informal
interagency committees have been established in recent
years to foster coordination of territorial and insular affairs,
The White House Task Force on Puerto Rico represents the Common-
wealth in policy and administrative matters.
Interior and the
White House
co-chair an
informal
interagency committee
to
address and resolve issues affecting the territories.
This
committee meets irregularly, and generally only when issues or
problems arise.
It does not address major policy matters such
as political status.
A third interagency body handles matters
associated with the Micronesian status negotiations.
In 1983,
Interior established separate interagency subgroups to address
health and economic issues.
According to the Assistant Secretary for Territorial and International Affairs, the committees
were formed to "get the federal family moving in the same direction."
He indicated that these groups have improved communication among high-level agency officials and improved the quality
of programs and services available to insular area governments.
Territory
officials
provided
a
mixed
response
to
federal
agency involvement in program administration and policy.
The
officials generally are satisfied with the current multiple
agency
involvement
in
grant
and
assistance
programs
and
said
they have learned to work with individual agencies which have
become more attentive and sympathetic to territorial problems.
Most
were
strongly
administration
under
opposed
one
to
centralizing
agency.
Territory
program
and
officials
grant
said
a
move to create a bureaucratic layer or "middleman" to ensure
coordination
and
program
review
iS
unnecessary,
counterproductive,
and contrary to the territories' desire for increased local autonomy.
Puerto Rico officials particularly
oppose any change in the current decentralized federal approach
for program administration.
In
contrast,
many
territorial officials
express
the
need
for better federal policy coordination.
As noted in chapter 5,
the territories have expressed dissatisfaction with various policies made by different federal agencies which have directly
affected them and constrained development efforts.
Questions on
tax policy are handled by Treasury, environmental policy by the
Environmental Protection Agency, immigration policy by the Immi-
gration and Naturalization Service, and so forth.
Territory
officials believe the current organizational framework involving
many federal agencies is not effectively addressing their policy
concerns,
especially
are not considered in
development strategy.
9000259
economic
development,
a systematic
43
because
fashion based on
their
needs
an overall