Reward Outcome Not Effort

Ok, call me crazy, but I think that public servants should be honored and rewarded based upon the outcome of their efforts rather than those efforts in and of themselves.

Sure, merely trying hard is important and deserves recognition, but if nothing honorable comes of those efforts -- or, worse, they are a miserable failure -- then they don't merit praise.

Wouldn't you know it, I have two examples in mind.

The first is Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. The Wall Street Journal recently reminded us that Mr. ElBaradei and the IAEA were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 "for their work to prevent nuclear proliferation for military uses."

Meanwhile, the Journal reports that American and European officials recently accused ElBaradei of "playing down evidence pointing toward Iranian attempts to advance its nuclear program." European and U.S. officials have been "hearing much more alarming assessments" from IAEA technical experts than what ElBaradei is publishing or stating publicly. For instance, ElBaradei said recently that the IAEA "has no concrete proof of an ongoing nuclear weapons program in Iran." The buzzwords here being "concrete" and "ongoing," which ElBaradei uses to detract from the significance of the evidence he does have but doesn't want to share.

The truth of the matter is that ElBaradei's downplaying, for whatever reason, Iran's progress on nuclear weapons is delaying either economic sanctions or military action necessary to prevent a nuclear Iran from becoming reality. The point being: honoring ElBaradei with one of the world's most preeminent prizes was premature.

A second example: Dennis Ross, President Clinton's Middle East negotiator. Occasionally, I attend an event where Mr. Ross is a guest speaker and, invariably, after Ross speaks, some Jewish attendee prefaces his or her question with a statement lavishly praising Ross for all he's done for Israel and the Jewish people.

In reality, what Mr. Ross has done is the following: During the run-up to the outbreak of Palestinian violence in September 2000, Mr. Ross and his team ignored dozens of intelligence reports I wrote sending up warning signs of the peace process' imminent collapse. These reports revealed the revolving door of Palestinian prisons, weapons smuggling activity, and cooperation between Palestinian security services and terrorist groups. They also revealed Palestinian incitement and malintent. However, instead of stopping the process, Ross pushed on and what resulted was a war in which over 1,000 Israelis, and many more Palestinians, lost their lives. By holding Arafat to account, the war might have been prevented.

Nevertheless, Mr. Ross is continuously praised. People will say, "Well, he tried" to end a seemingly intractable dispute, but trying is not enough. Both ElBaradei and Ross have little positive to show for their efforts and must shoulder some responsibility.

I think the people who we honor should have clear achievements to their name, and not just a record of trying.