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Federal Movers & Shakers | August 28, 2026

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US military base schools put new emphasis on Western civilization and Christianity

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<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Defense is introducing a course centered on Western civilization and Christianity this fall in the schools it operates for military families, part of an effort by Defense Secretary <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pete-hegseth-pentagon-christian-nationalism-iran-war-f246bca60f2927336b5d06b2c9daee80">Pete Hegseth</a> to redirect the education system toward patriotic values and classical learning.</p>
<p>The Department of Defense Education Activity operates about 160 schools across 11 countries and educates roughly 70,000 students who are children of active-duty military or civilian service members. Conservatives have eyed the schools — which, unlike most public schools, are run by the federal government — as a testing ground for <a href="https://apnews.com/article/school-choice-trump-education-vouchers-c6ecc22879fe329da4acfac3aa7410e6">reshaping education</a>.</p>
<p>The Western civilization course planned for this fall will use a textbook published by Encounter Books, a conservative publishing house. Titled “The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom,” it includes suggested lesson plans created in partnership with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan.</p>
<p>Historians and educators who reviewed excerpts of the text told The Associated Press it depicts points throughout history in misleading ways, representing Western civilization and Christianity as one and the same and casting Islam as a threat to both.</p>

<p>“You’ve got to wonder a bit whether Western civilization is a Trojan horse for classical Christian education,” said Phil Gorski, a historical sociology professor at Yale University.</p>
<p>The course is part of a wider reshaping of the Defense Department’s schools. They have begun hiring <a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-supreme-court-canady-university-of-florida-e645447c3438cd1b7b0974bddb787d8a">classical learning</a> teachers, and the department has brought in new academic chiefs with ties to classical learning charter schools and to Republican-led efforts to promote more patriotic and civic education.</p>
<p>In a written statement, the Pentagon said it “remains committed to providing all of its military-connected students with the best possible education and opportunities.” It did not respond directly to a series of questions about the textbook and the broader push for classical learning.</p>
<p>Classical education broadly refers to a teaching style built on the liberal arts, with an emphasis on critical thinking and citizenship. Students are taught to imitate the rhetoric and style of great thinkers and writers. Critics have argued the movement focuses too heavily on foundational texts from Greek, Roman and other Western writers.</p>
<h2>Conservatives see classical learning as an antidote to unflattering depictions of US history</h2>
<p>Conservative politicians have embraced classical learning, especially as the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/religious-liberty-church-state-separation-trump-administration-a68ec8ab8b3fab27c6ffb6becc5ccb36">Trump administration</a> and Republican-led states have pushed schools to emphasize patriotism and put <a href="https://apnews.com/article/diversity-equity-inclusion-dei-education-379c55d6a9487381d48d8450a639bd13">boundaries around how they teach</a> unflattering parts of American history.</p>
<p>In his writing and public remarks since before becoming defense secretary, Hegseth has advocated for parents to embrace classical Christian education.</p>
<p>In his 2022 book “Battle for the American Mind,” <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pete-hegseth-crec-church-christian-nationalism-wilson-e71c3ea072fa959b5bee09a4d2093f1a">Hegseth</a>, a former Fox News host, describes a history of progressives working to remove God and religion from public and private schools.</p>

<p>Many classical Christian schools focus on reclaiming Western civilization from external threats. But across the broader field of classical education — including secular private schools — the field is increasingly split on this point, said Susan Wise Bauer, the author of a popular classical homeschooling program.</p>
<p>“Whenever you have a system of education where that is the impulse, … ‘This is us, and they are them over there,’” she said, “then the idea of a shared literary heritage becomes a weapon.”</p>
<h2>Textbook casts Western civilization as under threat</h2>
<p>In the Pentagon’s system, high school students can take the new course, Western Civilization to 1500, to fulfill a world history graduation requirement, according to a news release. The course is offered through the department’s virtual school.</p>
<p>In the textbook’s introduction, the authors write: “When citizens of Western countries are utterly ignorant of history, as most now are, they are left unarmed against the general hostility to their own tradition that has become so destructive a force in contemporary culture.”</p>
<p>The book describes Islam as inherently more violent than Christianity.</p>
<p>In a section titled “Holy War and Martyrdom in Battle,” the book describes wars fought by Christians, such as the Crusades, as intended to defend and protect other Christians. Islam, in contrast, glorifies violence and war, the book says, invoking the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and 9/11.</p>
<p>Matthew Gabriele, a history and religion professor at Virginia Tech, said the book’s description of the Crusades and the conflicts with the Islamic world strips out important details and context to depict Islam as an aggressive religious tradition and downplays the religious motivations and violence of the Christian church.</p>
<p>The book’s publisher, Roger Kimball, said it was peer-reviewed by 15 experts. “As the proud publisher of this incomparable work, I stand behind it in every detail,” he said.</p>
<p>One of the book’s co-authors, Harvard emeritus professor James Hankins, said the text does not attempt to characterize Christianity and Western civilization as one. Segments of the book acknowledge the West’s cultural debts to the Islamic world, said Hankins, who now teaches at the University of Florida’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education, a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-supreme-court-canady-university-of-florida-e645447c3438cd1b7b0974bddb787d8a">conservative-backed project</a> to teach Western civilization.</p>

