New government office

Obama has named Nancy Killefer, a McKinsey executive, Chief Performance Officer. This is a new office; her task is to find "government efficiencies".

From what the article tells us (not all that much), it sounds like a perfectly good idea. I have some doubts about how effective she'll be able to be, since bureaucracy, pork, and random waste (like socks in the dryer) are endemic to government and very difficult to eliminate. In addition, some things that may seem like inefficiencies may turn out, once eliminated, to have been important or effective in some way that wasn't obvious. Just because a government process or byproduct doesn't contribute to a particular stated objective doesn't mean it has no effect.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this goes and whether the office survives into the next administration. No matter what happens, it is certainly a title and an action that plays well publicly.