Is the SEC crumbling or is it just my imagination?  Let's look at a few facts:

• In August, Mary Schapiro and her staff, after spending nearly two years studying the money market industry in an attempt to propose needed reforms, saw three commissioners scuttle her plans
• Ricardo Delfin, one of Ms. Schapiro's closest advisers on signature policy issues, including tightened rules for money-market mutual funds, left the SEC last month to work for a new group focused on market risk that was founded by Sheila Bair, the former head of the FDIC
• A senior legal counsel who ran legislative affairs left as did a deputy within the agency. 
• Two high-ranking policy experts have also left in the past two months.
• The top SEC officials from outside her office.  James Kroeker, former chief accountant, left in July as the agency completed a fact-finding report into whether U.S. companies should switch to using international accounting rules, a key issue during Mr. Kroeker's tenure.
• The SEC's chief architect of money-fund rules, Robert Plaze, retired on Aug. 31 after 30 years at the agency.
• Ms. Schapiro, herself, considered leaving this spring, but was personally asked to stay by President Barack Obama, according to two government officials.  A spokesman for the White House declined to comment.

"It's normal for people to leave when the person they're working for is about to leave," said Richard Roberts, a former Republican SEC commissioner who has no knowledge of Ms. Schapiro's plans.

A spokesman for the SEC said Ms. Schapiro has no plans to leave the agency, and allies of Ms. Schapiro say the departures haven't harmed her agenda.