Path to Chief Statistician
Located for the most part in the Office of
Management and Budget, a component of
the Executive Office of the President, the
Office of Statistical and Science Policy is a
tiny unit that depends on collaboration with
leaders and staff members of the statistical
agencies to carry out many of its activities,
particularly with respect to the develop-
ment of classification standards and guid-
ance related to statistical practices. Given
the coordination responsibilities across the
U.S. statistical system and the mandate to
work with the international community,
the head of this office is known as the chief
statistician of the United States.
My own path to chief statistician was,
as stated at the outset, a totally unchart-
ed route. Arriving in Washington in the
late 60s (the first unanticipated stop on
my journey), I became interested in the
kind of work that seemed available in the
federal government. With my bachelor’s
in sociology in hand, I took the civil
service exam and was soon employed by
the then Office of Education in the then
Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare. My job consisted of evaluating
government programs directed to pro-
vide education and training for those in
need of jobs, or better jobs.
USA or Statistics America), but rather we At the hub of this decentralized sys-
Ultimately, my work led to a “bold new
have a number of agencies responsible for tem is the Office of Statistical and Science
venture,” working cooperatively with state
the nation’s statistical product. Depending Policy, which, for close to 70 years, has
education agencies to measure the progress
on how one counts, there are about a been responsible for several key functions,
of programs providing assistance to local
dozen federal agencies that have statistical including the following:
schools. I focused on programs involving
work as their principal duty: U.S. Census
the low-income, handicapped, and other-
Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis,
wise educationally disadvantaged popula-
• Developing long-range plans for
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of
tions. In turn, as is the way in Washington,
improving federal statistics
Justice Statistics, Bureau of Transportation
there was a “reorganization,” and my activi-
Statistics, National Center for Health • Ensuring the adequacy of funding
ties were transferred to the National Center
Statistics, National Center for Education
proposed for statistical programs in
for Education Statistics, where I was put in
Statistics, National Agricultural Statistics
charge of establishing a collaborative with
the president’s budget
Service, Economic Research Service, Energy
the states to design a system to meet the
Information Administration, Statistics of
• Setting and overseeing the imple-
data needs of government at both levels.
Income at the Internal Revenue Service, and
mentation of a variety of standards
Though perhaps not realizing it at the time,
Science Resources Statistics at the National
to enhance the quality and utility of
collaborating on statistical systems with
Science Foundation. Together, these agen-
government statistical information
other levels of government became one of
cies employ more than 10,000 permanent
my major career interests.
staff members, including approximately
• Reviewing proposed information col- Indeed, it was this line of effort that
2,000 who are classified as “statisticians”
lections to ensure appropriate meth- prompted an invitation for my first trip to
and many more with backgrounds in eco-
odologies are employed and the need the Office of Management and Budget in
nomics and demography. Moreover, oppor-
for the data justifies the anticipated the mid-70s, when the chief statistician was
tunities abound for statisticians in some 60
respondent burden
keen to extend such collaborations to other
federal agencies that have other primary
areas of statistics. The journey to OMB led
• Representing the United States in
missions, such as administration of benefits
me to opportunities to expand my inter-
international statistical activities
(e.g., Medicare and Medicaid) and regula-
actions—particularly in the areas of social
tion (e.g., the environment).
and demographic statistics—as well as the
28 AMSTAT NEWS JUNE 2008
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