Our vast world responsibility accents with urgency our people's elemental
right to a government whose clear qualities are loyalty, security,
efficiency, economy, and integrity.
The safety of America and the trust of the people alike demand that the
personnel of the Federal Government be loyal in their motives and reliable
in the discharge of their duties. Only a combination of both loyalty and
reliability promises genuine security.
To state this principle is easy; to apply it can be difficult. But this
security we must and shall have. By way of example, all principal new
appointees to departments and agencies have been investigated at their own
request by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Confident of your understanding and cooperation, I know that the primary
responsibility for keeping out the disloyal and the dangerous rests
squarely upon the executive branch. When this branch so conducts itself as
to require policing by another branch of the Government, it invites its own
disorder and confusion.
I am determined to meet this responsibility of the Executive. The heads of
all executive departments and agencies have been instructed to initiate at
once effective programs of security with respect to their personnel. The
Attorney General will advise and guide the departments and agencies in the
shaping of these programs, designed at once to govern the employment of new
personnel and to review speedily any derogatory information concerning
incumbent personnel.
To carry out these programs, I believe that the powers of the executive
branch under existing law are sufficient. If they should prove inadequate,
the necessary legislation will be requested.
These programs will be both fair to the rights of the individual and
effective for the safety of the Nation. They will, with care and justice,
apply the basic principle that public employment is not a right but a
privilege.
All these measures have two clear purposes: Their first purpose is to make
certain that this Nation's security is not jeopardized by false servants.
Their second purpose is to clear the atmosphere of that unreasoned
suspicion that accepts rumor and gossip as substitutes for evidence.
Our people, of course, deserve and demand of their Federal Government more
than security of personnel. They demand, also, efficient and logical
organization, true to constitutional principles.
I have already established a Committee on Government Organization. The
Committee is using as its point of departure the reports of the Hoover
Commission and subsequent studies by several independent agencies. To
achieve the greater efficiency and economy which the Committee analyses
show to be possible, I ask the Congress to extend the present Government
Reorganization Act for a period of 18 months or 2 years beyond its
expiration date of April 1, 1953.
There is more involved here than realigning the wheels and smoothing the
gears of administrative machinery. The Congress rightfully-expects the
Executive to take the initiative in discovering and removing outmoded
functions and eliminating duplication.
One agency, for example, whose head has promised early and vigorous action
to provide greater efficiency is the Post Office. One of the oldest
institutions of our Federal Government, its service should be of the best.
Its employees should merit and receive the high regard and esteem of the
citizens of the Nation. There are today in some areas of the postal
service, both waste and incompetence to be corrected. With the cooperation
of the Congress, and taking advantage of its accumulated experience in
postal affairs, the Postmaster General will institute a program directed at
improving service while at the same time reducing costs and decreasing
deficits.
In all departments, dedication to these basic precepts of security and
efficiency, integrity, and economy can and will produce an administration
deserving of the trust the people have placed in it.
Our people have demanded nothing less than good, efficient government. They
shall get nothing less.