I have spent the better part of my life in the aerospace business with companies involved in government contracts. I know that waste seems inevitable. When the production process slows down anywhere within the system, management typically hires more staff to increase production, with predictable results. While there have also been many attempts in this industry over the years to analyze and improve processes, only some have been successful while others have not.

Too often, management approaches a production problem using what I call the Baby Solution. The thought pattern goes something like this: if it takes one pregnant woman nine months to produce one baby, then nine pregnant women should be able to produce one baby in 30 days. So, using this example, more manpower, or womanpower, appears to be the answer.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have a golden opportunity to reduce the size of Washington’s bloated and entrenched bureaucracy. Moving some agencies out of Washington, and into other cities like Omaha, Kansas City, or Phoenix, might be an effective way to break up the D.C. logjam. If that bureaucracy is staffed with civil servants, however, it may be even more difficult for Elon and Vivek to remove them due to federal employment restrictions. Since much of my aerospace career was spent trying to improve production processes, from the first contract proposals to the final assembly, I have a suggestion for DOGE that may actually work.

Each government agency, from Agriculture to Treasury, will be required to create a special department called Department 999, or simply D/999. After an analysis of all subprocesses within each agency by trained Industrial Engineers, all civil service employees and non-civil service employees of that agency who are deemed nonessential or redundant will be immediately transferred to D/999. There are also those employees that everyone knows about who do not contribute anything of value to the final product. They, too, will be transferred to D/999. Here they will be given a choice. Resign now without prejudice and receive all retirement benefits to which you are entitled at this time in your career. Or, stay in D/999 at half pay. You will not be fired. You would be required to come to work every day and report to your supervisor. You would have no responsibilities or tasks to perform during your eight-hour-day desk job. There would be one common TV set in the office tuned to the weather channel or the Disney channel. There would be no computers or cell phones allowed and you would not have a security clearance or access to any secured areas.

While there are some people who would stay in D/999, I suspect that attrition would take care of the majority of these transferees. Using the D/999 approach, not only would Elon and Vivek save money, they would create far more efficient processes throughout all government agencies and, who knows, we all may have some fun watching what happens.

Image: AT via Hotpot AI