The Obama administration is piling up more czars than a Russian history book.
Though President Barack Obama had been in office for almost 90 days before his first Cabinet meeting Monday, he has already installed more than a dozen so-called issues czars in his administration.
The most recent came as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano last week named former federal prosecutor Alan Bersin the nation’s border czar, tasked with confronting drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
Bersin joins more than a dozen other czars tasked with pushing the president’s agenda. Each has Obama’s ear to varying degrees, and, unlike the existing 22 Cabinet-level positions past presidents have relied on, none had to go through dicey Senate confirmation hearings.
Whereas President George W. Bush held his first Cabinet meeting 11 days after taking office, Obama, who was also slowed by several failed appointments, has waited much longer and used more non-Cabinet officers to move his agenda.
“Czars can be located directly in the White House and they need only be responsive to the president,” said Sean Theriault, a University of Texas political scientist. “And when the president names someone as a ‘czar,’ it has a way of focusing public attention on the president’s key agenda items.”
The first White House issues czar was President Franklin Roosevelt’s “war production czar” Donald Nelson, who was joined by an economic czar, a manpower czar, a food czar and even a rubber czar. Subsequent presidents have either ditched the concept or had one or two czars for pet issues such as drug control or education initiatives.
Obama rarely uses the word “czar,” which is a favorite of journalists and pundits. Instead, Bersin’s official title is assistant homeland security secretary for international affairs.
The constellation of czars in the Obama administration includes Carol M. Browner, czarina for energy; Nancy-Ann Deparle, czarina of health care, Joshua DuBois, czar of faith-based and neighborhood issues, plus czars for terrorism, urban affairs, drugs, the auto industry and more.
Often a czar appointment can signal a shift in administration policy. When Obama named Gil Kerlikowske, a former Seattle police chief, to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy, it suggested the White House was moving toward a treatment-based drug strategy and away from a law enforcement program.
Kerlikowske, who called the nation’s drug woes a matter of “human suffering,” was noted in Seattle for downplaying the urgency of minor pot busts. He also has a stepson who has faced drug-related charges.
As a practical matter, White House czars occupy a rare — and sometimes confusing — place in the power lineup of an administration. Critics say they lack accountability, blur the lines of authority and create an extra layer of bureaucracy.
The White House has said the czar appointments are intended to focus maximum attention and expertise on key issues.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, last month sent a letter to Obama warning about the unchecked powers of the czar system.
“Too often, I have seen the lines of authority and responsibility become tangled and blurred, sometimes purposely, to shield information and to obscure the decision-making process,” Byrd wrote.
