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The Staff Secretary ("Staff Sec") is a position in the
White House Office
The White House Office is an entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The White House Office is headed by the White House chief of staff, who is also the head of the Executive Office of the President. The ...
responsible for managing paper flow to the
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
and circulating documents among senior staff for comment. It has been referred to as "the nerve center of the White House." Specifically, the Office of the Staff Secretary decides which decision memos, briefing materials, lists of potential nominees, briefing books, intelligence reports, schedules, correspondence, and speech drafts end up on the president’s desk, as well as how and when the president will receive them. The Staff Secretary also works with senior White House staff to edit all of these materials and ensure they are ready for the president's consumption.
The Office of the Staff Secretary is generally composed of a Staff Secretary, a Deputy Staff Secretary, and several Associate Staff Secretaries. The Office of the Staff Secretary, along with its sub-offices—the
Office of the Executive Clerk, the Office of Records Management, and the
Office of Presidential Correspondence—is the largest of the White House Offices.
The current Staff Secretary is
Neera Tanden
Neera Tanden (born September 10, 1970) is an American political consultant and government official who has been a senior advisor and staff secretary to President Joe Biden since 2021. Tanden previously served as president of the Center for A ...
, who also holds the title of
Senior Advisor to the President
Senior Advisor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States. White House senior advisors are senior members of the White House Office. The title has been formally used since 1993.
Res ...
.
Function
Due to the high volume of important memos, meetings and decisions generated for the President's attention, the Staff Secretary is tasked with deciding which papers should go to the President's desk—and when the paper should be sent to him. These documents range from presidential decision memos and bills passed by
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
to drafts of speeches and samples of correspondence.
The Staff Secretary relies on close coordination with
Oval Office Operations and the Scheduling Office to decide when and how the President would like to receive documents.
The Staff Secretary's principal role is to review the incoming papers and determine which issues must reach the President. Secondary to this, Staff Sec determines who else in the administration should comment on the issue to give the President a full picture of the situation. Staff Sec then compiles the documents with the relevant commentary for the President's consumption.
Traditionally, the Staff Secretary is a position of great trust due to the influence it can wield over which information is allowed to reach the President, and who is given the opportunity to comment on those issues.
The Staff Secretary or a designated Assistant Staff Secretary always accompanies the President on any work-related travel.
History
The position was established under President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
in 1953, one of the recommendations of the
Hoover Commission (Commission on the Organization of the Executive Branch). Under Eisenhower, the first staff secretaries focused particularly on screening national security communications; in this role, Colonel
Andrew J. Goodpaster was thought to overshadow the President's
special assistant for national security.
With the appointment of businessman
Jon Huntsman, Sr.
Jon Meade Huntsman Sr. (June 21, 1937 – February 2, 2018) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the founder and executive chairman of Huntsman Corporation, a global manufacturer and marketer of specialty chemicals. Huntsman p ...
, as Staff Secretary in the
Richard Nixon White House, the role was vastly expanded to absorb the functions of the Office of Management and Administration. These new roles included personnel management, finance and operations, services (such as access to the White House Mess and limousine fleet), facilities and furniture, and oversight of the Executive Clerk and
Visitors Office.
Almost all of these responsibilities—as well as Presidential Correspondence—were spun off during the
Carter Administration into the newly created
Office of Administration
In the United States government, the Office of Administration is an entity within the Executive Office of the President tasked with overseeing the general administration of the entire Executive Office.
History
The Office of Administration was fo ...
.
During the
Reagan Administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over D ...
the Offices of the Staff Secretary and the Executive Clerk were reunited with Presidential Correspondence in a configuration that has remained fairly consistent through the subsequent presidencies.
President Trump's second
White House Chief of Staff,
John F. Kelly, reiterated the importance of the role of the Staff Secretary in managing the flow of information around the White House.
His decision to allow a Staff Secretary with only an interim security clearance has been criticized.
List of Staff Secretaries
References
External links
AmericanPresident.org description of positionList of officeholders
{{EOP agencies
Presidency of the United States
Staff Secretary
The Staff Secretary ("Staff Sec") is a position in the White House Office responsible for managing paper flow to the President and circulating documents among senior staff for comment. It has been referred to as "the nerve center of the White H ...