United States federal executive departments

The United States federal executive departments are among the oldest primary units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States—the Departments of State, War, and the Treasury all being established within a few weeks of each other in 1789.

The heads of the federal executive departments are the members of the traditional Cabinet; since 1792, they have, by statutory specification, constituted a line of succession, after the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate to the presidency in the event of a vacancy in both that office and the vice presidency. The Constitution refers to these officials when it authorizes the President, in Article II, section 2, to "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices." In brief, they and their organizations are the administrative arms of the President.

Departments

All of the departments (known as cainents) are listed by their present-day name and only departments with past or present cabinet-level status are listed. Order of succession has always included the vice president; at times – including presently – the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate have also been included.

Department	Creation	Order of succession	Modifications since creation	2007 Budget in billions of dollars	Employees (2007)
State	1789	4	Initially named "Department of Foreign Affairs"	9.96	30,266
Treasury	1789	5		11.10	115,897
Defense	1947	6	Initially named "National Military Establishment"	439.30	3,000,000
Justice	1870	7	Position of Attorney General created in 1789, but had no department until 1870	23.40	112,557
Interior	1849	8		10.70	71,436
Agriculture	1889	9		77.60	109,832
Commerce	1903	10	Originally named Commerce and Labor; Labor later separated	6.20	36,000
Labor	1913	11		59.70	17,347
Health and Human Services	1953	12	Originally named Health, Education, and Welfare; Education later separated	543.20	67,000
Housing and Urban Development	1965	13		46.20	10,600
Transportation	1966	14		58.00	58,622
Energy	1977	15		21.50	116,100
Education	1979	16		62.80	4,487
Veterans Affairs	1989	17	Initially named "Veterans Administration"	73.20	235,000
Homeland Security	2002	18		44.6	208,000
Total budget (fiscal year 2007):				1,523.42	4,193,144

Seals

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  Seal of the United States Department of Agriculture
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  Seal of the United States Department of Commerce
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  Seal of the United States Department of Defense
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  Seal of the United States Department of Education
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  Seal of the United States Department of Energy
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  Seal of the United States Department of Health and Human Services
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  Seal of the United States Department of Homeland Security
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  Seal of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
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  Seal of the United States Department of the Interior
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  Seal of the United States Department of Justice
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  Seal of the United States Department of Labor
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  Seal of the United States Department of State
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  Seal of the United States Department of Transportation
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  Seal of the United States Department of the Treasury
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  Seal of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs

Past departments

Department	Dates of Operation	Notes
War	1789–1947	Subsumed by Department of Defense, renamed Department of the Army
Post Office	1792–1971	Reorganized as quasi-independent agency, United States Postal Service
Navy	1798–1947	Subsumed by Department of Defense
Commerce and Labor	1903–1913	Divided between Department of Commerce and Department of Labor
Health, Education, and Welfare	1953–1979	Divided between Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education

See also

• Independent agencies of the United States government

References

• Relyea, Harold C. "Homeland Security: Department Organization and Management" (PDF), Report for Congress, 2002. RL31493 (August 7, 2002).

You may be looking for

• Template:United States federal executive departments, a template to which this was previously a redirect
• Template:Infobox cabinet members
• Template:Infobox Colombia Cabinet