THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION IS PROUD TO HAVE BEEN A WORKING MEMBER OF THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATION'S TASK FORCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88G00186R000300380032-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 21
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 32
• Publication Date: January 3, 1985
• Content Type: LETTER

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EXECUTIVE SE('RFTARIAT
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Executive Registry
84. 10135
FEDERAL EXECUTIVE AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION
15535 NEW HAMPSHIRE A VENUE ? SILVER SPRING, MD 20904 ? [phone]
December 28, 1984
Dear Agency Head:
'S-mss i__
The Federal Executive and Professional Association is proud to
have been a working member of the Federal Executive Association's
Task Force which developed an Action Plan for improving the
working relationship of political and career executives in 1985
and beyond. We have enclosed for your information the action
plan that we submitted to the President and Mr. Mondale before
the election.
We believe that the plan contains valuable insights and suggestions
that non-career and career employees can use.to improve the
effectiveness of their relationships and in turn effective
implementation of the Administration's programs.
Respectfully Yours,
Elvin W. Sill,
President
EWS/kff
For Better Government Through A Superior Career Service
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FEDERAL EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATIONS TASK FORCE
FOR IMPROVED POLITICAL-CAREER RELATIONS
Washington, D.C.
September 20, 1984
The President
The White House
Washington, D.C.
Our four professional associations are submitting to you and to Mr. Mondale,
the Democratic presidential candidate, the enclosed Action Plan for improving
the working relationship of political and career executives in 1985 and beyond.
For the past ten months, the officers of our associations have worked
together to produce this five-step plan for addressing the problem of how to
develop more constructive and supportive relations between new political appoint-
ees and their senior career staff members. We were encouraged in this endeavor
by officials in your Administration and others involved in the various political-
career orientation programs conducted in the past two years.
We are very pleased to know that your Administration would expect to con-
tinue efforts, early in 1985, to develop more effective political-career executive
relations. We believe that our five-step Action Plan represents a substantial
contribution towards the design of such a comprehensive and meaningful program.
We are therefore submitting our plan for your consideration and endorsement
as we know that, to be truly effective, the program must be conducted under the
auspices of the White House.
Respectfully yours,
S/
Bradley H. Patterson, Jr., President
American Society for
Public Administration
11
Elvin W. Sil Y, President
Federal Executive and
Professional Association
Paul Lorent2ien
Task Force Leader
Eileen Siedman, President
Federal Executive Institute
Alumni Association
David Burckafan, President
Senior Executives Association
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Washington, D.C.
September 20, 1984
Honorable Walter F. Mondale
2550 M. Street, N.W. (Suite 500)
Washington, D.C. 20037
Our four professional associations are submitting to you and to Mr. Reagan,
the Republican presidential candidate, the enclosed Action Plan for improving
the working relationship of political and career executives in 1985 and beyond.
For the past ten months, the officers of our associations have worked
together to produce this five-step plan for addressing the problem of how to
develop more constructive and supportive relations between new political appoint-
ees and their senior career staff members. We were encouraged in this endeavor
by many persons involved in past and present programs of this type.
We believe that our five-step Action Plan represents a substantial contribu-
tion towards the design of a more comprehensive and meaningful program to help
solve the long-standing and inherent problems in the political-career executive
relationship.
We are therefore submitting our plan for your consideration and endorsement
as we know that, to be truly effective, the program must be conducted under the
auspices of the White House.
Respectfully yours,
Bradley H. Patterson, Jr., President
American Society for
Public Administration
Elvin W. Si 1, President
Federal Executive and
Professional Association
(
Eileen Sled n, President
Federal Executive Institute
Alumni Association
David Burcianan, President
Senior Executives Association
Paul Lorentzen
Task Force Leader
Baltimore, ary an
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POLITICAL-CAREER RELATIONS
ACTION PLAN
September 1984
Prepared jointly by:
American Society for Public Administration
Federal Executive Institute Alumni Association
Federal Executive and Professional Association
Senior Executives Association
Presented to:
The Democratic and the Republican candidates
for the Presidency of the United States --
for endorsement and implementation after
the November 1984 presidential election
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Objectives
The objective of this Action Plan is to ensure that a comprehensive and
effective program is implemented by the White House early in 1985, to help new
non-career appointees and their senior career staff members in promptly estab-
lishing a supportive and cooperative working relationship.
Experience has repeatedly shown that absent such a conscious and planned
orientation and communication effort to address initial apprehension and stress
on both sides, political and career executives too often do not develop that
cooperative relationship required for effective implementation of the Admini-
stration's program objectives.
