Promoting Agency Reputation through Public Advice: Advisory Committee Use in the FDA

When do government agencies invite public review for their policy decisions, and when do they maintain secrecy? Scholarship has long focused on procedures elected officials impose on bureaucrats to induce transparency and to encourage democratic participation in agency work. Yet, models of elected officials’ decisions largely overlook bureaucrats’ preferences and choices for public participation. Building on theories of bureaucratic reputation, I argue bureaucrats actively pursue publicity and public participation for tasks that risk implementation failure. I test these claims through models of FDA advisory committee agenda setting and subsequent policy implementation from 1985 to 2006. Consistent with bureaucratic reputation hypotheses, the FDA seeks public advice for its riskiest tasks. Such advice is associated with a lower probability of subsequent Congressional oversight and with a greater probability of subsequent agency information campaigns. Publicity, this suggests, complements secrecy as a source of bureaucratic power.