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The Office of the Staff Secretary
Author(s) -
HULT KAREN M.,
TENPAS KATHRYN DUNN
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
presidential studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.337
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1741-5705
pISSN - 0360-4918
DOI - 10.1111/j.0360-4918.2001.00170.x
Subject(s) - presidential system , political science , administration (probate law) , commission , public administration , unit (ring theory) , politics , work (physics) , management , white (mutation) , law , engineering , psychology , biochemistry , chemistry , mathematics education , economics , gene , mechanical engineering
The Office of the Staff Secretary, a unit recommended by the first Hoover Commission, appeared in the White House Office in fall 1953. Since then, many of its original tasks have become the responsibility of the Office of Administration. The contemporary staff secretary serves as the “last substantive control point before papers reach the Oval Office.” In addition, the staff secretary typically supervises the Offices of the Executive Clerk, Records Management, and Correspondence. Given the pivotal place of the Office of the Staff Secretary in presidential paper flow, it handles complex policy issues and its work can be highly political. The staff secretary also must be sure that others respond to presidential directives or to questions elicited by the papers the president sees. This article sheds light on the operations of this important unit and summarizes useful approaches to the job of staff secretary.