Fundamental Principles
This Action Plan is based upon the following fundamental tenets of the
American form of national government:
The unique resources and contributions of both political and career
executives are needed.
The effective working relationship between political and career
executives depends upon the establishment of mutual understanding
and reciprocal support.
Such understanding and support will develop where:
Political executives solicit careerists' advice in an open
communications atmosphere; and
Career executives respect privileged information and help
implement political leaders' decisions.
- The President is ultimately responsible for ensuring that actions
are taken to assist political and career executives in establishing
the desired cooperative relationship.
Chronological Steps
1. White House-sponsored general orientation conducted for new non-career
appointees
2. Department/agency briefings held to foster political-career communications
3. Po],.Ltical-career relations workshops conducted to build mutual under-
staiwding of roles and perspectives
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4. Guidance provided for career executives (whenever political executives
change)
5. Agency "alternative opinion channels" developed to encourage con-
structively critical policy ideas.
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Effective operations in the Executive branch of our form of national
government depends to a large extent on a smooth working relationship between
the political appointees and the career executives. The former are to provide
the political leadership which ensures that current government policy reflects
the public will democratically expressed through the political party and
electoral processes; while the latter are to facilitate such policy implementa-
tion by providing expertise and institutional knowledge in turning policies
into programs.
Given our historical development and governmental structure, it is natural
for the relationship between political and career executives to be character-
ized by an element of tension and stress. It is neither possible nor desirable
to eliminate this vibrant situation, which is accompanied by the benefits of
periodic re-appraisal, re-energizing, and general re-dedication. Without the
stimulus provided by the political element, entropy might prevail in the bureau-
cratic arena.
However, this potentially useful stress at the political-career interface
too often has the character more of destructive conflict than of productive
tension. To turn this situation around, we are asking the President to endorse
and ensure the implementation of an Action Plan which contains practical and
common-sensical remedial steps:
All new political executives need the benefit of a comprehensive
orientation to the complex environment of the federal government,
promptly after their appointment.
In every Department/agency, political and career'executives starting
to work together need to be provided an early opportunity to begin
communicating openly so that:
the career executives are informed by the political leadership
of new policy directions and goals; and
the political executives receive the benefit of candid facts
and expert views based on the institutional memory of the
career executives.
New political appointees and senior careerists need to be placed in
a workshop environment free from hierarchical and peer concerns, to
start developing mutual understanding and respect by sharing their
images and perspectives and by engaging in joint problem solving.
- Career executives need to be given guidance and counsel regarding
how to prepare themselves for effectively working with and supporting
new political appointees.
- Departments/agencies need to establish mechanisms for encouraging and
taping constructively critical alternative ideas during the policy-
makAig process.
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White House-Sponsored General Orientation
for New Non-Career Appointees
Objective
The objective of Step 1 is to help new political appointees to start
operating, promptly and effectively, in the complex environment of the federal
government by minimizing unnecessary mistakes and frictions--between political
executives and the Congress, the White House, the press, and especially with
career executives of their agencies.
A continuing series of White House-sponsored orientation sessions are to
be conducted, to cover new senior non-career appointees (GS-16 and up, non-career
SES officers, Assistant Secretaries and equivalent) in groupings as appoint-
ments are made.
Convenor: A member of the White House staff charged with this specific
responsibility.
Briefers: Members of the White House and OMB staffs, aided by past and
present senior government officials and members of such non-profit insti-
tutions as the National Academy of Public Administration.
Place: The Theater, East Wing, The White House. A social reception in
the White House or its Garden would be a desirable additional feature of
the program.
Time: A minimum of two days for each orientation group, with sessions
scheduled during the entire term of the Administration so that new appoint-
ees attend within 2-3 weeks of appointment.
Subject Coverage:
1. The environment of federal decision-making
Dispersion of power among Congress, the Courts, and the Executive
A highly diverse Executive Branch with conflicting loyalties and
constituency groups, inside and outside
- A klieg-light atmosphere--public scrutiny and the press
- The built-in inefficiencies of the messy, institutional system
guaranteeing not too much power to any one organization or person
- The consequences of this kind of system for political appointees
who want to get action going
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-2- STEP 1 (con'd)
No one Department or agency "in charge" of the big problems--
national security, energy, tax policy, unemployment--which slop
over all Departmental and agency lines
The Administration's established coordination mechanisms, e.g.
The cabinet
OMB (budget and legislation)
White House staff (policy)
Other Executive Office units (CEA, NSC, OSTR, OSTP)
The importance of relations with Congress
- The Administration's rules and principles for working with the
The role of the White House Congressional Relations Office and
of Departmental offices
4. Dealing with the press
5. A word about intergovernmental relations
6. Systems for managing people
Hiring non-career subordinates--role of White House clearance
- The career systems of government
Several independent ones (Foreign Service, FBI, CIA, etc.)
