful prime minister, but as the senior coordina-
tor," the report notes.

If Clinton names a chief of staff, he will be the first Democrat-
ic president since 1945 to come into office with one. Jimmy Car-
ter "acquiesced" to appointing a chief of staff halfway through
his term and then gave the title to a trusted aide who did not
have responsibility for coordinating policy.

Many presidents have recoiled from a position that sounds so
powerful. Some presidents have had significant problems with
powerful chiefs of staff who ended up limiting their bosses' ac-
cess or options, or had political agendas of their own. Neither
Donald Regan in the Reagan White House nor John Sununu in the
Bush White House fulfilled the neutral function of policy coordi-
nator that this group envisions in its report.

Unlike many people who are strongly urging Clinton to move quick-
ly on his appointments, this group suggests that he must instead
settle on policy outlines and the structure he wants before
choosing personnel. The report notes, for example, that almost
all past presidents waited until December before making their
first Cabinet appointments.

The authors make a persuasive case that their proposal would
reduce the White House staff, an appealing aspect to Clinton, who
pledged to cut the executive office staff by 25 percent.

During the past year, the Bush White House has exploded with
aides and titles, what the report calls "title creep," with 13
people now carrying what was once a rare title - assistant to the
president - along with 20 deputy assistants and 42 special assis-
tants, including nine special assitants to the president for na-
tional security affairs.

The commission  was chaired by Richard Holbrooke, managing direc-
tor at Lehman Brothers, who served in the State Department in the
Carter administration, and was co-chaired by former Republican
congressman William Frenzel.  Holbrooke and others involved in
the report, including Madeleine K.  Albright, a former Carter ad-
ministration official, have been mentioned for jobs in the new
Clinton administration.<02:08 11-11C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor-
poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)