A bipartisan group of legislators last week introduced bills in the House and Senate to enable the executive branch to rotate personnel among departments and agencies in the national security and homeland security fields to better create a “whole-of-government” approach to security issues.
Much like the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act served to create a culture of jointness within the Defense Department, the Interagency Personnel Rotation Act of 2011 (S. 1268 and H. 2314) would “breakdown stovepipes,” improve communication and “further integrate our government and enable it to counter the national security and homeland security threats of the 21st century,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I/D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said on the Senate floor last Thursday in introducing the bill.
The legislation requires the executive branch to identify “interagency communities of interest” across departments and agencies as well as positions within these “communities” that would allow government personnel to rotate between regardless of which department they work for, Lieberman said. In addition to rotating among agencies, personnel could also rotate to other offices that have interagency missions such as the White House National Security Staff, he said.
The bill sponsors understand that to create a new generation of joint security thinkers, there need to be incentives
“Completing an interagency rotation would be a prerequisite for selection to certain Senior Executive Service positions within that interagency community of interest,” Lieberman said. “As a result, personnel would have the incentives to serve in a rotational position and to develop the whole-of-government perspective and the network of contacts necessary for integrating across agencies and accomplishing national security and homeland security missions more efficiently and effectively.”
These communities could be based on regional areas such as the Middle East or policy and operational areas such as counter-insurgency or counter-proliferation, he said.
In the Senate, bill co-sponsors include Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii). In the House, bill sponsors are Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) and John Tierney (D-Mass.).
“This legislation provides for greater collaboration and professional development of those critical to our security so that these personnel will be able to more effectively participate in the planning and execution of national security interagency operations when the need arises,” Davis said.