Executive Leadership

Secretary

The secretary serves as the chief executive of a given agency – along with the president and the vice president – and is the leading voice and implementer for most major decisions and actions coming from an agency. The secretary is also the most public-facing figure of the agency. At the discretion of the president and depending on current events and the issue areas the agency oversees, some secretaries are more public-facing than others, giving them a larger (or smaller) bully pulpit.

Deputy Secretary

The deputy secretary is the number two in command of an agency. Similar to the vice president, most deputy secretaries do not have a fixed portfolio. Rather, their duties are dependent upon the leadership style and the priorities of the secretary or the administration at large. Some agencies with more mandates and larger budgets have multiple deputy secretaries with specific portfolios. For example, the U.S. Department of State has a “general” deputy secretary and a deputy secretary for management and resources. In a larger agency, such as the State Department, the deputy secretary may not have the time to handle some of the more clerical operational responsibilities, hence the multiple deputies.

Executive Secretariat

Within the office of the deputy secretary is an important yet largely unknown office: the executive secretariat. This office coordinates the flow of documents, such as briefing materials, memos, and regulations. The executive secretariat team ensures that relevant documents have been received and reviewed by anyone within an involved agency who may have a stake in the given policy or action item. This is to ensure the secretary is getting the most informed facts and analyses from the entire agency staff, rather than only receiving advice or guidance from some. However, it is important to note that agencies have a certain amount of discretion with how they operate. For example, the secretary may ask for input from an office that does not have a direct stake in a particular policy or action, or the secretary may choose not to include an office that usually does.

Assistant Secretaries

Below the deputy secretaries are assistant secretaries. Typically, an assistant secretary oversees a given bureau or component of an agency, which can be either focused on a policy area (i.e. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans’ Employment and Training) or the agency’s operations (i.e. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Administration and Management). Usually, assistant secretaries oversee multiple deputy assistant secretaries who have even more specific responsibilities.

Deputy Assistant Secretaries (DAS) and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretaries (PDAS)

The deputy assistant secretary is the lowest-ranking leadership position. Deputy assistant secretaries report to the assistant secretary, but in some larger or more complex agencies with multiple DAS roles, they report to a principal deputy assistant secretary, who reports to an assistant secretary.