31 Flavors': the American system of ministerial (secretarial) advisers

President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s signature on Executive Order 10440 in March 1953 began the formalisation of the previously informal and ad hoc arrangements for political and policy advisers to cabinet secretaries, America’s equivalent to ministers. Since then, the importance of these Schedule C appointments and the Senior Executive Service positions developed during the late 1970s has only increased. Along with the sheer scale of the sprawling federal executive establishment, these presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed secretaries have to balance the president’s agenda, their own personal political and policy goals, Congressional and judicial oversight, and the capacity and limitations of the bureaucracy itself. This chapter describes the historical background and current environment for these advisers, with more detailed examples from the presidential administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Together, these elements highlight three key themes that merit further scholarly focus in the United States case: the relative importance of these ‘invisible appointments’ compared to the more scrutinised Senate-confirmed appointees; how secretaries prioritise hiring these advisers during a presidential transition compared to other agency administrators, and how these advisers are selected as teams rather than in isolation.