Avoid hasty creation of new federal office

In his opinion piece of April 16, 10th District congressman Brad Schneider endeavors to make a case for the creation of a "supply chain czar" to manage the acquisition and distribution of various personal protective items and medical equipment in emergency situations. While I appreciate his efforts to ameliorate a serious problem, I feel that he has ignored some important factors in his analysis.

Initially, he ignores the fact that individual states (and medical facilities) have shortages of these items because of their own inadequate planning. The federal government cannot be expected to instantaneously obviate shortages a state has created for itself because the state did not foresee the magnitude of the problem. Problems of distribution within a state are best resolved within that state. This means planning and budgeting for exigencies at the state level.

Next, his proposed solution involves the creation of yet another massive federal bureaucracy. In my lifetime, I have observed three facts about bureaucracies: they always grow, the larger they get the less responsive they become and they develop a herd instinct for self-preservation. We need only look at the growth of the Departments of Education and Homeland Security to observe these phenomena. Given the imbalance in recent federal budgets, more federal expansion is the last thing needed. We should look for ways to streamline government.

Lastly, we need to take a long-term analytic approach to resolving the problems created by emergency situations. Hastily establishing a costly solution to a problem not thoroughly analyzed leads only to complication rather than resolution of the issue.

Marvin L. Johnson

Grayslake