§308 Assistant Secretaries; Deputy Assistant Secretaries

Summary

The Department must have no more than seven Assistant Secretaries. Most of them are picked by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Four specific posts can be filled without Senate approval: Assistant Secretary for Management; Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration; Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs; and Assistant Secretary for Operations, Security, and Preparedness. The Secretary assigns duties to these Assistant Secretaries, for example budget and finance, personnel and labor relations, planning and evaluations, management and logistics, information management (as required by section 3506 of title 44), facilities and property, equal opportunity and discrimination investigations, public and intergovernmental affairs, procurement, operations/security/law enforcement, and the duties in section 323(c). When the President sends a nomination to the Senate, the nomination must say which of these duties the person will handle. The Secretary may create up to 19 Deputy Assistant Secretary positions and appoint people to them. Deputies do the work the Secretary gives them. At least two-thirds of filled Deputy Assistant Secretary jobs must be held by people who had five years of continuous federal civil service in the executive branch right before their appointment. For that five-year count, exclude time spent in confidential or policy-making jobs, time as a noncareer Senior Executive Service appointee, or time in a position filled by the President.