Should Federal Bureaucrats be Granted Discretion in the Implementation of Public Policies - Assignment Example

Should federal bureaucrats be granted discretion in the implementation of public policies? Role of Federal bureaucrats ingovernment Federal bureaucracy is a government organization. It is staffed with officials based on experience and expertise that put into operation public policies in the country. A bureaucrat is a member of the system of government that includes the administration. The role of a bureaucrat is to collect revenue to help control economy and implement budgets. Bureaucrats access classified documents in the departments they are involved. The departments they are involved in are security and intelligence departments. This may put a nation into a great risk in case any member of the bureaucracy leaks the information outside the government. This is well portrayed in the case of an American Edward Snowden. Who is Edward Snowden? Edward Snowden is an American born in June 1983. He is a computer professional, the former employee of The Central Agency (CIA). He is also former contractor of the national security Agency (NSA).Before then he used to work as a security guard in NSA. He completed his computer studies at Arundel community college and became computer professional. When working in Hawaii as a technical expert Edward accessed 1.5 million files of classified materials about U.S (Encyclopedia britannica507). Edward Snowden disclosed information about the national security agency to the media for his own benefit. Since then he has been on the run from the U.S Government. He went to Russia, disclosed the information to the media, and hid in Russia specifically in a disclosed location. Although Edward indicated that some surveillance techniques were unlawful, he acknowledged that there were more lawful surveillance methods. He argued that bulk data collection has no benefits in justifying threats to U.S.lack of discretion like Edward poses the nation at a risk of insecurity and members of bureaucracy lack willingness to implement various public policies (Tummers and Beckers 3) Position of federal government Federal government denounces flow of classified information to media and unauthorized individuals. Government takes the disclosure of information as organization failure, which is a crime upon which the leaker is condemned. The role of the federal government is to serve the public at best interests. Its role is to make treaties with foreign government, establish army, navy, and declare war (Federal State and Local Government Responsibilities 1). It declares war to individuals who compromise its proper functioning in executing its roles, for example, Edward Snowden. Due to instances of leaking information, federal government has devised governmental leak regulations. The government`s stand on Edward`s case is that he is a criminal. The prosecutors of the federal government have filed a criminal case against him. It charged him with theft of government property, violating the United States’ 1917 Espionage Act, and the willful communication of classified intelligence information. The government terms him as a whistleblower who sold the secrets of the U.S to her enemies for profit hence a criminal who should face the law (Halbert and Elaine 83). If I were Edward Snowden, I would turn myself in considering that what I have done is a criminal offence. The actions of Snowden jeopardize the bilateral interrelationships of the United States (Takhar 4). This in turn influence the economy of the country. The actions would also put the Americans in security risks. This is because the state becomes enemies with the other countries especially the country in which he has sought asylum (Russia).This leads to terrorism in the states. This means Snowden`s family would be involved too. If I were Edward, I would not expose my family and state at large in serious issues like terrorism. Edward is living like a fugitive, but the only dissimilarity is that he has been given asylum by the Russian government. Being a fugitive is not pleasant since it makes one’s freedom compromised, and has to stay away from the family. It also affects an individual`s social life since one has to live in hiding. These are reasons enough for Edward to turn himself in and be answerable to his actions. I would do the same if, at some point, I question the legality of my actions. I would require to be protected by my lawyer after coming forward. I would also require the government to grant me a chance to defend myself considering turning myself in. This is because Edward had reasons for his actions. He claimed that surveillance of data is intruding an individual’s privacy, which is not fair to any person. Also Edward believed that there are other better methods of surveillance that do not interfere with an individual`s private life. Being a computer professional is reason enough for him to be given a chance to put forward his better methods. The main reason I would require protection and an opportunity to defend myself is the goodwill to turn myself rather than seek asylum in another country. Secondly, I would put forward my expertise on other better methods that do not involve the use of mass data base surveillance. In the real sense, as of today, Edward is in discreet location and the U, S government is still searching for him. Coming forward to answering to my case would save the state the agony of looking for a fugitive. This justifies my need for protection. Federal government should not be granted discretion because discretion has its effects. It makes bureaucrats lack willingness to implement public policies and lack effectiveness in its work. Lack of access to classified information makes bureaucrats fail to carry out their duties well hence, the organization becomes unstable. This makes various government departments stop functioning, which can cause serious problems. On the other hand, there are repercussions of exposing classified information to bureaucrats as highlighted in this paper. Some of which include security risks effect on economy suffering a decline. Still there is an advantage of exposing information in that the bureaucrats are able to implement changes on the policies to make them more meaningful to the client (Tummers and Beckkers 3). This in turn influences the value of policies they deliver to clients (Tummers and Beckkers 4). The government should only regulate the departments that can access classified information. This way the government reduces the persons that can leak the information to unauthorized persons. Works Cited Halbert, Terry, and Elaine Ingulli. Law & Ethics in the Business Environment. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. Explaining Federal, State and Local Government Responsibilities in Virginia, web. 20 April 2014. Takhar, Sukhray.If I Was ... Analyzing Edward Snowden. NewYork: ebook collections. 2014. Print. Inc, Encyclopaedia B. Britannica Book of the Year 2014. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc, 2014. Internet resource. Tummers, Lars and Bekkers, Victor. Discretion and its effects: Analyzing the experiences of street-level bureaucrats during policy implementation,5-8 Sept.2012. web.20 April 2014. Read More