One reason a new department is a bad idea is that the importance of Cabinet departments has been steadily declining for decades, even as the number of departments has climbed. Since the Nixon administration, if not earlier, Cabinet secretaries—State, Defense, Treasury, and Justice sometimes excepted—have enjoyed far less power than have White House advisers. New departments are often created to address perceived needs of the moment, but they rarely end up exerting significant power. Few would argue that the creation of an Education Department apart from Health and Human Services or the elevation of Veterans Affairs to a full-fledged department have showered presidential attention on the issues of education or veterans' needs. On the contrary, presidents often create departments instead of devoting presidential attention to an issue. Caught up as we are now in the urgency of the war on terrorism, it's easy to forget that the problems that gave rise to the departments of Energy or Housing and Urban Development seemed just as important in their day.