On the surface, this story about #COVID19 testing is about bureaucratic failure. But if you understand how government works and look a little deeper, it’s actually about a lack of leadership at the very top. Read on. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2020/04/03/coronavirus-cdc-test-kits-public-health-labs/?arc404=true

I’ve been in gov't most of my adult life, from local entry-level jobs to senior positions at the state and federal levels. Bureaucratic challenges like this come up all time. Too many rules & regs, poor communication & cooperation, lack of vision and urgency. Happens every day.

That’s when leadership is supposed to step in by setting priorities, aligning policies, improving communication, resolving conflicts, cutting red tape, and so on. When processes break down at lower levels, leaders at higher levels are supposed to come in and fix it.

The way you fix bureaucratic problems is by elevating them. As a chief of staff at DOJ, I saw this all the time. It’s natural for “career” folks to struggle at times because solutions are often “above their pay grade.” Not in terms of talent, mind you, just in terms of authority.

In this story, there’s nothing remarkable about all the dithering at the CDC and FDA. What’s remarkable is that it was only on 2/27, at the urging of Dr. Fauci, that the “politicals” (politically-appointed leaders at the highest levels of government) finally got involved.

That was at least 3 WEEKS after the initial problem surfaced. That is totally unacceptable given that thousands and perhaps millions of American lives were on the line. It took that long because Trump and his team are concerned only with politics, not with the crisis itself.

There are dozens of stories about the federal response to COVID-19 like this. When a true emergency arises, the normal processes fail, and leaders need to step up. Many governors and mayors are doing this. Trump is not.

To repeat, there was nothing unusual about this failure at the bureaucratic level. What was unusual (and inexcusable) was the failure of our political leadership to act until it was too late. Many, many people have died as a result.

On a personal note, when I was in government I worked very, very hard, knowing that lives were on the line and that I couldn't live with myself if I didn’t do my best every day. I honestly don’t know how these guys sleep at night.