Obama fashions a government of many czars

By Steve Holland - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Name a top issue and President Barack Obama has probably got a "czar" responsible for tackling it.

A bank bailout czar? Herb Allison. Energy czar? Carol Browner.

There's a drug czar, a U.S. border czar, an urban czar, a regulatory czar, a stimulus accountability czar, an Iran czar, a Middle East czar, and a czar for both Afghanistan and Pakistan, which in Washington-speak has been lumped together into a policy area called Af-Pak.

There are upward of 20 such top officials, all with lengthy official titles but known in the media as czars, and next week there will be one more, when Obama appoints a czar for cyber-security who will be charged with improving the security of computer networks.

"In short, America's economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cyber-security," Obama said on Friday.

Experts say Obama's reliance on czars can be helpful by focusing attention on a big issue and making someone responsible for it, but that it can also lead to turf fights and add another cumbersome bureaucratic layer.

Or, as Republican Senator John McCain likes to say, Obama has "more czars than the Romanovs," who ruled Russia for three centuries.

On cyber-security specifically, some with deep knowledge of U.S. national security issues say having a central coordinator in charge would be helpful.

Ken Wainstein, who was former President George W. Bush's homeland security adviser, said the issues inherent to cyber-security cross many different government agencies, from the Department of Homeland Security to the ultra-secret National Security Agency, to the Defense Department, and on.

"It's a big issue that has a lot government players so it needs some coordination," said Wainstein, now at the law firm O'Melveny & Myers.

"It also helps to raise the profile of the issue within the bureaucracy to ensure the issue is addressed aggressively. Our cyber systems are being attacked on a regular basis," he said.

'OUTSIDE FORMAL CHANNELS'

Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas political science professor, said that in some respects Obama looks to be relying on a formula from his successful election campaign last year -- making top people responsible for various parts of his sprawling operation.

"It does seem to facilitate going outside formal channels and creating ad hoc solutions," he said. "I think it makes sense. It's the way he operates."

Many analysts are carefully watching what happens at Obama's State Department, where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in overall charge but has a number of top envoys working on many central issues.