THE WHITE HOUSE
OFFICE (WHO), THE
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF
THE PRESIDENCY (EOP),
and the EXECUTIVE
BRANCH
WHO – Chief of Staff
• I. CHIEF OF STAFF: Managerial,
Advisory, and Surrogate/Alter Ego Roles
• A.) Manageria1 Role
• 1.) Selecting personnel (but not always for latecomers)
• 2.) Deciding on Structure of WHO (tight or loose)
• 3.) Supervising Flow of Paper/People/Options/Decisions in and out
of the WH
• --must engage in “dual adaptation”
• --be sensitive to presidential preferences on information acquisition
• --compensate for weaknesses, guard against excessive tendencies
• TWO DANGERS OF INFORMATION NOT GETTING TO THE
PRESIDENT
WHO—
Chief of Staff
• B.) Advisory Role
• 1.) CoS is one of the few advisors who must
integrate “policy” and “political” consequences
• 2.) Protect president from mistakes and rushed
decisions (Haldeman – Nixon)
• 3.) Prevent president from making inflexible
commitments---provide opportunities to back
out (Panetta – Clinton)
WHO—
Chief of Staff
• C.) “Alter Ego”/Surrogate Role
1.) President’s SOB or “bad cop”
2.) Useful surrogate in behind-the-scenes
negotiations
3.) How much of a public figure in his/her
own right? Sununu
WHO – Office of Communications
• Emerged after, and in response to needs
unaddressed by, White House Press Office
• 1.) More strategic and proactive than WHPO
• 2.) Outreach to local and specialized press
instead of Washington press corps
3.) Coordinate with other executive branch
agencies to emphasize “theme of the day”
---Starting with Deaver, an emphasis on VISUALS
WHO -- White House Office of
Communications
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The Presidential Communications Year
January: budget and State of the Union speech
Spring: promoting budget and legislation
May-June: commencement addresses
Summer: G-8 Summit
September: Opening of UN Session
October: Fiscal year deadlines
WHO-Office of Communications
• Speechwriting
• Judson Welliver
• FDR thru JFK: high-level policy advisers with high/early
presidential involvement
• LBJ: developed two-tier hierarchy of speeches and writers
• Nixon: first to establish special speechwriting office; PR
rather than policy emphasis
• Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41: conflict between policy and
SW staff, little access to president, late presidential
involvement
• Clinton and Bush 43: the return of high presidential
involvement and access and high (policy) status
WHO – White House Counsel
• Not the president’s personal lawyer, nor the nation’s lawyer, but
the Presidency’s lawyer
• FUNCTIONS
• 1.) Provide legal advice before the fact, and legal defense after
the fact:
• ---executive privilege claims
• ---war powers
• ---presidential disability and succession
---executive orders
• 2.) Assisting appoint of Federal Judges
• 3.) Ethics training for WH employees
• 4.) Legislative matters --- signing statements
• 5.) Acting as intermediary between White House and DoJ
WHO – Office of Legislative Affairs
(sometimes known as Office of Congressional
Relations or Office of Legislative Liaison)
• History
• Functions
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Direct lobbying and intelligence gathering
Assuring WH speaks w/single voice
Participating in formulation of legislation
Patronage requests (e.g. senatorial courtesy)
Orchestrating indirect lobbying/grassroots efforts
Doling out presidential “goodies”
Scorekeeping
WHO – White House Press Office
(Office of the Press Secretary)
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Main clientele: full-time White House Correspondents
Change in function of press over time
---less intermediary function
---change to 24-hr. news cycle
FUNCTIONS
--daily press briefings and gaggles
--press releases and background info
--prepare Pres for press conferences
• --crisis management
• --handle logistics for White House Correspondents
WHO – White House Press Office
• HOW “in-the-loop” should Press Secretary be?
• How much role in the policymaking process
should he or she play?
QUESTION: Is it better for the Press Secretary
to be well-informed, and occasionally have to lie,
or to be less well-informed and honest?
Examples: Mike McCurry, Larry Speakes
WHO – Other Offices
• WHITE HOUSE STAFF SECRETARY
• Manager of the president’s in-box and out-box (works with
Chief of Staff)
• Supervisor of the vetting process: “idea killer”
• Manager of the mail
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OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
--Why created: Executive Order 12612
---Nature of issues dealt with
---Work with IGOs
WHO – Other Offices
• OFFICE OF POLITICAL AFFAIRS
• Under Karl Rove, replaced by “Office of Strategic
Initiatives”
• OFFICE OF PUBLIC LIAISON
• --Created by Ford administration
• --Outreach to new and hostile groups, care and feeding
of supportive groups
• --Orchestrate lobbying efforts on behalf of prez
• --Stepping stone to bigger and better things
WHO – Other Offices
• Office of Presidential Personnel (will discuss
later)
• First Lady’s Office
• Vice-President’s Office
• Advance and Scheduling
• Coming up next: THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE
OF THE PRESIDENT!
Exec. Office of the President (EOP):
Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
• 1.) Original function: (1921) Budgetary clearance
2.) Additional function (1930s): Legislative clearance
• --executive branch proposals: in accord, no objection, not in
accord
--pending legislation in Congress: SAPs
• 3.) Additional function (1930s): Enrolled Bill Procedure
• 3.) Additional function (1980s): Regulatory clearance
• Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)
• Executive Order 12291: mandated CBA
• Executive Order 12498: mandated annual regulatory programs
• Apex of influence: David Stockman 1981-82, Richard Darman
1989-1992
Exec. Office of President (EOP)
National Security Council (NSC)
• Three different possible roles of National
Security Adviser/National Security Council
• 1.) integrator/coordinator/”honest broker”
• 2.) one among equals: multiple advocacy
• 3.) foreign/defense policy chief (Kissinger)
• Which role did Dr. Rice play? What about
Hadley?