The SES system--hiring, merit protection, performance evaluation,
bonuses, transferring, firing
Other aspects of the Civil Service Reform Act--merit pay,
employee unions, Merit Systems Protection Board
7. Relations with career executives
- Different attitudes and time perspectives
- Their resource as "institutional memory"
- Their need for communications re the Administration's goals and
objectives
- Establishing a supportive/cooperative relationship
8. Someilegal questions
F
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-3- STEP 1 (con'd)
Conflict of interest
Freedom of Information Act
Privacy Act
- Administrative Procedures Act
Final Remarks
Session presentations should provide opportunity for questions from partici-
pants and some discussion at relevant points.
A hand-out listing pertinent readings should be made available (e.g. NAPA
Study of Presidential Management, Heclo's A Government of Strangers).
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Departmental/Agency Briefings
to Foster Political-Career Communications
Objective
The objective of Step 2 is to assist new political appointees to assume
effective leadership--as rapidly as possible--in their specific responsibility
areas by:
- Familiarizing them with present Department/agency organization,
programs, initiatives, processes, and procedures
- Providing them with the opportunity to convey their philosophy, goals,
and priorities to their career staffs
- Starting the process of developing an effective working relationship
between political and career executives based on mutual understanding,
respect, and open communications.
Method
In implementation of the White House directive regarding briefings, each
Department and agency is to plan and conduct its own series of briefings in which
all of its new political appointees and the career executives jointly participate.
Recommended Features
While the particular details regarding size of briefing groups, organizational
composition, place, and timing, etc., will necessarily vary depending upon such
factors as the Department/agency's size, geographic dispersion, rate of accession
of new appointees; all briefing programs would be expected to follow certain
basic guidelines:
Convenor: Under the auspices of the Department/agency head, a senior
staff member would be charged with this specific responsibility.
Briefers: Various Department/agency political and career staff members
plus outside resource persons--depending upon the specific topics being
covered (as indicated below).
Place: Preferably facilities away from Department/agency headquarters,
conducive to uninterrupted group discussion.
Time: For each briefing program, three to four one-half day sessions
running over a two-week period (or 111-2 consecutive days)--depending upon
Department/agency size and program complexity. The briefings would begin
as soon as new political appointees arrive, and be repeated as often as
necessary as additional appointments are made. (Usually after White House
orientation attendance).
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-2- STEP 2 (con'd)
Subject Coverage: (in preferred briefing session sequence):
Session 1 - Policies, Programs, Organization
- The Department/agency philosophy, goals, and priorities--presented
by the new political leadership in order to provide clear policy
direction
The Department/agency programs, initiatives, budget, staffing, problems,
issues, key role players-presented by senior program officials
The Department/agency organization, support units (function and compo-
sition), and key officials (e.g., General Counsel, Inspector General,
Administration, Public Affairs, Congressional Relations)--presented
by pertinent staff officials
(Biographic descriptions of political and career participants to be
provided during this session. Each session to be structured to permit
free-flowing discussion).
Session 2 - Roles, Relationship, Communications
- Identification of the respective roles of political and career executives,
their relationship, and communications between them. This topic lends
itself to a panel discussion with participants from:
the new political leadership
senior career executives
former distinguished career and appointive officials
followed by small-group discussions for surfacing questions and problems.
A plenary meeting would then give the new political leadership the
opportunity to hear viewpoints regarding past relationship problems
and consider ways to develop successful relations and meaningful com-
munications.
Session 3 - Relationships with Congress and Interest Groups
- Description and composition of relevant Congressional committees and
sub-committees (authorization, appropriation, and oversight)--problems,
issues, personalities, role of staffs
- Identification and description of relationships with major public interest
and clientele groups and their key officials--problems and issues
- Description of relationship with the media--do's, any don'ts, internal
clearance
(This session conducted by appropriate Department/agency staff officials).
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-3- STEP 2 (con'd)
Session 4 - Personnel and Ethics
Description of Department/agency procedures for implementing SES system
including:
Quality Review and Executive Resource Boards
Performance appraisal, bonus, and other award systems
Reassignments, transfers, temporary details, RIF
Discipline and removal
Development/training programs
(Conducted by Department/agency Personnel Office officials, and OPM
experts where desired)
- Briefing and discussion by officials from the Office of the General
Counsel and the Inspector General regarding the Department/agency's
implementation of the:
Unique behavior standards demanded in the public service
Financial disclosure/conflict of interest requirements
Freedom of Information, Privacy, Administrative Procedures,
Anti-Deficiency, and Hatch Act provisions;
Inspector General function--do's and don'ts, examples from
experience.
