I've really got to read Mark Steyn more diligently. I tend to agree with his point near the end of the linked piece:

On the whole, all the Federal agencies that failed so spectacularly on 9/11 are as bureaucratic, lethargic and inept as they were then. And no-one has been fired. One lucky break for a couple of Islamist boneheads, and the Dems and the media will be hammering Bush on why he let it happen all over again. It remains a melancholy fact that, for a US President, it�s easier to reform Iraq�s government agencies than America�s. I do not expect this situation to improve in 2004.

But what can any administration do about it? Bush doesn't need the political trouble he'd incur by firing whole agencies, nor can he afford to wait for the Senate to go through the agonizing slow motion approval process. The only solution, I'm afraid, is for a two-thirds majority of the nation to become small government conservatives overnight and throw out all the lawmakers who won't support drastic cuts in government bureaucracy. I'm not holding my breath.