The CabinetChapter 8

Section 3

Section 3Selection of the Cabinet

• The president appoints the secretaries that head the 15 major executive departments.

• The 15 secretaries, the vice president, and several other top officials make up the cabinet.

• Cabinet secretaries advise the president, but they also serve as the administrators of large bureaucracies.

• It is important that a cabinet appointee:

Section 3

– have a background that is compatible with the department he or she will head,

– satisfy powerful interest groups that have a stake in the department’s policies, and

– have high-level administrative skills and experience.

Selection of the Cabinet (cont.)

Section 3

• Before making final cabinet decisions, members of the president-elect’s team may leak, or deliberately disclose, some candidates’ names to the news media to test the reaction of Congress, interest groups, and the public.

Selection of the Cabinet (cont.)

Section 3The Role of the Cabinet

• Each cabinet member is responsible for the executive department that he or she heads.

• As a group, the cabinet is intended to serve as an advisory body to the president.

• Throughout history, the cabinet’s role in decision making depended on the president’s wishes.

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• Some cabinet members—known as the “inner cabinet”—have greater influence because their departments are concerned with the most sensitive national issues. They include:

– secretary of state,

– secretary of defense,

– secretary of treasury, and

– the attorney general.

The Role of the Cabinet (cont.)

Section 3Factors Limiting the Cabinet’s Role

• There are several factors that limit the president’s use of the cabinet for key decisions, including:

– conflicting loyalties: no president commands the complete loyalty of cabinet members, and

– the difficulty of maintaining secrecy when 15 cabinet secretaries are involved in discussion of sensitive topics.