United States Cabinet

The United States Cabinet (usually simplified as "the Cabinet") is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, and its existence dates back to the first American President (George Washington), who appointed a Cabinet of four people (Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson; Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton; Secretary of War, Henry Knox; and Attorney General, Edmund Randolph) to advise and assist him in his duties. Cabinet officers are nominated by the President and then presented to the United States Senate for confirmation or rejection by a simple majority. If approved, they are sworn in and begin their duties. Aside from the Attorney General, and previously, the Postmaster General, they all receive the title Secretary.

Current Cabinet[change | edit source]

Department	Office	Incumbent	in office since
Department of State	Secretary of State	Hillary Clinton	January 21, 2009
Department of the Treasury	Secretary of the Treasury	Timothy Geithner	January 26, 2009
Department of Defense	Secretary of Defense	Leon Panetta	July 1, 2011
Department of Justice	Attorney General	Eric Holder	February 2, 2009
Department of the Interior	Secretary of the Interior	Ken Salazar	January 20, 2009
Department of Agriculture	Secretary of Agriculture	Tom Vilsack	January 20, 2009
Department of Commerce	Secretary of Commerce Acting	Rebecca Blank	June 11, 2012
Department of Labor	Secretary of Labor	Hilda Solis	February 24, 2009
Department of Health and Human Services	Secretary of Health and Human Services	Kathleen Sebelius	April 28, 2009
Department of Housing and Urban Development	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Shaun Donovan	January 26, 2009
Department of Transportation	Secretary of Transportation	Ray LaHood	January 22, 2009
Department of Energy	Secretary of Energy	Steven Chu	January 20, 2009
Department of Education	Secretary of Education	Arne Duncan	January 20, 2009
Department of Veterans Affairs	Secretary of Veterans Affairs	Eric Shinseki	January 20, 2009
Department of Homeland Security	Secretary of Homeland Security	Janet Napolitano	January 20, 2009

Cabinet-level administration offices[change | edit source]

Seven positions have cabinet-level rank, which allows these individuals to attend Cabinet meetings without being secretaries of executive departments:

Department	Office	Incumbent	in Office since
Office of the Vice President	Vice President of the United States	Joe Biden	January 20, 2009
Executive Office of the President	White House Chief of Staff	Jacob Lew	January 27, 2012
Office of Management and Budget	Director of the Office of Management and Budget	Jeffrey Zients	January 27, 2012
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative	United States Trade Representative	Ron Kirk	March 18, 2009
Environmental Protection Agency	Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Lisa P. Jackson	January 22, 2009
United States Mission to the United Nations	Ambassador to the United Nations	Susan Rice	January 22, 2009
Council of Economic Advisers	Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors	Austan Goolsbee	September 9, 2010