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Political-Career Relations Workshops
to Build Mutual Understanding of Roles and Perspectives
Objectives
The objective of Step 3 is to provide new political appointees and the
career executives an opportunity to develop that increased mutual understanding
and respect upon which the establishment of a supportive and cooperative
relationship depends.
A continuing series of White House-sponsored political-career executive
relations workshops are to be conducted, to cover new senior non-career appointees
and career executives in mixed "stranger" groups of about 30-40. Priority in
attendance would be given to political executives with little or no previous
government experience, and to career executives from Departments/agencies in
which significant policy changes are expected to occur.
Experience has shown that:
- Initial relations between political appointees and senior careerists
are usually characterized by stereotyped images and misperceptions
prevailing on both sides.
Within the hierarchical organization of Departments/agencies, incentives
and opportunities for open communications between political and career
executives concerning these mutual preconceptions are generally lacking.
Absent such discussion, the executives find that their initial climate
of suspicion and distrust too often degenerates into near-hostility.
- When groups of political and career executives--drawn from a wide
variety of Departments/agencies and thus strangers to each other and
not organizationally related--are provided with a setting conducive
to facing up to and openly discussing their mutual pre-conceptions,
an overwhelming majority of them experience that increased understandinE
of the respective attitudes and roles upon which they can then develop
more cooperative working relations "back home."
Recommended Features
Convenor: A member of the White House staff charged with the specific
responsibility of seeing that the program of political-career relation&
workshops is planned and conducted.
AdiniiiistraLic I: A number of public and non-profit institutions aie o - -lo
to be cai11ed upon 1:,r t1,r actual program design and execution.
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-2- STEP 3 (con'd)
Place: Facilities away from the Departments/agencies, conducive to
uninterrupted group discussions.
Time: For each workshop, 1-1/ days. The workshop schedule would begin
shortly after a number of Departments/agencies had completed their internal
briefing sessions (Step 2).
Format and Design
1. Each workshop group of 30-40 political and career executives (in an
approximate equal ratio) is drawn from a wide variety of Departments/
agencies so that the participants are strangers to each other.
2. The 1-1' day workshop consists of:
- An introductory speech by a senior non-career official, who provides
his/her interpretation of the goals of the Administration and the
role to be played by career executives
- Identification of mutual perceptions and images by the participants
(divided into separate small groups of political and career
executives)
- Sharing of the mutual images, leading to an open discussion of
respective political-career perceptions, attitudes, and perspectives
Analysis and discussion of an assigned policy/administrative
problem case by the participants (divided into mixed small groups
of political and career executives)
Sharing of problem analyses, leading to joint problem solving
and discussion of reasons for differing political and career
executives viewpoints
Concluding remarks by a distinguished former senior career
official based on experience at the political-career interface
Approximately 40 percent of the total workshop time devoted to
"social" activity (coffee breaks, meals, introductory or con-
cluding reception) and the opportunity for individual interactiov,_
Each workshop facilitated and evaluated by a representative of
the administering institution.
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Guidance for Career Executives
(whenever political executives change)
Objective
The objective of Step 4 is to provide guidance to career executives on
what they can do to be ready to extend professional support and develop a
cooperative working relationship whenever the arrival of new political
appointees is anticipated.
Method
A set of written guidelines (appearing below) is available for distribution
to those members of the four federal executive associations who find themselves
affected by a change in political leadership. White House and Department/
agency endorsement of this preparatory activity by career executives will be
helpful.
As a career executive anticipating a change in political superiors, you
do not have to sit and wait for the attendant uncertainties to be resolved.
New political appointees need and should get prompt and effective professional
support. You can prepare yourself--physically and psychologically--better to
fulfill this commitment if you take certain actions which should help to dis-
pel any initial mutual suspicions and speed the adjustment to the new working
relationship.
These actions include the following:
1. Gather information about the new appointees. News releases and other
published materials will inform you of their past experience and
interests, and may lead you to additional contact sources.
2. Inform yourself of the policies and programs the new appointees are
likely to promote. Campaign platforms and literature, speeches and
statements by the President and Cabinet officers, and published
articles by the appointees are essential preparatory material.
3. Prepare programmatic, written briefing material for the new appointees.
Whether handed to them or used by you in a meeting, this material
should contain the concise, lucid, and objective facts about your
programs--strengths and limitations--as well as a concluding list of
the major program issues.
