environment not particularly conducive to large new initiatives. And collaboration with people both inside and outside of government becomes ever more important.

To note that large new programs are not in the cards is not to belittle the tasks facing the next cadre of political and career leaders who will be taking over before long. Without a single new program, the government already is huge and occupied with addressing many of our most vexing problems. Improving performance of our existing agencies and programs remains a large and complex endeavor. Of course, progress has been made, and this volume draws on research that has documented successes. Reformation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the 1990s, the advances in medical care made by the Veterans Health Administration, the fascinating public-private network created by the Bureau of Primary Health Care to extend its reach, the recasting of the Internal Revenue Service as guardian of the taxpayer, NASA’s recovery from the shuttle Columbia’s tragic loss, and the creation of the Human Genome Project are among the cases providing grist for the research.