One of the issues for regulators is that in a very technical industry like oil and gas drilling, MMS employees really need to have worked recently in the industry, to be up to date on what the technology is. Another issue is that with technology constantly changing, and the types of wells being drilled constantly changing (deeper for example), a very bureaucratic approach to regulation doesn't work very well. Another issue is that government employees tend to be paid much less well than people in high paid industries --for example, oil company geologists and physicians in private practice. This is likely to mean that it is difficult for MMS to attract the best employees, and that there will be a lot of turnover among the employees who are there. According to the WSJ: