Column by the President of Hitachi Research Institute, Mizoguchi
I recently returned home after spending five and a half years in Washington D.C. in the U.S. Washington D.C. is the capital of the United States and the political center of the world. However, D.C. is by no means a metropolis. Rather, it is a cozy district through which the Potomac River flows gracefully, with plenty of greenery located on its outskirts as well. Around 700,000 people call D.C. home— a small population which stands out when compared to the populations of New York City (8 million), London (9 million), and Tokyo (14 million). D.C. is also home to the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, various government departments and agencies, the World Bank, and so on. The Smithsonian alone has more than 20 museums and galleries there. In the principal area of the district, everything is found within a 15-minute drive, meaning the area is more or less walkable. Washington D.C. is also famous for its cherry blossoms, which were first presented to the district in 1912 by the City of Tokyo (as it was known at the time) as a token of goodwill between Japan and the United States. This spring, the area found around the Tidal Basin and the Washington Monument was beautifully colored. The city is also a destination for tourists from all over the country and the world. Each of the four seasons brings to the D.C. their distinct beauty which contrasts with the political struggles unfolding within its depths.
It is in this comparatively small area where the highest authorities in the United States are concentrated. The separation of the three branches of government in the United States constitutes a rigorously designed system. There is the executive branch consisting of the President, the legislative branch consisting of Congress (which is comprised of the Senate and the House of Representatives), and the judicial branch, which is headed by the Supreme Court. Each of these branches work to keep each other in check. The President of the United States is often portrayed in movies and novels as the nation’s supreme authority. However, the policies which can be executed by the President without congressional approval are extremely limited. Even the budget announced by the President each year is nothing more than the President’s wish list, since the decisions on budget specifics are left to Congress. The separation of powers advocated by Montesquieu has been most thoroughly implemented in the United States. It does not allow for despotic use of authority. It could also be said that the concept came to serve as the foundation for the development of democracy and sustainable economic development.
However, one cannot fully grasp what Washington D.C. is really like if they only take into consideration the simplistic construct involving important decisions being made amid the balance maintained between the three branches of power. As is well known, there is a revolving door of sorts in D.C., through which there occurs the active movement of professionals between positions in government and in the private sector at the end of an administration and even in the middle of one. While there are several bureaucrats running the day-to-day operations of government agencies, the top decision-making leaders at the highest levels of government are supposed to be political appointees. President Biden has directly made more than 4,000 political appointments, with 1,200 of those requiring the approval of the Senate. There is also a revolving door between Capitol Hill (House/Senate) and the offices ofHouse/Senate representatives. One can say that the human capital running the U.S. government revolves in a very dynamic fashion. The image one conjures is one wherein young, talented staff members work fiercely for relatively low wages and then move on to the next position after having built a record of accomplishment.
The policy decision-making process is not by any means enclosed within the parameters of these three powers. In the process of developing, modifying, and deciding on policies, the U.S. government tries to incorporate as much information, analyses, and ideas as possible. It welcomes input from sources such as think tanks, academia, NGOs, law firms, embassies, trade associations, consultants, companies, and the media, all of which also seek to exert their own influence. Approaches originating from private groups can take the form of lobbying or responses to calls for public comments. Hitachi, too, has submitted a dozen or so Public Comments to the U.S. Government each year over the past few years, with the content of those Public Comments ranging from those related to general U.S.-Japan trade to those having to do with specific fields such as AI and railroad technologies. Submitted Public Comments are made available for essentially anyone to see and all lobbying activities undertaken by private organizations are subject to the obligation of keeping records of said activities. As such, information which includes priority items related to lobbying and the cost scales involved with each company and organization is completely out in the open. Countless organizations inside and outside the U.S. Government form a layered network composed of various elements, with constant communication being undertaken against the backdrop of the dynamic interchanging of talent working at different organizations in the community. This constitutes a policymaking community which Johns Hopkins University Professor Kent E. Calder has termed the “Penumbra of Power.”
Washington D.C. itself can be said to function as an ecosystem within which political intelligence accumulates. The role of think tanks within the context of this unique policymaking organism is also particularly important. When it comes to formulating and developing policies, government administrations often rely on think tanks which have similar political stances. Think tanks are relied upon as repositories of ideas and as sources of intellectual labor, and top talent. As an example, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a think tank renowned for its analyses concerning international affairs. I have had several conversations with Bill Burns, who was president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace at the time, so I was quite surprised when President Biden appointed him as the Director of the CIA. This is, however, not surprising in Washington D.C., a place where the free flow of information and talent is exactly what people should see as making the District an open ecosystem of sorts.
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