Can't handle the truth.

• Author: Yessian, Mark
• Position: LETTERS - Letter to the editor

In his July/August 2011 "Tilting at Windmills," Charles Peters reminds us that agency heads who seek the truth on how their agencies perform have good reason to be wary of providing ammunition to external critics. But my years of experience in doing evaluations within federal agencies tells me that internal resistance to truth telling can be of even greater concern. Those running an agency's programs invariably become highly protective of them and react strongly to assessments that are not under their direct control.

I first witnessed this in the 1970s in an office that was inspired by Sargent Shriver's efforts to get feedback when he headed the Office of Economic Opportunity. Our office, in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, sought to provide the secretary with a picture of how things were really working at the delivery level. So we would leave our offices and join volunteers delivering home meals, talk with patients as they were receiving treatment, meet with residents of group homes, etc.

A succession...