(Letter to the Editor - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

President Trump’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) initiative coupled with our crippling national debt is earth-shaking. Having worked in and around the federal government for over 35 years, I have witnessed first hand the fraud, waste and abuse. Every federal supervisor knows the philosophy when facing funding cuts, hide what you cannot justify. “Unfinance” the emotional issues (particularly those which will get the “Mama Bears” upset.)

Government agencies all have expansion creep. By expanding the organization’s responsibilities, employee job descriptions can also expand resulting in pay increases. These expansions have helped give rise to the overreach of the “administrative state.”

For outside entities to come in and make sweeping cuts is almost “mission impossible.” The first task is to redefine the critical organizational mission, and then pare down the bloat even when the Mama Bears get upset. Getting rid of 25 employees in Nebraska is no big deal. Getting rid of 25 employees in Parkersburg is a big deal — it becomes personal and the Parkersburg Mama Bears get upset. This is a national problem.

Collectively, the number of unneeded federal employees is huge and drives a great deal of the smothering national debt. Executives within an agency are, by nature, protective of their organizations but they are the individuals with the most knowledge of pairing people to mission. To me, unneeded government employees are not getting paychecks; they are collecting welfare.

Lt. Col. Lance K. Hickel

U.S. Army (retired)

Parkersburg