Bureaucrats Making Work for Themselves, And Us Part 1

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

--- Parkinson's Law, C. Northcote Parkinson

The morning of September 11th, we were all horrified by the images on television of the burning World Trade Center, videotaped replays of the aircraft hitting the second tower, the Pentagon burning, etc.

But, I'm certain you don't remember the Emergency Action Notification System (EANS) (tones, followed by, "This is a test...") coming on with the annoying tones and announcements as the event unfolded. Even though its primary purpose is to notify us of an attack, it was never activated. In spite of the biggest emergency since the Cuban Missile Crisis, EANS wasn't used yet somehow everyone got the word. 

I attended a government disaster meeting in Norman, OK several months after September 11th and there were two high-level representatives of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in attendance. During a break, I went over and introduced myself and asked why EANS was not used on September 11th. The response surprised me. I thought the answer would be, "we forgot." Their answer was that it was initially thought Sept. 11 to be too "local" a disaster, so it was not used.  They told me that they would use it for a bigger disaster.

Photo from Wikipedia Commons

OK, think about this: If there were a bigger disaster than September 11th, do you believe there is any doubt CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, etc., etc., etc., would cover it?

If you agree with me that the news networks would cover the disaster then the conclusion that a rational person might reach is: We don't need the Emergency Action Notification System! 

A bureaucrat's response: Lets make it bigger and more complicated.

So, today, we find this article from Federal News Radio that tells us:
"The primary goal is to provide the President with a mechanism to communicate with the American public during times of national emergency," said Fowlkes. The change, she said, is that prior to last week's order there was no rule in place to call for or allow a test from top to bottom.

The President can't get on the air in an emergency now?

And, they want to make additional changes (see article at link). So, get ready for more tests and longer tests starting in a few months.

If the politicians in D.C. want to find a way to cut the Federal budget, this would be a good place to start.

But it isn't just the bureaucrats wanting to build the bureaucracy. Stay tuned for Part II.