<h2>The Trump administration aligned the military’s education system with its political vision</h2>
<p>President Donald Trump’s administration also has moved to align the military’s education apparatus with its broader vision for American schools. Admissions offices at U.S. military academies now accept the Classical Learning Test, a college entrance exam that positions itself as a classical alternative to the SAT. And last year, the ACLU sued the defense school system over its decision to ban hundreds of books that covered topics like race, gender and democracy.</p>
<p>In March, the department abruptly changed the leadership of Department of Defense Education Activity schools, replacing Beth Schiavino-Narvaez with Paul Craft as director. In a news release at the time, Hegseth described Craft as the right leader to reorient the school system “toward patriotic values and classical learning.”</p>
<p>The Pentagon also replaced the education activity’s chief academic officer, hiring Tiffany Hoben, who previously worked in the Florida Department of Education under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. In Florida, she oversaw the rollout of a civics curriculum that was criticized for claiming America’s founders did not intend for a full separation of church and state.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s <a href="https://www.ap.org/about/news-values-and-principles/">standards</a> for working with philanthropies, a <a href="https://www.ap.org/about/supporting-ap/">list</a> of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.</p>
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Statistical agency staffing cuts put federal data under new scrutiny on Capitol Hill

Federal Movers & Shakers | August 7, 2026

Critics argue Education's latest restructuring risks something harder to replace than staff

AFGE denounces Education Dept employee transfers to other agencies

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<ul><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Education Department transferred another 64 employees from K-12, special education, higher education and career, technical and adult education programs to other agencies. The American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, which represents Education employees, is denouncing the decision, calling it illegal and part of the administration's effort to dismantle the department. AFGE said Education transferred 10 Native education workers from multiple offices to the Interior Department. AFGE also said two postsecondary education employees are going to the State Department and another 52 workers in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and Office of Postsecondary Education are headed to the Labor Department. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://afge252ed.org/">Education transfers 64 employees to different agencies</a> - AFGE Local 252)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">About 450 employees at over 60 national parks across the Western U.S. and Pacific islands will soon gain union representation. National Park Service workers in the Pacific West Region, which covers sites in Hawaii, California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada, voted overwhelmingly to join the National Treasury Employees Union. The new chapter covers positions including scientists, fee collectors, maintenance workers and park rangers. This marks the fourth NPS chapter to join NTEU. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.nteu.org/media-center/News%20Releases/2026/08/03/NPSRepWin">NPS Pacific West Region employees vote to join union</a> - National Treasury Employees Union)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">Jay Clayton was sworn in as director of national intelligence on Monday. He previously served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He replaces acting DNI Bill Pulte, who carried out five rounds of layoffs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a little over one month in charge. Pulte served in the acting role while also continuing his full-time job as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.odni.gov/14064/pr-12-26/">Clayton sworn in as DNI</a> - Office of the Director of National Intelligence)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">Top lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee are pressing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for answers on a recent cyber incident. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee Chairman Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) sent a letter to Altman on July 31. They want to be briefed on how OpenAI’s models escaped a testing environment and autonomously hacked into third-party services. The lawmakers say the incident raises serious questions about how OpenAI secures and monitors its testing environments. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://democrats-homeland.house.gov/imo/media/doc/openai-07312026.pdf">Letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman</a> - House Homeland Security Committee )</div></li><p></p>

