Appointment Information - Sites - Candidate Information - Commissions
Suggestions for use of this page: First - it is, and probably always will be - a work-in-progress for a long time. This means it will change on a daily basis. We will code additions and changes by color - at least we will try to do that. We will try to give a sense of when the information will expire. There will be many links - many of which are volatile and with a short life - don't be troubled - but we would appreciate a note by e-mail if you find one a dead one before we do - at Director@Presidential-Appointments.org. Second: There is absolutely no logic or strategy in which departments or agencies we are studying at the moment - there are so many - we have to start somewhere. Drop us a note at the e-mail address above if you have an interest in a particular part of the government and we will try to divert some attention to it.
Updated Thursday, January 31, 2008 20:01:11
.
.In February, 2007, we started a search of Internet sites, government agencies, Google Alert names, other usual sources, made phone calls, wrote letters, followed leads, gossip, guesses, to find places - obvious and not-obvious-at-all leads - to try to get a solid handle on places Presidential appointees are placed, positions might be open, and get this information into a sensible useable form.
We have known for decades, as have scholars, much of the government itself, that tracking places where appointments exist, or will exist, especially before they are made - is an outrageously difficult task. There is nothing particularly nefarious about all this - we just have an extraordinarily complex and often disassociated and unattached system of government which has many values, but is not very tidy when it comes to tracking it. Some say it is out of control as a result, and for those who cannot survive without compulsive organization will be uncomfortable. There are serious questions of oversight and coordination involved - none of which we can control - and only a few of which we modify through research and study. Even so - just identifying positions which might fit someone who uses this page is probably constructive.
UNITED STATES FEDERAL COURTS
United States District Court for Western District of Washington (Seattle area) - President Bush nominated King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones - nominated, subject to confirmation 3-25-07
Department of Justice
Official List of United States Attorneys and their Offices
Department of State
Ambassadors to Countries and Nations
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Cameroon - Janet E. Garvey, of Massachusetts. (Career Foreign Service Officer - nominated 3-22-07)
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Madagascar and the Union of Comoros - R. Neils Marquardt, of California (Career Foreign Service Officer - nominated 3-22-07)
Ambassadors to Organizations and Programs, not to Countries
Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and Coordinator for Iraq - Ambassador David M. Satterfield (Career Foreign Service Officer - Vita - confirmed) 3-25-07
Military Appointments
In general, Presidential-Appointments.org does not follow appointments of persons to Commissioned Officer posts, although they require Senate confirmation. Look at Military Appointments for those details or where to find the appointments. These appointments are to Senior positions with high public policy matters in the job descriptions.
Director of the Marine Corps Staff - President Bush has nominated Lt. Gen. Richard Kramlich - and reappointed him to the rank of Lieutenant General. Vita - nominated 3/25/07
GENERAL SEARCH CONSIDERATIONS FOR CANDIDATES
The search parameters on all these departments and agencies are the same for any good internet or library search.
-
Primary qualification for an appointment: Assuming an appointment will be made on the basis of talent, training, experience or some similar qualification - start there. (We understand that appointments are often made on less logical criteria - but this is a sensible starting point for a search.) Examples: Fish Biologist, volcano scientist, budget planner, financial officer, Global Warning Scientist, etc.
-
Type of Structure or position: Commission, committee, political appointment, Presidential Appointment, executive appointment, research assistant, Public Relations Officer, Cabinet Secretary, etc - the sort of position for which you wish to be appointed.
-
Present Presidential Appointments: You are going to immediately see the primary existing Presidential Appointments in each agency - those who presently fill such appointments. Obviously - these are all positions which are going to be open if there is a change of political Party in the next Presidential Election - and many will be open regardless of Party. There is a very large turnover of these appointments in any administration, so if you see a position you would like to fill - start tracking it now - regardless of whether it is at the top or bottom of the list of appointed positions - it is going to open up at some point. (There are estimates now - 02-07-07 - that as many as a third of appointments are vacant in some of the government areas.) There are often many similar positions across the spectrum of a department, or across several departments. Needless to say, as sub-departments and agencies are shown - they provide good search clues for other sites.
Department of Interior
Internet Sites: (Most of these sites change almost every day so a serious candidate for an appointment needs to watch them carefully, sign up for free newsletters or notices where they apply, and study policy changes that are showing in those modifications of pages.)
Primary Department of Interior Internet Site: This is an enormous site with a strong search function that is handy to recover information on the sub-Departments of Interior: Good search words: Commissions, parks, fish, etc. There is a large response to these sorts of search words. Interior is involved in all the states and is more domestic than some other departments and agencies. This is a good but broad based sort of information site for a potential candidate.
Interior Structural Chart: This is a standard governmental organization chart - with many layers of sub-sites which provide good detail about where people work, an idea of what the agency does, and where they do it.
Chart of Top Officials in Interior: This is a sample of how officials are identified. Vacant positions are also noted. These are positions which require Senate confirmation.
Bureaus and related identified functions: This is a good research site for a someone interested in Interior. A clever candidate needs to know the department from top-to-bottom, and understand the substance of politics of it. Even though this is a department site - an official site - it is a good orientation site.
Job Page: This page is a major source of both policy and process in Interior. This is an enormous department, which jobs just about everywhere. This site leads you to civil service jobs as well as other sorts of positions. There is good stuff here about hiring policy, department policy, and the general important employee information.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Internet Sites: (Most of these sites change almost every day so a serious candidate for an appointment needs to watch them carefully, sign up for free newsletters or notices where they apply, and study policy changes that are showing in those modifications of pages.)
Department of State - Main Site: The State Department has more employees, and many Executive Appointments, in foreign locations, and less on a state by state basis. This page - the central page is more complex than some others, and will require a more aggressive search. The page has the usual details about policy, programs, etc.