Member-only story
National Parks Under Siege
How “Efficiency” Policy Threatens Our Most Treasured Spaces
As a former federal employee, I know a little about the inner workings of the vast and sprawling bureaucracy. When it comes to Federal workers, there are indeed positions to be culled and processes to be streamlined.
But what I have gathered from the current “efficiency” efforts is that DOGE is not targeting wasteful spending. Their actions so far are as arbitrary as the weekly emails focused on threats and demands.
My personal experience is with the DOJ and the DOI. In the DOJ, bureaucracy exists to help prevent overreach. All those extra steps to get search warrants and the like? Protections of your right to due process.
The Patriot Act after 9–11 encroached on those. Then the Freedom Act put limits on the whole mess in the name of individual freedom. But that’s a different article.
(However, I will point out, many of those who championed the Freedom Act are suddenly perfectly okay with an unelected, unvetted, corporate tycoon having full access to every byte of data the government has on its citizens…)
More recently, I worked as a seasonal employee with the National Park Service (NPS). Having been self-employed since 2007, I was considering a return to Federal service.