<li style="margin-top:20px;">The Trump administration on Monday said it will create a new commission focused on tackling the enduring issues that affect military spouses. Jennifer Hegseth, the defense secretary's wife, will be the chairwoman of the panel, according to an executive order outlining the plan. Other members include spouses of the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as those of their enlisted counterparts, the service secretaries and the Homeland Security secretary. They'll advise the president on issues that uniquely impact military spouses, from employment challenges to deployment support, housing and more. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/establishing-the-presidents-military-spouse-commission-af64/">Trump creates new commission on military spouses</a> - White House)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Pentagon is reportedly considering ending tenure for civilian professors at military service academies and war colleges. CBS News reported July 31 that a draft memo under consideration said tenure has led schools to prioritize their staff's research projects over educating warfighters. The Defense Department would also review the curriculum taught at each school and veto anything that's "ideologically driven." As of March 2025, civilians made up 55% of the faculty at the Naval Academy, 38% at the Air Force Academy and 26% at West Point. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dod-pentagon-memo-tenure-military-academies/">Report: DoD eyes ending civilian tenure at military academies</a> - CBS News)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">A senior General Services Administration technology executive is placed on administrative leave. The GSA has suspended Pete Waterman, the director of the cloud security program known as FedRAMP, for comments made on his personal LinkedIn account. Waterman expressed frustration with the requirements around veterans preference in hiring last week. His post has since been taken down. GSA Administrator Ed Forst said in a statement that GSA categorically and completely disagrees with a senior employee’s recent remarks. Forst said GSA has zero tolerance for comments that disparage or disrespect America’s veterans. Under federal regulations, an agency can put someone on administrative leave for no more than 10 work days.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.gsa.gov/about-gsa/newsroom?topnav=about-gsa">GSA puts FedRAMP director on administrative leave</a> - GSA email)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">Constituents have an opportunity to tell the House of Representatives what it could do better. The House Subcommittee on Modernization and Innovation is accepting idea submissions on how to modernize the lower chamber and the legislative branch overall as technology and workplace issues, including artificial intelligence, evolve. The subcommittee is accepting submissions on its website from now until Aug. 31. Chairwoman Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) and Ranking Member Norma Torres (D-Calif.) are seeking actionable items to help the House stay current. The subcommittee emphasized that ideas submitted should be bipartisan or nonpartisan and include detailed strategies for implementation. There will be an update on the submitted ideas this fall. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://cha.house.gov/modernization">House lawmakers seek ideas on congressional modernization efforts </a> - House Subcommittee on Modernization and Innovation)</div></li><p></p></ul>
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Decides which products and services federal agencies must buy from nonprofit agencies that employ people who are blind or have significant disabilities: it maintains the Procurement List published in the Federal Register and sets the fair market price for everything on it. Orders are distributed through two designated central nonprofit agencies.

AbilityOne Commission

Chairperson of the AbilityOne Commission

The Administration for Children and Families is an operating division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It administers federal programs that promote the economic and social well-being of children, youth, families, and communities, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Head Start, child care, child support enforcement, foster care and adoption assistance, refugee resettlement, and services for Native Americans. It was established in 1991 through a reorganization of the Department.

Administration for Children and Families

Alex J. Adams

The Administration for Community Living is an operating division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It administers programs that help older adults and people with disabilities live independently and participate in their communities, coordinating aging and disability services authorized largely by the Older Americans Act. It was created in 2012 by consolidating the Administration on Aging with offices serving people with disabilities.

Administration for Community Living

Administrator of the Administration for Community Living

Runs the aging services network created by the Older Americans Act: it funds state and area agencies on aging, which pay for congregate and home-delivered meals, in-home services and caregiver support. It also houses the long-term care ombudsman program and elder-rights protection work.

Administration on Aging

Mary Lazare

Sets policy and oversight for the federal child welfare and youth programs run by its two bureaus: the Children's Bureau, which administers foster care, adoption and child abuse prevention funding to states and tribes, and the Family and Youth Services Bureau, which funds runaway and homeless youth services and adolescent pregnancy prevention.

Administration on Children, Youth and Families

Cody Inman

The Administrative Conference of the United States is an independent federal agency that studies the administrative procedures of federal agencies and develops recommendations to improve the fairness, efficiency, and transparency of regulatory, benefit, and other government programs. Its members are drawn from federal agencies, academia, and private practice. It was established by the Administrative Conference Act of 1964 and operates under 5 U.S.C. 591 and following.

