13.4: Divisions of the Bureaucracy

The modern American bureaucracy is a vastly complicated array of departments, agencies, commissions, offices, and other divisions. Although no two divisions of the bureaucracy are structured identically, they can be grouped into several different types based primarily on their level of independence from presidential and congressional control.

The vast majority of civilian employees in the American bureaucracy work for one of the 15 departments of the president’s Cabinet. These departments are headed by secretaries (or, in the case of the Department of Justice, the Attorney General) appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Presidents have a great deal of influence over Cabinet departments and can fire department heads whenever they choose. When a Cabinet secretary is fired, resigns, or dies, the position is filled by an acting secretary (usually a deputy in the same department) until a replacement can be appointed and confirmed.

Presidents exert even more influence over the 15 offices within the Executive Office of the President, such as the Office of Management and Budget, the National Security Council, and the Council of Economic Advisers. Created in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the EOP is overseen by the president’s chief of staff and handles many duties not assigned to Cabinet departments. Most top positions in the EOP are not subject to Senate confirmation and can therefore be filled — or emptied — at the president’s discretion.

Yet another portion of the bureaucracy consists of independent agencies (such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and independent regulatory commissions (such as the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Election Commission, and the Securities and Exchanges Commission). These are intended to be mostly independent of presidential and congressional influence. Many of their heads serve terms of fixed lengths and are therefore protected from summary firing if they displease the president.

A small subset of the American bureaucracy is made up of government corporations. These agencies include Amtrak (which oversees passenger railroad service in the United States), the Tennessee Valley Authority (which provides electricity to parts of the southern United States), and the United States Postal Service (which delivers the mail). Government corporations depend partially on public funding to pay for their operating costs but otherwise function similarly to privately-owned businesses.