Why does the President have difficulties controlling cabinet level agencies?

Answer 1

I am not sure exactly what you want to know. If the President is diligent and pays attention, he should be able to control the cabinet level agencies. If he wants to make changes, like any new executive, he can expect some resistance from the older employees, but if he is firm and knows how to manage, he should be able to exercise reasonable control. Of course, he is just one person and there are a huge number of workers-- he has to rely on his underlings to execute his policies, but that is what chief executives must be able to do.

If he want to cut the number of government workers or scale back or eliminate an entire department, as some presidential candidates have suggested in the past, he would face major difficulties from several sources. Government workers know how to lobby Congress and every government program has people who benefit from it, directly or indirectly. There was a reason why every agency or program was created and interested parties have a way of popping up everywhere whenever a program is threatened.