Administrative Conference of the United States

Presides over the Administrative Conference of the United States and is its chief executive, hiring and supervising the staff, preparing the Conference's budget estimates and serving as its official spokesman to the other branches. Appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate for a five-year term (5 U.S.C. 593(b), 595(c)).

Chairman of Administrative Conference of the United States

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts is the central administrative and support agency for the federal judiciary. It provides budget, human resources, technology, statistical, program, and management support to the United States courts and serves as the staff for the Judicial Conference of the United States. It was established by the Act of August 7, 1939, and operates under Chapter 41 of Title 28 of the United States Code, headed by a Director appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States.

Administrative Office of the United States Courts

Robert J. Conrad Jr.

Issues the government-wide procurement policies that bind executive agencies and oversees how agencies buy and the federal acquisition workforce. Appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy

Kevin Rhodes

Has authority over and responsibility for all NNSA programs, including the weapons laboratories, production plants and nonproliferation work. The office is held by the Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security, appointed by the President with Senate confirmation.

Administrator for Nuclear Security

Brandon Williams

Administrator of General Services, the institutional head of General Services Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 301); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of General Services

Edward C. Forst

Administrator of the Administration for Community Living, the institutional head of Administration for Community Living. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Department of Health and Human Services reorganization (2012); programs under the Older Americans Act of 1965; directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Directs the agency's national research programs and its network of laboratories and research centers, and decides which lines of in-house science USDA pursues. Selected within the Department rather than appointed by the President, reporting through the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics.

Administrator of the Agricultural Research Service

Joon Park

Administrator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the institutional head of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Appointed under Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296), 116 Stat. 2135; directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

Mary G. Ryan

Directs BPA's power marketing, transmission operations and rate-setting, and makes the arrangements for the sale and disposition of the federal power the agency sells to Northwest utilities. Appointed by, and responsible to, the Secretary of Energy.

Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration

John L. Hairston

Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the institutional head of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Social Security Act, Titles XVIII and XIX (42 U.S.C. 1395, 1396); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Mehmet Oz

Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the institutional head of Drug Enforcement Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973; directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration

Terrance C. Cole

Directs the government's central energy data and forecasting program and, by statute, publishes its statistical and forecasting reports without any other official's approval. Appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, from people specially qualified to manage an energy information system.

Administrator of the Energy Information Administration

Tristan Abbey

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the institutional head of Environmental Protection Agency. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1970; directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

Lee M. Zeldin

Runs the agency's commodity, farm loan, disaster and conservation programs and its state and county office network. Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture; the post is not Senate-confirmed.

Administrator of the Farm Service Agency

William Beam

Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, the institutional head of Federal Aviation Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (72 Stat. 731); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration

Bryan Bedford

Runs FEMA and is the principal advisor to the President, the Homeland Security Council and the Secretary of Homeland Security on emergency management. Appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, from candidates with demonstrated emergency management ability and at least five years of executive leadership experience.

Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Cameron Hamilton

Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, the institutional head of Federal Highway Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Department of Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. 104); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration

Sean McMaster

Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the institutional head of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 (113 Stat. 1748; 49 U.S.C. 113); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Derek D. Barrs

Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, the institutional head of Federal Railroad Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Department of Transportation Act of 1966 (49 U.S.C. 103); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration

David Fink

Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, the institutional head of Federal Transit Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1968 (5 U.S.C. app.; 49 U.S.C. ch. 53); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration

Exercises the Secretary's authority under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, Poultry Products Inspection Act, Egg Products Inspection Act and Humane Slaughter Act, and directs the inspection workforce. Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture and reporting through the Under Secretary for Food Safety.

Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service

Justin Ransom

Runs the Foreign Agricultural Service and, by statute, also oversees the General Sales Manager and the Agricultural Attache Service, making the Administrator USDA's senior official on agricultural trade. The post is filled by the Secretary of Agriculture and is not Senate-confirmed.

Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service

Daniel Whitley

Administrator of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, the institutional head of Great Lakes Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. Appointed by the President under Saint Lawrence Seaway Act of May 13, 1954 (33 U.S.C. 981-990); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation

J. M. (Mike) McCoshen

Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, the institutional head of Health Resources and Services Administration. Appointed under Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration

Thomas J. Engels

Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the institutional head of National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (Public Law 85-568); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Jared Isaacman

Awards and administers the office's grants and judges whether states comply with the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act's core protections. The Administrator is appointed by the President from among people with experience in juvenile justice programs.

Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Eileen M. Garry

Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the institutional head of Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Norman Y. Mineta Research and Special Programs Improvement Act of 2004 (49 U.S.C. 108); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

Paul J. Roberti

Directs the federal crop insurance program and also serves as Manager of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture; no Senate confirmation required.

Administrator of the Risk Management Agency

Patricia Swanson

Directs the agency's rural business loan, loan guarantee and grant programs under the Under Secretary for Rural Development. Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture; no Senate confirmation required.

Administrator of the Rural Business-Cooperative Service

J.R. Claeys

Directs the agency's rural housing and community facilities loan, guarantee and grant programs under the Under Secretary for Rural Development. Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture; no Senate confirmation required.

Administrator of the Rural Housing Service

George Kelly

Directs the agency's electric, telecommunications and water and waste lending programs. Appointed by the President; no Senate confirmation required.

Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service

Karl Elmshaeuser

Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the institutional head of Small Business Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Small Business Act of 1953 (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Small Business Administration

Kelly Loeffler

Runs the power marketing administration: negotiates its wholesale sales contracts, sets rates that repay the federal investment in the dams, and directs generation scheduling with the Corps. Appointed by the Secretary of Energy.

Administrator of the Southeastern Power Administration

Virgil G. Hobbs III

Runs the power marketing administration: negotiates its wholesale contracts, sets rates that repay the federal investment in the dams, and oversees its transmission system. Appointed by the Secretary of Energy.

Administrator of the Southwestern Power Administration

Mike Wech

Directs federal security screening at airports and security regulation across all transportation modes, and receives and distributes transportation security intelligence. Appointed by the President with Senate confirmation for a five-year term; the statute requires experience in transportation or security.

Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration

David P. Cummins

Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, the institutional head of Wage and Hour Division. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 204); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division

Andrew Rogers

Runs WAPA's power marketing, rate setting and transmission operations, exercising on the Secretary's behalf the power marketing functions transferred from the Bureau of Reclamation. Appointed by the Secretary of Energy.

Administrator of the Western Area Power Administration

Tracey A. LeBeau

Funds high-risk energy research that industry will not finance on its own, awarding cost-shared projects to companies, universities and national laboratories and cutting them off when technical milestones are missed. Its targets are set by statute: energy imports, emissions, efficiency, nuclear waste, and the resilience of energy infrastructure.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy

Conner Prochaska

Runs the Section 106 process, under which a federal agency must consider how a project it funds, permits or carries out would affect historic properties and consult states and tribes before proceeding. It writes the regulations for that review, joins the hardest cases itself, and advises the President and Congress.

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is an operating division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services within the Public Health Service. It produces evidence and funds research to make health care safer, higher in quality, more accessible, and more affordable, and works to ensure that the evidence is understood and used. It was established in 1999 under the Healthcare Research and Quality Act, succeeding the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, and is codified at 42 U.S.C. 299.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Roger D. Klein

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is a public health agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, administered through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It evaluates and works to reduce human exposure to hazardous substances from waste sites, spills, and other releases, conducts public health assessments, and studies the health effects of toxic exposures. It was authorized by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Aaron Bernstein

Runs the Department of Agriculture's own laboratories: its scientists work on crop and livestock production, plant and animal disease, food safety, human nutrition and natural resource management. Results are published for public use rather than sold, and much of the work is done with land-grant universities.

Agricultural Research Service

Flies the aircraft and crews the vessels that Customs and Border Protection uses to detect, track and interdict smuggling and other unlawful cross-border activity. It is CBP's air and sea arm: the Border Patrol covers the land between ports of entry and the Office of Field Operations staffs the ports.

Air and Marine Operations

Jonathan P. Miller

Reviews court-martial convictions from the Air Force and Space Force, sitting in panels of at least three appellate military judges. It can affirm, modify or set aside findings and sentences, may hold a sentence inappropriately severe, and its decisions can be taken on to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals

Provides graduate and professional education to Air Force and Space Force members and Department of the Air Force civilians: its graduate school awards master's and doctoral degrees in engineering, science and management, and its continuing-education schools train civil engineers, logisticians and strategic-force specialists.

