Distributed Government

We've all seen complaints about how the US State Department seems to have a mind of it's own when it comes to foreign policy. It seems to me that they have developed an internal culture that is risk-averse in the extreme and only responds half-hearedly to the administration's direction. I strongly suspect that the state department has become a haven for East Coast liberals and Rockefeller Republicans. This leads me to speculate about how the State Dept would be different if it were located in another part of the country.

When Pierre L'Enfant planned the Disctrict of Columbia, he intended for it's physical design to facilitate communication and accessibility, not only with the American people, but also with the other branches of government. In those days, obviously, it took considerably longer to travel distances and one couldn't just pick up the telephone if they wanted to speak to someone across the country.

With the advances in communication made possible by the internet, physical proximity no longer carries that same weight of importance. If the State Dept were located in someplace like the Sears-Roebuck campus in Hoffman Estates, IL would it be more conservative and less "international" than it is today? How much does the physical location of our government affect it's operation?

For agencies whose members rotate in and out frequently, the physical location of their workplace has very little effect on their culture. For those "career" diplomats and other members of the government, location has a noticeable effect. My hypothesis is this: The location of DC on the eastern seaboard tends to contribute to policies that reflect a liberal ideology. Of course, physical location isn't the main factor in determining the ideology of a government agency, but I suspect it has a powerful effect nonetheless. Other government agencies like the CIA also seem to have taken a decidedly liberal tilt in the past decade.

There is a further benefit to not having all of the government agencies located in one city. The risk of disruption from a dirty bomb goes down when all of the government agencies aren't located within a relatively small radius.

In the age of quick communications; satellite telephones, video conferencing, and the ubiquitous internet, does physical proximity still matter? Would our government actually be stronger if it wasn't all located in the same area? I don't really know the answers to these questions, but imagining the State Dept in Hoffman Estates leads me to believe that it would make a difference. Maybe it isn't the physical location at all. Maybe, as a nation, we should take a much closer look at career government employees and see if they shouldn't be drawn from a more diverse pool.