|
There’s a Thomas Jefferson quotation that has always inspired my work as a journalist covering politics (even though it was written about education). Jefferson said, “Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” If there’s a role that journalism should play in our democracy, it’s to provide people with the information they need to hold their government accountable.
So we took on a project after the fall election.
Donald Trump has named many of his cabinet and high-level administration picks; some are already undergoing Senate confirmation hearings. There have been countless stories in the news about those choices, especially the more controversial ones. You don’t need The Conversation to publish stories that you can get elsewhere.
Instead, with more than a dozen articles in the project so far, and a few yet to come, we tell you what the responsibilities and duties are of those administration posts. In each article, scholars help you understand what those jobs – from the director of national intelligence to the secretary of homeland security and the attorney general – require in a leader.
That’s the kind of information that will help you determine whether a nominee is qualified for a high-level administration post or not. We’re not telling you how to think; we’re giving you the facts you need to be informed citizens making considered judgments.
[ Understand what’s going on in Washington and around the world. Get our Politics Weekly newsletter. ]
|
Job description: Cabinet member
|
Evelyn Farkas, Arizona State University
Leading the US Defense Department is a massive job, broadly affecting Americans’ security at home and abroad and overseeing huge numbers of people and immense amounts of money.
| |
Martha Coven, Princeton University; Bridget C.E. Dooling, The Ohio State University
The OMB is like the government’s central nervous system – it, and its director, are at the center of pretty much everything.
|
Monica Duffy Toft, Tufts University
Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, will begin his confirmation hearing on Jan. 15.
| |
Gregory F. Treverton, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The director of national intelligence is the president’s principal adviser on intelligence. A former White House intelligence official explains the role and how the person in it serves the nation.
|
Kenneth Evans, Rice University
Headed by the president’s science adviser, OSTP serves as a one-stop shop for everything science and innovation inside the White House.
| |
Emily Wakild, Boise State University
The Interior Department manages about one-fifth of all US land. Its secretary mediates among many competing uses for it, from recreation to energy production.
|
Abiodun Williams, Tufts University
The US ambassador to the UN has considerable power and influence over US international affairs.
| |
Dustin Hornbeck, University of Memphis
If Republicans manage to achieve a long-standing goal by getting rid of the Department of Education, there wouldn’t be a secretary of education anymore.
|
Valerie Thomas, Georgia Institute of Technology; Margaret E. Kosal, Georgia Institute of Technology
The Energy Department has a dual mission with a heavy science focus and manages large, expensive programs, many of which are behind schedule and over budget.
| |
Wendy Whitman Cobb, Air University
NASA administrators have hard choices to make, but the outcomes are often out-of-this-world exciting.
|
Jennifer Selin, Arizona State University
The combined political and legal roles and responsibilities of the US attorney general can create conflicts. Some attorneys general yielded to political pressure from the president – many did not.
| |
Javed Ali, University of Michigan
The FBI investigates everything from terrorist threats to cybercrime to public corruption. What does the presidentially nominated, Senate-confirmed head of the sprawling agency actually do?
|
Stan Meiburg, Wake Forest University
Enforcing environmental laws isn’t a job that makes people popular. But polls show that Americans generally want more environmental protection, not less.
| |
Matthew Clary, Auburn University
The director of the CIA is responsible for overseeing the agency’s clandestine operations and advising the president on national security matters.
|
Frank J. Cilluffo, Auburn University
The Department of Homeland Security’s massive bureaucracy has many critical national security functions and spends billions of taxpayer dollars seeking to keep the nation safe.
| |
Jennifer Selin, Arizona State University
Senators have the power to approve or reject a president’s cabinet nominees. A loophole allows presidents to do an end run around the Senate – but Senate leaders have to agree to it.
|
Peter Kastor, Washington University in St. Louis
The US now faces the likelihood of a bruising and raucous set of confirmation hearings − a clear break from the cooperative system the founders established.
| |
John E. Jones III, Dickinson College
A former federal judge explains a key power the US attorney general has, and why it’s useful to the public for the Justice Department to operate in a trustworthy way.
|
|
|
