black charcoal — Photo by Dexter Fernandes on Unsplash

The federal government is a giant bureaucracy that performs tasks that many of us will never know about. Several writers noticed the same thing and, as DOGE was cutting programs, published Who is Government?

The book is a short series of essays that highlight interesting people solving unique problems in the federal government. Among them is a man who cleaned up a radioactive spill under budget, ahead of schedule, and transformed the area into a safe, clean park.

Problems like these are unprofitable to solve, but valuable to the people affected by them. Another of those problems was solved by a coal miner named Christopher Mark.

Keeping Coal Miners Alive

For decades, coal miners had to support their tunnels by keeping pillars throughout their tunnels. The problem was that the more coal they mined, the weaker these pillars became, increasing the risk of cave ins.

Mark’s insight came from working in a coal mine before dedicating himself to the hard problem of why cave ins happen. Different mines have different rock compositions, which makes a standard solution difficult. Mark created an algorithmic solution that too into account the Earth’s tectonic shifts and other factors to help mine designers plan ahead to keep miners safe.

His efforts paid off. In 2016, no American miner was killed by a falling roof. It was the first time in history that milestone had been reached. Mark’s expertise was vital, but so was another crucial shortcoming that he addressed:

“The impulse to collect data preceded the ability to make sense of it. People facing a complicated problem measure wheatever they can easily measure. But hte measurements by themselves don’t lead to understanding.”

Data is Only as Good as its Application

Mark solved a common management mistake that large organizations are prone to. Collecting data is a crucial first step to solving a problem. But once it’s collected, new priorities can take over the original project the data was for. A solution may not be obvious without the relevant expertise, either.

Practical application was so important to Mark that he bristled at the idea that he wrote “academic papers” in publishing his work. When the author Michael Lewis asked about Mark’s publications, Lewis was surprised at Mark’s initial reaction:

“‘I never wrote an academic paper,’ he said, a bit sharply. ‘Not one. They’re technical papers.’ He caught himself and explained that he saw himself not as an academic but a solver of practical problems. ‘I have an absolute allergy to academic elitism,’ he said, but finally added, ‘No, it’s not normal [for someone in his job to write acadmeic history papers].’”

Mark considered a career in academia but didn’t like the disconnect between research and the people it was supposed to impact. Instead, he found his calling saving lives in the federal government.

Each story in Who is Government? is similarly rich and surprising. It’s a great humanizing look at a bureaucracy that even those of us who cover politics for work know little about.

Applied Knowledge

Who Government Workers Really Are