Statement by the President Upon Signing Order Providing Further Training for Government Employees.

ON March 17, 1967, in my Message to the Congress on the Quality of American Government, I proposed several measures for improving the methods, machinery, and manpower of government at all levels.

Two weeks later, I urged the Congress to take two vital steps to strengthen the Federal Government:

--to increase the salaries of Government employees;

--to increase postal rates and improve postal services. Today I have signed an Executive order which will strengthen the most important resource of the Federal Government--the Federal employee--through improved training and educational opportunities.

In America we are fortunate to have the finest civil service in the world. It is well-trained, experienced, and dedicated. Its skills are unsurpassed. But there is room for improvement.

The tasks facing the Government employee are increasing in complexity each day. He is challenged by the problems of outer space and urban blight, of national security and crime in the streets, of economic development abroad and manpower shortages at home. To each task, he must bring the best our advanced technology can provide. And for each task he is given the most modern equipment available.

But to fulfill his responsibilities as a public servant, he must be equipped to respond quickly and effectively to new demands and new conditions. His skills must continually be upgraded. He must be able to adopt and use the most advanced techniques and equipment available.

The Executive order which I have signed today will enable us to:

--Improve the public service through more effective and efficient training programs.

--Administer Federal programs with increased efficacy and economy.

--Build and retain a corps of employees whose skills are continually upgraded to meet the increasingly complex needs of the society they serve.

--Use the most modern practices and techniques in the conduct of the Government's business.

The order directs the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission to plan and promote the development, improvement, coordination, and evaluation of Federal training programs. He will assist the agencies and departments of the Federal Government in improving their training programs, identify areas in which new training activity is necessary, and coordinate interagency training efforts. He will also develop a training information system to provide the data essential to sound planning and evaluation.

Excellence is important at all levels of Government. It is particularly critical at the top level of the Federal Government. Accordingly, I am directing the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission to establish a center for advanced study for executives in the upper echelons of the civil service.

The center will offer to our top level executives intensive courses designed to bring greater efficiency to the administration of our programs and increased opportunities for career development to our public servants. The courses will focus primarily on three areas of vital importance:

--The major problems facing our society and the nature of the Government's response to those problems.

--The adequacy of the existing structure of Government in relation to today's problems.

--The ways in which administration of Federal programs can be improved. The center, under the leadership of the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission and an interagency advisory council, will call upon leaders in the academic community and in other fields of endeavor to assist in providing our top executives the best training possible.

In preparing the Executive order and in developing plans for the center, we have been assisted by the distinguished Task Force on Career Advancement which reported earlier this year. I am grateful for their invaluable contribution to our efforts to improve the quality of government.

The Task Force was headed by John W. Macy, Jr., Chairman of the Civil Service Commission. Its members were: Dr. Marvin H. Berkeley, corporate personnel director, Texas Instruments, Inc., Dallas, Texas; Andrew Biemiller, director of legislation, AFL-CIO; Lawrence Binger, corporate director, personnel services, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, St. Paul, Minn.; McGeorge Bundy, president, the Ford Foundation, New York City; Dr. Robert D. Calkins, president, the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.; Honorable John W. Gardner, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; Dr. Jerome H. Holland, president, Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va.; Dr. Evron Kirkpatrick, executive director, American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C.; Dr. James H. McCrocklin, president, Southwest Texas State College, San Marcos, Texas; and Honorable Charles L. Schultze, Director, Bureau of the Budget.