Administrative cutbacks are a positive step in the right direction In a praiseworthy move, Ohio University reorganized a portion of its administration last week in an effort to stem the unnecessarily rising costs of student room and board while further streamlining operations. The result is a projected increase in room and board rates of only 2 percent for next year and savings of $1.1 million, according to the university. While the combined salaries of those fired amount only to about $420,000, and the $1.1 million figure is not exactly a giant reduction in costs for next year, the university is nonetheless moving in the right direction by cutting personnel.
The reorganization initiative included the elimination of 17 positions through layoffs and reassignments, as well as the firings of five administrators in OU's largest non-faculty division, finance and administration. The university has stressed that the cuts are not related to performance, but are merely the result of budgetary concerns that need to be addressed.
In the past, Ohio University has received criticism from lawmakers and faculty alike regarding excess spending on administration. The result is often increasing overall costs for students and less funding from a state government losing trust in the university's financial wherewithal. This should become one of several steps to decrease spending throughout the university's sphere of activity, and moves such as this are good both from a public relations standpoint and for the bottom line. We can only hope that the university's seemingly newfound, if limited, sense of frugality will help the average OU student.
A sad state of affairs The extent of intelligence failures A presidential commission, in its final report on the matter, concluded Thursday that the nation's spy agencies were dead wrong in almost all their prewar assessments about Iraq, going so far as to collectively refer to them as a major intelligence failure. With all partisan bickering about the justification for invading the country aside, a mistake of such gargantuan proportions should never take place again.
While investigations unveiled no instances of the coercion of intelligence officials to change findings, it did determine that intelligence briefings leading up to the war were not reinforced with information on how much analysis was backed by sound evidence rather than assumptions. This failure often resulted in daily briefings to the president laden with sensational headlines and the constant reuse of questionable data. In the end, the case that Iraq was rebuilding its weapons program was magnificently overstated. The Bush administration, as well as those to follow, must learn from this mistake. The U.S. intelligence community should first be strengthened and then held more accountable for its findings.
The panel concluded that agencies often were completely unable to gather the information they needed most. The consolidation of the nation's 15 intelligence agencies will facilitate increased coordination and is a huge step in the right direction. However, the panel correctly noted that John D. Negroponte, the new director who will oversee them all, needs the absolute backing of the president as he takes on the daunting challenge of bringing these diverse and proud agencies to heel. Each has its own method of operation ingrained in its nature with long practice, and the effort to coordinate each under one banner of investigative excellence and professional accountability will prove to be no small task. After the devastating failures with Iraq, it is one worth undertaking.
Unfortunately, intelligence shortcomings do not end with Iraq. More ominous yet are the commission's findings regarding homeland security. Obviously, there were many intelligence failures leading up to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which have been documented in many investigations. The commission concluded that three years after al-Qaida's attack, the same problems still exist. The American people deserve a better effort than the ones they have received. President Bush has stated he shares the commission's central conclusion, and needs to show that he remains dedicated to the intelligence reform of which this country is in such dire need. With hope, such dedication will decrease America's domestic vulnerability.
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