When Bureaucracy's Mission and Structure Changes: An Analysis of the Department of Homeland Security with a Hierarchical Principal-Agent Model.

This paper provides a new look at principal-agent theory based on a richer definition of information, more realistic structural configurations, and goal conflict. Often principal-agent models in political science are posited using a flat bi-structural assumption. This approach has produced a number of interesting findings, but it fails to capture realistically complicated structures in executive branch relationships. we evalute these principles with a look at a large, complicated, and evolving federal agency, the Department of Homeland Security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]