IBM Center for The Business of Government

Dr. Worley's report examines 60 years of history of how presidents have used the National Security Council organization and process. From the administration of Harry Truman to George W. Bush, the report analyses which approaches succeeded and which failed. It then offers a series of recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the national security system.

Historically, transforming state government meant restructuring or reorganizing the executive branch or a single agency. However, these approaches are no longer seen as effective. State government must become more flexible and responsive to the rapidly changing environment in which they operate. The four transformation strategies recommended in this report can be acted upon in a relatively short period of time without investing a great deal of additional resources and without partisan debates.

Based on her observations of best practices in various states, Judy Zelio identifies five specific actions that state agencies can take to provide performance information that legislators will see as useful, such as ensuring that executive branch budget staff provides performance information for legislative use that "emphasizes policy results rather than administrative measures."

The Service Acquisition Reform Act (SARA) Legislation of 2003 (41 U.S.C. 414) established new positions of Chief Acquisition Officers to oversee Federal civilian agency acquisition operations. The expectation was that the CAO would be highly placed in the agency, advising the agency head on business strategy and focusing on acquisition in the broadest sense of the term. Many would argue that the CAO position has not lived up to its promise.