4. Develop a list of program objectives in anticipation of a discussion
with the new appointees. This list should:
include substantive and important objectives most likely to
%e supported by the new political leadership
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-2- STEP 4 (con'd)
Be long enough to cover the new appointees' range of interests
and short enough to be achievable during their term of office
Present long-term objectives in a way that progress can be
identified in the short term
Include objectives for reducing programs if the new appointees
have a mandate for doing so
Avoid listing the objectives in order of your priority--but be
prepared to do so if asked
5. Obtain a meeting with the new political appointee. As reactions are
given to your briefing material and program objectives:
Listen carefully
Be prepared to elaborate
Learn about the new objectives and priorities
Offer to "try again" based on the explicit or implied direction
you perceived
6. Learn about and adjust to the management style of the new appointees.
You will soon know whether one-on-one contacts or staff meetings are
preferred. It is more important that your behavior encourages the
development of some trust and confidence in the working relationship
than that it reflects your own ideas of "good management."
7. Be patient, honest, and open--but also cautious. "Say it all," but
explain it as fully as possible. New appointees may not be aware that
career (and political) executives are under constraints unique to the
federal government, so that what is meant as simply information may
sound to them like criticism. Always explain the "why's and where-
fore's" when stating what is in the interest of the appointee--but do
state it, and in the context of a normal conversation without sounding
like a lecturer.
8.
Help
Keep
and
the personnel in your programs adapt to and implement change.
them informed of changes you know about, the reasons behind them,
the possible implications. Don't be an alarmist.
9.
Risk a little--but also protect yourself. Find ways to develop trust--
but recognize that a satisfactory relationship cannot always be estab-
lished. The worst thing you can do is to pretend that removal from
your position can never happen. Ultimately the responsibility of
career executives is to carry out the policies and programs of the
political leadership. If you find that you cannot do so, be prepared
to mOve.
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Agency "Alternative Opinion Channels"
to Encourage Constructively Critical Policy Ideas
Objective
The objective of Step 5 is to get Departments/agencies to establish some
type of procedural mechanism which permits the political leadership to receive
constructive ideas, which might otherwise not be expressed, from career staff
members during the policy-making process.
A statement of principles endorsing agency establishment of "alternative
opinion channels" would be issued from the White House and mentioned during
the White House-sponsored general orientation programs for non-career appointees
(Step 1). Each agency would develop its own specific procedures and terminology,
with the four federal executive associations prepared to assist agencies in
considering how best to adapt and implement this mechanism--as one of several
possible ways--to serve their unique needs.
Nature of Mechanism
1. An "alternative opinion channel":
Is a standard procedure for carrying out the agency's business
Ensures that a staff member can present top agency officials with
alternative policy ideas at all stages of policy-making
Encourages such presentations to be offered as constructive
criticism
- Provides a clear-cut official channel for such presentations
- Provides protection for the staff member using the official
channel
2. An "alternative opinion channel" is not:
A means for reporting fraud, waste, or abuse
Whistle-blowing to the Inspector General
- A procedure for airing grievances or personal matters
3. The political leadership benefits by:
- Having access to alternative views that might not otherwise come
Jo their attention
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-2- STEP 5 (con'd)
- Obtaining the constructive involvement of career executives
- Gaining the advantage of contact with the "institutional memory"
- Ensuring an enriched policy process, with careful consideration
of alternatives
- Stimulating the agency's innovation and creativity
4. The career executives benefit by:
- Knowing that their experience and commitment are valued
Having a legitimate route for expressing professional dissent on
substantive policy matters
Knowing that "dissent" will not be equated with "disloyalty"
- Having no need to contemplate "leaking," resigning, or simply
hunkering down and keeping quiet
5. This mechanism, termed "Dissent Channel," has been in operation at the
State Department since 1972, where detailed procedures for handling
messages were issued in a Departmental Notice of May 3. Since then,
122 messages have been sent to Secretaries of State through the Dissent
Channel, with a number of these having resulted in policy changes.
In describing the State Department's Dissent Channel, a Department Notice
issued in 1979 by then-Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher
stated that:
"The Dissent Channel exists to ensure that principal officers
of the Department have access to alternative and dissenting
views and recommendations which may not reach them through
other channels. For the Dissent Channel to function properly,
all personnel must be able to transmit messages promptly and
be free of interference or subsequent intimidation from
superiors or others who may hold differing views. . . . We
welcome and benefit from a range of alternative views,
including those conveyed through special channels established
by the Secretary. Interference with the Dissent Channel is
contrary to policy. . . ."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/10/22 : CIA-RDP88GO0186R000300380032-7