Exec. Office of the President (EOP)
Domestic Council (a.k.a. OPD)
• What preceded it: Cabinets, kitchen
cabinets, “brain trusts,” task
forces/commissions
• Why Nixon created it
• Ford, Carter (apex of influence)
• Reagan: Cabinet Councils
• Bush 41, Clinton
EOP cont’d: Council of Economic
Advisers (CEA)
• Symbolized “arrival” of Keynesian Economics
and economics as a science
• Objective analysis or advocacy?
• JFK: Walter Heller (apex of influence), tax cut
• The “Troika” and the “Quadriad”
• Stagflation, decline of the Keynesians, and the
rise of the supply siders (the Laffer curve) and
monetarists
EOP Cont’d: Office of the Special
Trade Representative (STR)
• Why formed: “Kennedy round” of GATT,
formation of Common Market (later EU), BoP
problem
• JFK got Cabinet-level status and staff and broad
negotiating authority
• Bush 41 and “FAST TRACK”: enabled
NAFTA, “Uruguay Round” of GATT
• Fast track is back! CAFTA
EOP Cont’d: Office of Science and
Technology Policy (OSTP)
• Why created: Sputnik and Ike, atomic power
• Similar dilemma to CEA: academic or political?
• Expanding jurisdiction: from nukes and space
to environment, health care, cloning and stem
cells
• Nixon abolished, Ford brought back
• Often eclipsed by higher status science-oriented
advisers (Sununu, Gore)
EOP Cont’d: National Economic
and Homeland Security Councils
• NEC created by Clinton, kept by Bush
• Don’t have anything else to say: go to White
House website for info!
• Hierarchy of WHO/EOP TITLES
• --Assistant to the President (highest)
• --Deputy Assistant to the President
--Special Assistant to the President
THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY
– what’s in it
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1.) Cabinet agencies:
ex. Depts of Transportation, Labor, Justice, State, etc.
---older, more prestigious
---single-headed (Secretary)
---implementation-oriented, some regulatory authority
---president has full removal power
2.) Independent (non-Cabinet) agencies)
ex. NASA, EPA, CIA, SBA, Peace Corps
---newer, more specialized
---single-headed (Director)
---implementation-oriented, more regulatory authority
• ---president has full removal power
THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY---what’s in it
• 3.) Independent regulatory commissions (IRCs)
• Ex. FCC, FEC, FTC, NRC, SEC, Federal Reserve
• ---multiple-headed (board or commission)
---broad regulatory (policy-making) and adjudication authority as well as
executive authority---”mini-govts.”
• ---commission/board members have long, staggered terms and can’t be
removed by president for political reasons
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4.) Government corporations
Ex. Amtrak, US Postal Service, TVA, FDIC
----Self-financed, with govt. subsidy
----Even more politically independent than IRCs
----Offer goods and services similar to, even in competition with, private
corporations
THE PRESIDENT AND THE
FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY
• REASONS WHY PRESIDENTIAL CONTROL OF THE
EXEC BRANCH IS NOT ASSURED
• 1.) Merit (civil service) system of hiring
2.) Agencies’ advantage in technical expertise
• ---example of “principal-agent” problem
3.) Bureaucracy was created incrementally, with no
rational plan in mind---plenty of anomalies
• 4.) Agencies’ SOPs make change and adjustment
difficult
5.) Bureaucrats develop strong sense of agency
“mission” and agency “culture”
PRES. & BUREAUCRACY
• 6.) Constitutional ambiguity about whether
President or Congress is the “real” master of
bureaucracy
7.) Strong interest group influence on agencies
• (“Capture Theory” and “the revolving door”)
• The regulated becomes the regulator! (ex. CAB)
• “Iron triangles”
Presidential Influence on the
Bureaucracy
• TECHNIQUES FOR INFLUENCING
BUREAUCRACY
• 1.) Making maximum use of limited appointment
power----pro’s and con’s of strict ideological screening
• ---Civil Service Act of 1978: abolished bipartisan CSC,
set up OPM and MSPB, created SES
• 2.) Properly socializing and training appointees
• 3.) Removal power
• ---Legal issues Myers vs. US (1926), Humphreys Executor
vs. US (1935)
• ---Political difficulty of firing cabinet members
Presidential Influence on the
Bureaucracy
• 3.) Removal Power Continued: How to get rid of
uncooperative career civil servants?
The Malek Manual
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4.) Budgeting power
---how OMB review process works
---”current services” budget
---budgeting techniques: incrementalism, PPBS, ZBB
---effects of, and responses to, budget cuts: 1981-82
EPA, “the Bureaucracy Strikes Back”
Presidential Influence on the
Bureaucracy
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5.) Reorganization Authority
6.) Executive Orders
---examples of famous ones
---legal justifications (Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer)
---types of EOs
a.) temporary measures until legislature acts
b.) alternatives to failed legislation
c.) attempts to pre-empt/forestall legislation
d.) Federal govt. as role model
e.) changing the regulatory process, in hopes of changing
regulatory outcomes
Presidential Influence on the
Bureaucracy
• 7.) Privatization/Contracting Out