The document outlines different types of bureaucratic organizations at the federal level in the United States, including cabinet-level departments, independent agencies, independent regulatory boards and commissions, government corporations, and the presidential and congressional bureaucracies. It provides examples and characteristics of each type of organization.

1. The Structure of the
American Government
Bureaucratic Politics

2. Types of Bureaucratic
Organizations at the Federal Level
Cabinet Level Departments
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• Department of Commerce
• Department of the Interior
• Department of Homeland
Security
• Department of Defense
• Department of Labor
• Department of Health and
Human Services
• Department of Justice
• Department of Housing and
Urban Development
• Department of the Treasury
• Department of the State

3. Types of Bureaucratic
Organizations at the Federal Level
• Characteristics:
• Each department is headed by a Secretary
• Each department is responsible for a policy area that is designated by
Congress.
• Jurisdiction – the area of programmatic responsibility assigned to an agency by
the legislature or chief executive.
• Each department is made up of smaller units:
• Bureau, office, administration, and service.
• Level of Control:
• Holding company vs. strong control
• Why?
• Many agencies were created before the creation of the Department and therefore are
used to a certain level of autonomy.
• Department of Homeland Security:
• U.S. Customs Service (Treasury)
• INS (Justice)
• FEMA (General Services Administration)
• TSA (DOT)
• U.S. Coast Guard (DOT)

10. Types of Bureaucratic
Organizations at the Federal Level
• Reasons Cabinet Departments are Created:
• Growth in Government Responsibility and Population
• Department of Justice
• Created in response to growing needs of the government.
• Grew under Reagan’s war on drugs.
• Clientele/Interest Group Demands
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Labor
• Department of Education
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• Policy Priorities and Increased Need for Technical Knowledge
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Energy
• Department of Homeland Security

11. Types of Bureaucratic Organizations at
the Federal Level
• Independent Agencies
• Independent of any cabinet level agency
• Report directly to the president or Congress.
• Types:
• Independent Agencies
• Independent Regulatory Agencies

12. Types of Bureaucratic Organizations at
the Federal Level
• Independent Agencies
• Examples:
• EPA, NASA, CIA, MSPB, OPM
• Leadership:
• Singular
• Appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
• The heads are not members of the cabinet.
• Characteristics:
• Cover a narrower policy area than departments.
• They are independent because they do not fit neatly into the policy
focus of a department
• Example: NASA
• “Independent of clientele pressure”
• Agencies vary in size

13. Types of Bureaucratic Organizations at
the Federal Level
• Independent Regulatory Boards
and Commissions
• Examples: FCC, NLRB, SEC, FTC,
ICC, CAB
• Characteristics:
• Administrative unit with the responsibility
for monitoring and regulating a specific
type of economic activity.
• Created in order to avoid presidential
control.
• Leadership:
• Plural
• 5 – 9 member commissions/boards
(party split)
• Bare majority rule
• All appointed by the president and
confirmed by the Senate.
• Leaders cannot be removed by the
president.
• Serve fixed terms that are longer than
that of the president.

14. Types of Bureaucratic Organizations at
the Federal Level
• Government Corporations
• Examples:
• United States Postal Service
• Amtrak
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting
• Federal Reserve System
• Characteristics:
• Headed by boards or commissions (board of directors).
• Bipartisan membership
• Long terms of office
• Federal Reserve = 14 years (seven member board)
• Some intended to make a profit some do not have this intention.
• Unlike other agencies, government corporations can:
• Acquire, develop and dispose of real estate while acting in their own names.
• They can bring suit in a court of law and are legally liable to be sued in their own
name.

15. Types of Bureaucratic Organizations at
the Federal Level
• The Political Agencies of the President
and Congress
• The Presidential Bureaucracy
• Congressional Bureaucracy

16. Types of Bureaucratic
Organizations at the Federal Level
• The Presidential Bureaucracy:
• Largely organized around the Executive Office of the President
(EOP)
• Headed by the White House Chief of Staff
• Contains:
• White House Office
• Office of the Vice President
• Office of Management and Budget
• Council of Economic Advisors
• National Security Council
• Other small bodies that advise the president on specific policy areas:
• Office of National Drug Control Policy
• Council on Environmental Quality
• Office of the United States Trade Representative
• Close the information gap
• Detailing

17. Types of Bureaucratic
Organizations at the Federal Level
• The Congressional Bureaucracy:
• More complex than the presidential bureaucracy
• Due to the fact that staff cannot handle the entire workload of
Congress, support agencies were developed to assist Congress.
• Library of Congress
• Congressional Research Service (CRS)
• Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
• Government Accountability Office (GAO)
• Government Printing Office (GPO)

18. The Politics of Structure and
Design
• Moe, Terry. 1989. “The Politics of Bureaucratic Structure” in Can the Government
Govern? Ed. John E. Chubb and Paul E. Peterson. Washington, D.C.: Brookings
Institution.
• What is Moe’s main point?
• Why do structural choices matter?
• What general groups does Moe examine as a means for demonstrating how their interests shape
structural choices?
• Interest groups
• What do interest groups want?
• Does one interest group really control structural design?
• Legislators
• What is the goal of legislators?
• Why is this important?
• Does this mean that they do not have any interests of their own?
• Presidents
• What motivates the president?
• What do they favor then?
• What agencies does Moe look at to examine his theory?
• CPSC
• OSHA
• EPA
• What does he conclude?
• They are all examples of the politics surrounding structural design