Air Force Institute of Technology

James C. Bowers

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury. It collects federal excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and ammunition and regulates the production, labeling, advertising, and importation of alcohol and tobacco products. It was established on January 24, 2003, under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which split the former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and retained the tax and trade functions in the Treasury.

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

Serves as the principal cyberspace policy official within State Department senior management and as the Secretary's adviser on cyber and digital issues, leading the Department's cyber diplomacy. Appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, with the rank and status of ambassador.

Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy

Adam Cassady

Designs, builds and maintains the permanent American military cemeteries and memorials outside the United States - the graves, chapels, monuments and grounds where American war dead are buried or commemorated. It also controls the erection of other United States war memorials and monuments on foreign soil.

American Battle Monuments Commission

Chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission

The American Printing House for the Blind is a private nonprofit corporation that holds a federal charter and serves as the official national source of educational materials for students who are legally blind and enrolled in programs below the college level. It produces and distributes braille and large-print textbooks, educational aids, and assistive technology, funded through an annual federal appropriation administered by the Department of Education. It was chartered by Congress in 1879.

American Printing House for the Blind

Craig Meador

The President of the American Printing House for the Blind leads the Louisville nonprofit that manufactures and furnishes braille, large-print and tactile materials for the instruction of blind students, distributed to schools each year under a federal per-pupil quota (20 U.S.C. 101, 102). Its Board of Trustees selects the president.

President

Funds economic development in the Appalachian counties of thirteen states, approving grants for broadband and water infrastructure, workforce training and business development, mostly delivered through local development districts. It is run jointly by the governors of the member states and a federal co-chair.

Appalachian Regional Commission

Gayle Conelly Manchin

The Architect of the Capitol is a legislative branch agency responsible for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the United States Capitol, the congressional office buildings, the Library of Congress buildings, the Supreme Court building, the United States Botanic Garden, and the grounds of the Capitol campus. The title refers to both the agency and the official who heads it. Permanent statutory authority for the office dates to the Act of August 15, 1876.

Architect of the Capitol

Thomas E. Austin

The Architect of the Capitol has the care and superintendence of the Capitol and maintains the buildings and grounds of the Capitol campus (2 U.S.C. 1812). A commission of congressional leaders and appropriations and administration committee members appoints the Architect to a renewable 10-year term and can remove the holder at any time (2 U.S.C. 1801a).

Archivist of the United States, the institutional head of National Archives and Records Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under National Archives and Records Administration Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-497); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Archivist of the United States

Bradford Pentony Wilson

Arctic Research Commission

Chairman of the Arctic Research Commission

Operates the two homes for retired and former enlisted members of the armed forces, Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington and Armed Forces Retirement Home-Gulfport, providing residences, meals and graduated levels of health and long-term care. Eligibility is statutory, turning on length of service or wartime service.

Armed Forces Retirement Home

Stephen T. Rippe

Hears and decides contractors' appeals from the final decisions of Department of Defense and NASA contracting officers - disputes over payment, delay, termination and contract interpretation. Its full-time judges must have at least five years of experience in public contract law and are selected the way administrative law judges are.

Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals

Reviews court-martial convictions from the Army, sitting in panels of at least three appellate military judges. It can affirm, modify or set aside findings and sentences, may hold a sentence inappropriately severe, and its decisions can be taken on to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

Army Court of Criminal Appeals

Heads the National Security Division and is the Justice Department's primary liaison to the Director of National Intelligence. One of the Senate-confirmed Assistant Attorneys General, designated for the role by the President (28 U.S.C. 507A).

Assistant Attorney General for National Security

John A. Eisenberg

Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, the institutional head of Office of Justice Programs. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Justice Assistance Act of 1984; directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs

Maureen A. Henneberg

Heads CBP's intelligence office and reports directly to the Commissioner, with responsibility for the agency's intelligence enterprise, its counterintelligence operations and its intelligence-sharing agreements. A career official, not a presidential appointee.

Assistant Commissioner, CBP Office of Intelligence

Ronald J. Ocker

Directs CBP's foreign initiatives, its personnel stationed abroad and its partnerships with foreign customs and border agencies, and reports directly to the Commissioner. A career official, not a presidential appointee.