In Washington, reform is in the air, but make no mistake: The slope is steep. For the Trump administration, time will pass fast. Once inauguration is over, acting decisively is essential. Pressure to revert mounts quickly — I know, because I’ve been through it.
Although it was a lower-level position, my appointment came out of nowhere. Throughout the process, I remembered the small town in Maine I came from, with just 500 hard-working souls. Back there, every dollar is counted. People worked in mills or farming and expected Washington to work for them. My voice was theirs.
Sworn in as an assistant secretary of state, unanimously confirmed and serving under President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, I was charged with setting up police training in Iraq and Afghanistan, managing Plan Colombia, cross-checking Kosovo, and working on the rule of law in 70 uneasy countries. Motivated by home, I got down to it.
Within days, I de-obligated tens of millions of dollars in wasted embassy money, used executive power to reign in runaway programs, ended bureaucratic slush funds, collared contractors with oversight, demanded competition, and imposed contract penalties and new financial management standards. We called the inspector general in on the $2 billion bureau and debriefed Congress. I sought common purpose from political, civil and foreign service officers — and got it.
But not a day passed when there weren’t detractors and attempts to subvert reform. Nor did a day pass when I forgot that Maine town where we fixed things ourselves and knew how to economize.
Most Americans live that way. Most of Washington does not. Growing up in the summers, I worked for local farmers, cleaned toilets at a summer camp, mowed hundreds of acres, studded up houses, roofed, taught swimming and got mentored by World War II vets. Invaluable lessons.
Several weeks into my appointment, I began understanding people, inviting complaints, getting under rocks. I managed 400 airframes, Blackhawks to C-130s, spray planes to rotor wings. We restored lagging operational readiness rates to north of 85 percent. Police training centers in Colombia, Bangkok, Botswana and Budapest got focused, burden-sharing agreements signed, while stovepipes were dropped in favor of “one mission” inter-agency coordination.
What puzzled me most was the mindless disconnection between spending money and getting results. There was no accountability for requested budgets. Money was not real. From that discovery forward, we made it real.
Business as usual was over: No more mid-level relationships tipping to contractors, no requests without metrics, no unjustified trips, no unreturned calls. Next, I got number crunchers and counsel to reshape all contracts and make them competitive with detailed invoices.
Then, we tore down barriers with the Department of Defense, intelligence agencies, the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration. I invited a CIA ace into my front office, in addition to a Navy officer and two Marines — one for Iraq, the other Afghanistan. I added DEA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the shop. Trust grew.
Early on, there was another announcement. If you were committed to the president’s mission, stay and be promoted. If not, find another home. Suddenly, the team thinned like the Red Sea. Those left got down to work.
My learning started small. One day a senior civil servant, confident in her seniority, complained about another. I strolled over to talk it out. Trying to shut the door, she noted that it never worked and groused about maintenance. With a pocket screw driver, I fixed it on the spot. She was baffled, and her complaint vanished.
Some got it, some did not. Some pinched pennies, declined trips and refused recognition, especially former members of the military. Some had to be told to stop using government air travel and to fly commercial. Some felt taxpayers owed them, but the majority learned.
The big takeaway was that yawning culture gap. For those with a background in the private sector, accounting, management, oversight, command, or lawyering to win, outcomes mattered. By contrast, others felt entitled to the paycheck and no need to measure progress toward goals. Pay and job performance were delinked. I explicitly relinked them.
Remarkably, many did not realize what was expected of them and why. Nor did they realize the duty they owed the American people. That’s why reform mattered.
Who knows what impact we had in the short time we served? What we hoped to do was keep faith, generate results and stay accountable. That’s the least Americans should expect.
The mandate now is reform. But the job is going to be tougher than most think. There’s no time to lose. Appointees must do what they can, while they can, for those who trust you will deliver.
Robert Charles was an assistant secretary of state during the George W. Bush administration. He also worked in the White House during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
