According to the Boston Globe, an independent review mandated by a House and Senate conference committee has found the White House drug czar’s office to be an “understaffed and troubled bureaucracy led by a director who is ‘high pressure and military-oriented,’ driving many career professionals to quit.”
The congressional committee hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to review the Office of National Drug Control Policy after concern grew about problems in employee retention and drug czar Barry McCaffrey’s management style. The 53-page report may be released this week.
The report states that it takes 20 full-time employees to manage McCaffrey’s schedule, about one-seventh of the staff. The report describes McCaffrey’s leadership style as “aggressive, high-pressure and military oriented,” and many interviewed by PricewaterhouseCooper said “He’s difficult to work for.” The report states “Under the current directorship, a military structure has been imposed on a previously civilian culture. As incompatibilities have developed, people have made the decision to leave.” In 1999 the ONDCP had a 27 percent turnover rate and PricewaterhouseCooper estimates a 38 percent turnover this year as many are expected to leave after the election. The report said that when McCaffrey leaves with the change of administrations, the ONDCP will likely not have a deputy director in place which will hurt the office’s continuity. There has not been a deputy director for 73 percent of McCaffrey’s reign and as the report states, McCaffrey has instead appointed acting deputy directors which “serve at the pleasure of the director, but confirmed deputy directors (by Congress) can only be dismissed by the President or impeached by Congress.”
The report states, “[A]uthority and institutional knowledge are concentrated centrally with the current director and … the knowledge base appears to be weakened and vulnerable.”
“This soon to be released report appears to confirm what most observers of America’s drug policy already know — the ONDCP is principally a political backwash and has little real impact on the consumption of illegal drugs by Americans,” said Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director at (202) 483-8751.
