Layering.One day when I was working in the government, I was chatting with a young woman who had recently left my division for another in which she headed one of the smaller units. During our conversation I was somewhat taken aback when she referred to "my deputy"--there were only three other people in her unit. The problem this anecdote illustrates is called "layering"--and it's getting worse, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Paul Light of New York University New York University, mainly in New York City; coeducational; chartered 1831, opened 1832 as the Univ. of the City of New York, renamed 1896. It comprises 13 schools and colleges, maintaining 4 main centers (including the Medical Center) in the city, as well as the and Brookings, who is the leading academic authority on the federal bureaucracy. In 1960, the government had 17 layers. Today it has 58. My favorites are the titles authorized under the Assistant Secretary level. They are Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Assistant Secretary, Principal Deputy Deputy Assistant Secretary, Deputy Deputy Assistant Secretary, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary, Chief of Staff to the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary, Deputy Associate Assistant Secretary, Assistant Deputy Assistant Secretary, Principal Associate Assistant Secretary, Associate Assistant Secretary, Chief of Staff to the Associate Assistant Secretary. Deputy Associate Assistant Secretary, Principal Assistant Assistant Secretary; and Assistant Assistant Secretary. This kind of layering causes two problems. The people at the top don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what's really happening in the field or can get away with pretending they don't--witness Abu Ghraib--because there are far too many levels of officialdom in between. And if there is one skill those in between are sure to have, it is to filter out enough bad news to avoid the usual consequences for the bearer and to endow en·dow tr.v. en·dowed, en·dow·ing, en·dows 1. To provide with property, income, or a source of income. 2. a. those at the top with plausible deniability Plausible deniability is the term given to the creation of loose and informal chains of command in governments and other large organizations. In the case that assassinations, false flag or black ops or any other illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become . The other problem, which is what happened at the CIA CIA: see Central Intelligence Agency. (1) (Confidentiality Integrity Authentication) The three important concerns with regards to information security. Encryption is used to provide confidentiality (privacy, secrecy). , is that if practically everyone is an administrator, or in some comfy com·fy adj. com·fi·er, com·fi·est Informal Comfortable. comfy Adjective [-fier, -fiest] Informal comfortable Adj. 1. headquarters job, there are not enough people to do the agency's real work in the field. |
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