Chapter 15
Government at Work:
The Bureaucracy
Zach Cheplak, Kyle Dill, Erin Eklund
AP Gov 7th Hour
Section 1
The Federal
Bureaucracy
Section 1: The Federal Bureaucracy
Vocab
Bureaucracy
Bureaucrat
Administration
Staff agency
Line agency
The Federal Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is a large, complex
administrative structure that handles the
everyday business of an organization.
 It includes, but is not exclusive to the U.S.
Federal Government, the largest
bureaucracy in the U.S., various
corporations, the militaries, and each
separate city government.

The Three Parts of a Bureaucracy

Hierarchical Authority
– A chain of command.

Job Specialization
– Each worker, or bureaucrat, has a specific
job.

Formalized Rules
– A series of precise rules and regulations that
establish an exact procedure.
*Bureaucrats aren’t elected
Majority of the bureaucracy is in
executive branch
The President is the chief administrator of
the Federal Government as declared by
the Constitution.
 The Constitution makes only a few small
references to the administrative process.
 Article II gives the President to appoint
Ambassadors, and other public Ministers
and Consuls.

Titles

Agency and Administration
– Any governmental body; A major unit headed
by a single administrator who is of nearcabinet status.

Commission
– Agencies that regulate business activities.

Corporation and Authority
– Agencies that conduct business-like activities.

Bureau, service, office, branch,
Agency Make-up

Staff Agencies
– Supports chief executive and others by
offering advice and assistance in
management.

Line agencies
– Actually perform the tasks for the
organization.
Section 2
The Executive
Office
Section 2: The Executive Office
of the President
Vocab
Executive Office of the President
Federal budget
Fiscal year
Domestic affairs
The Executive Office of the
President (EOP)


The unit of several different agencies,
consisting of the President’s closest
advisors.
First founded by Congress in 1939, and
restructured during every administration
since then.
The White House Office



The nucleus of the executive branch.
Includes the President’s key political and
personal staff.
The Chief of Staff
– Supervises all of the procedures at the
White House.

The President has many different aides
which advise him on all the important
areas of government
*Over 400 Staff Members
The National Security Council
A staff agency that gathers at the
President’s request, and advises him on
various government matters.
 Members include the Vice President, the
CIA director, the secretary of state, the
secretary of defense, and the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Other Offices
The Office of Homeland Security
 The Office of Management and Budget
 The Office of Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives
 The Office of National Drug Control Policy
 The Council of Economic Advisers
 Many More

Section 3
The Executive
Departments
Section 3: The Executive
Departments
Vocab
Executive departments
Secretary
Attorney general
The Executive Departments
Also known as the Cabinet departments,
these are the traditional units of federal
administration, each of which is built around
a extensive area of activity.
 At first only three departments existed, the
State, Treasury, and War Departments.

Officers and Staff
A secretary leads each department with
the exception of the Department of Justice
which is headed by the attorney general.
 The leaders of each department connect
their department to the President.
 All of these officials are appointed by the
President and confirmed by the Senate.

The Fifteen Executive Departments

Include the Departments of State,
Treasury, Defense,
Justice, Interior, Agriculture,
Commerce, Labor, Health
and Human Services, Housing and
Urban Development,
Transportation, Energy, Education,
Veterans Affairs, and
Homeland Security.
The Cabinet
The Cabinet was created in 1789 when
the secretaries of state, war, treasury, and
the attorney general met and advised
President George Washington, who from
then on frequently sought their advice.
 Now the Cabinet consists of all the heads
of the 15 different Executive Departments,
the Vice President, and whichever other
officials the President wants to add.

Choosing the Cabinet
All the heads of the executive
departments are appointed by the
President and Confirmed by the Senate.
 The Cabinet member choices are made
based upon the person’s qualifications,
experience, and are usually influenced by
the President’s political party, and current
social issues.

Role of the Cabinet
The cabinet members’ job is to manage
their department and to advise the
President.
 The elimination of the Cabinet has never
been recommended, but some President’s
have chosen to seek advice from other
groups.

Section 4
Independent
Agencies
Section 4: Independent
agencies
Vocab
Independent agencies
Independent executive agencies
Independent regulatory commissions
Quasi-legislative
Quasi-judicial
Quasi-modo
Government Corporation
Independent Agencies
There are about 150 independent
agencies.
 The agencies are set up mainly because
they do not fit well within any department.
 They are independent because of the
peculiar and sensitive nature of their
functions.

Independent Executive Agencies
GSA- General Services Administrationconstructs and operates public buildings
and their purchase and distribution of
supplies and equipment
 NASA- National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
 Most independent executive agencies have
few employees, small budgets, and rarely
attract any attention.

Independent regulatory
Commissions

Structured for independence.
– Each headed by a board made up of five
to seven members appointed by the
President with Senate consent.
– No more than a bare majority of the
members may belong to the same
political party.
The Government Corporations
The first government corporation that was
established was the Bank of the United
States in 1791.
 FDIC- Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation: insures bank deposits.
 Export-Import bank of the United States:
makes loans to help the export and sale of
American goods abroad.

*Over 50 Corporations today
Government v. Private Corporations
Government Corporations produce income
that is put back into business.
 The Government decides the purpose for
which the public agencies exist and the
functions they can perform.

– Public officers and employees
– top officers selected by the President with
Senate approval.
Section 5
The Civil
Service
Section 5: The Civil Service
Vocab
Civil service
Spoils system
Patronage
Register
Bipartisan
Development of the Civil Service

The Beginnings
– In 1789 George Washington appointed mainly
Federalists to be the members of the
government.
– In 1801 Thomas Jefferson dismissed
hundreds of the Federalists and replaced
them with Democratic-Republicans.
Movement to Reform
 In
1881, President James Garfield
was shot by a disappointed officeseeker, Charles J. Guiteau.
 The nation then passed the Pendleton
Act-the civil Service Act of 1883.
The Pendleton Act
Its main purpose was to make merit-the
quality of one’s work-the basis for hiring,
promotion, and other personnel actions in
the federal work force.
 Today nearly 90 percent of the people
who work for the executive branch
agencies are covered by the merit system.

Civil Service Today

The Office of Personnel Management
– The Office of Personnel Management, created
in 1978, is the Federal Government’s central
personnel agency.

Pay and Benefits
– Congress sets the pay and other job
conditions for everyone who words for the
Federal Government, except for employees of
the United States Postal Service.
Political Activities

Hatch act of 1939
– allows federal workers to vote in elections,
but forbids them to take part in partisan
political activities.

The Federal Employees Political Activities
Act of 1993
– allows a federal worker to vote, help register
new voters, contribute money to candidates
and parties, participate in campaigns, and
hold office in a political party.
This is the end.