Control of Bureaucracy

According to Donald Rumsfeld, the executive branch of government is in charge of bureaucracy. In other terms, it is made up of presidential appointees with the approval authority, of whom Rumsfeld is a member since he is on the Secretary of Defense docket.
The bureaucracy is responsible for three main functions: management, execution, and control. It also defines how such issues can be treated, resulting in the development of laws for the government to obey. Bureaucracy, as a result, expedites and clarifies governance while still maintaining a chain of command, which is important in big administrations such as the United States. Reasons for its Growth
The current size of the bureaucracy can be attributed to heightening government size and president’s influence to expand. In the first case, over the years, the size of government continues to increase thus causing a corresponding increase in bureaucracy. Similarly, presidents also try to expand their influence by heightening the powers of the party via bureaucracy enlargements. A good instance in the U.S. government, when a Democrat is in office, he will tend to fill the posts with individuals from the affiliated party. If a Republican president then comes into office, the bureaucrats could somehow interfere with the president’s agenda, since they are not guided by term limits. In that regard, bureaucracy grows to heighten the party’s power.

Effects of Bureaucracy

The larger the bureaucracy, the slower the process. In other words, bureaucracy tends to bring about inconveniences, particularly in things that could be achieved much easier like license pictures. Processes that should be faster are complicated through bureaucracy and the rules entailed in the same thus causing public resentment. Ronald Regan’s political agenda was to cut or rather reduce bureaucracy, terming it as a bad government, and this attracted people to vote for him. As Rumsfeld elucidates in the quote, increasing bureaucracy increases delay and expense, thus inconveniencing the public.