Hurricane Katrina shattered belief that the nation’s homeland security system wasready for a major terrorist attack. Public administrators staff that system. Katrina providesan opportunity to review the central normative premise of public administration:competence. This article briefly reviews the changing competence frameworks that haveguided public administration since the 1880s. Over the last one hundred years, administratorshave been seen as artisans, scientists, social reformers, and managers. The ineptnessof the public sector’s response to Katrina reminds us – however briefly – that for the last 30years, government has been seen as the enemy, the problem to be solved – not the partnerin finding solutions. The result is a demoralized and dysfunctional public workforce. TheAmerican homeland can never be secure until the public workforce recreates the spirit ofcompetent service so glaringly absent in the wake of Katrina.
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