The United States federal executive departments are the principal units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. The executive departments are the administrative arms of the president of the United States. They are analogous to ministries common in parliamentary or semi-presidential systems but (the United States being a presidential system) they are led by a head of government who is also the head of state. There are currently 15 executive departments..
Overview
Structure Each department is headed by a secretary whose title echoes the title of their respective department, with the exception of the Department of Justice, whose head is known as the attorney general. The heads of the executive departments are appointed by the president and take office after confirmation by the United States Senate, and serve at the pleasure of the president. The heads of departments are members of the Cabinet of the United States, an executive organ that normally acts as an advisory body to the president. In the Opinion Clause (Article II, section 2, clause 1) of the U.S. Constitution, heads of executive departments are referred to as "principal Officer in each of the executive Departments".
The heads of executive departments are included in the line of succession to the president, in the event of a vacancy in the presidency, after the vice president, the speaker of the House, and the president pro tempore of the Senate. They are included in order of their respective department's formation, with the exception of the secretary of defense, whose position in the line of succession is based on when the Department of War was formed.
Separation of powers To enforce a strong separation of powers, the federal Constitution's Ineligibility Clause expressly prohibits executive branch employees (including heads of executive departments) from simultaneously serving in Congress, and vice versa. Accordingly, in sharp contrast to parliamentary systems where ministers are often selected to form a government from members of parliament, U.S. legislators who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve as heads of executive departments must resign from Congress before assuming their new positions. If the emoluments for a new appointee's executive branch position were increased while the appointee was previously serving in Congress (e.g., cost of living adjustments), the president must implement a Saxbe fix.
Contracting and grantmaking roles The chart below shows that several executive departments (Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation) have disproportionately small employee headcounts in contrast to the size of their budgets. This is because many of their employees merely supervise contracts with private independent contractors or grants (especially categorical grants) to state or local government agencies who are primarily responsible for providing services directly to the general public. In the 20th century, when the federal government began to provide funding and supervision for matters which were historically seen as the domain of state governments (i.e., education, health and welfare services, housing, and transportation), Congress frequently authorized only funding for grants which were voluntary, in the sense that state or local government agencies could choose to apply for such grants (and accept conditions attached by Congress) or they could decline to apply. CRS Report No. R40638. Version 27. In the case of HHS's Medicare program, Congress chose to contract with private health insurers because they "already possessed the requisite expertise for administering complex health insurance programs", and because American hospitals preferred to continue dealing with private insurers instead of a new federal bureaucracy.
Current departments
Department Seal Flag Formed Employees(2026) Total budget(2023) Head Title Titleholder State July 27, 1789 11,713 $58.1 billion Secretary of State Marco Rubio Treasury September 2, 178989,881 $16.4 billion Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent Interior March 3, 1849 56,872 $18.9 billion Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum Agriculture May 15, 1862 72,049 $242 billion Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins Justice July 1, 1870 107,415 $37.5 billion Attorney General Todd Blanche Commerce February 14, 1903 42,084 $16.3 billion Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick Labor March 4, 1913 12,421 $97.5 billion Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling (Acting) Defense (War) 707,378 $852 billion Secretary of Defense (War) Pete Hegseth Health and Human Services April 11, 1953 75,134 $1.772 trillion Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Housing and Urban Development September 9, 1965 6,299 $61.7 billion Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner Transportation April 1, 1967 53,512 $145 billion Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy Energy August 4, 1977 14,955 $45.8 billion Secretary of Energy Chris Wright Education October 17, 1979 2,453 $79.6 billion Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Veterans Affairs March 15, 1989 451,121 $308.5 billion Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins Homeland Security November 25, 2002 227,584 $101.6 billion Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin
Former departments
Department Formed Removed from Cabinet Superseded by Last Cabinet-level head Title Titleholder War August 7, 1789 September 18, 1947 Department of the ArmyDepartment of the Air Force Secretary of War Navy April 30, 1798 August 10, 1949 Department of Defense(as executive department)became and still are military departments within the Department of Defense Secretary of the Navy Army September 18, 1947 Secretary of the Army Air Force Secretary of the Air Force Post Office February 20, 1792 July 1, 1971 United States Postal Service Postmaster General Commerce and Labor February 14, 1903 March 4, 1913 Department of CommerceDepartment of Labor(The Department of Commerce is considered a continuation of the Department of Commerce and Labor under a new name.)Secretary of Commerce and Labor Health, Education, and Welfare April 11, 1953 October 17, 1979 Department of EducationDepartment of Health and Human Services(The Department of Health and Human Services is considered a continuation of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under a new name.)Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
Proposed departments Mergers of existing departments Department of Natural Resources, proposed by the Eisenhower administration, President Richard Nixon, the 1976 GOP national platform, and by Bill Daley (as a consolidation of the Departments of the Interior and Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency) Department of Economic Affairs, proposed by President Richard Nixon; essentially a consolidation of the Departments of Commerce, Labor, and Agriculture. Department of Business, proposed by President Barack Obama as a consolidation of the U.S. Department of Commerce's core business and trade functions, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency Department of Commerce and the Workforce, a merger of the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor proposed in 2011 and 2013 by Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) in Department of Education and the Workforce, proposed by President Donald Trump as a consolidation of the Departments of Education and Labor Department of Economic Development, proposed by Senator Elizabeth Warren to replace the Commerce Department, subsume other agencies like the Small Business Administration and the Patent and Trademark Office, and include research and development programs, worker training programs, and export and trade authorities like the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative with the single goal of creating and defending good American jobs New departments Department of Industry and Commerce, proposed by Secretary of the Treasury William Windom in a speech given at a Chamber of Commerce dinner in May 1881 Department of Peace, proposed by Founding Father and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence Benjamin Rush in 1793, Senator Matthew Neely in the 1930s, Congressman Dennis Kucinich in the 2000s, and other members of the U.S. Congress Department of Social Welfare, proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1937 Department of Public Works, proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1937 Department of Conservation (a renaming of the Department of the Interior), proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1937 Department of Urban Affairs and Housing, proposed by President John F. Kennedy Department of Business and Labor, proposed by President Lyndon B. Johnson Department of Community Development, proposed by President Richard Nixon; to be chiefly concerned with rural infrastructure development Department of Human Resources, proposed by President Richard Nixon; essentially a revised Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Department of Environmental Protection, proposed by Senator Arlen Specter and others Department of Intelligence, proposed by former director of national intelligence Mike McConnell Department of Global Development, proposed by the Center for Global Development Department of Art, proposed by Quincy Jones Department of Health and Public Welfare, proposed by President Donald Trump as a renamed Department of Health and Human Services Department of Technology, proposed by businessman and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang Department of Culture, patterned on similar departments in many foreign nations, proposed by, among others, Murray Moss and Jeva Lange
See also British government departments Canadian Federal government departments Cabinet of the Confederate States of America Cabinet of the United States Independent agencies of the United States government List of federal agencies in the United States
References
Citations
Sources
Relyea, Harold C. "Homeland Security: Department Organization and Management" (PDF), Report for Congress, 2002. RL31493 (August 7, 2002).
External links