§308 Assistant Secretaries; Deputy Assistant Secretaries

Summary

The Department can have no more than seven Assistant Secretaries. The President picks most of them and the Senate must approve those picks. Four Assistant Secretaries can be named without Senate approval: Management; Human Resources and Administration; Public and Intergovernmental Affairs; and Operations, Security, and Preparedness. The Secretary assigns each Assistant Secretary the duties they will run. Those duties cover many areas, including budget and finance; personnel and labor relations; planning and evaluations; management, logistics, and information management; buildings and property; equal opportunity and discrimination investigations; intergovernmental and public information; procurement; operations, security, and law enforcement; and the duties listed in section 323(c). When the President sends a nomination to the Senate, it must say which duties the nominee will have. The Secretary may also create up to 19 Deputy Assistant Secretary jobs. The Secretary appoints them and gives them duties. At least two-thirds of filled Deputy Assistant Secretary positions must be held by people who had five years of continuous federal civil service in the executive branch right before their appointment. That five-year count does not include time served in confidential or policy-making jobs, time as a noncareer Senior Executive Service appointee, or time in a position the President appointed.