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US CABINET AND AGENCIES
The day-to-day enforcement and administration of federal laws is in the hands
of the various federal executive departments, created by Congress to deal with
specific areas of national and international affairs. The heads of the 15
departments, chosen by the President and approved with the "advice and consent"
of the U.S. Senate, form a council of advisors generally known as the
President's "Cabinet". In addition to departments, there are a number of staff
organizations grouped into the Executive Office of the President. These include
the White House staff, the National Security Council, the Office of Management
and Budget, the Council of Economic Advisers, the Office of the U.S. Trade
Representative, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Office of
Science and Technology Policy.
There are also independent agencies such as the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Environmental
Protection Agency. In addition, there are government-owned corporations such as
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Railroad Passenger
Corporation and the United States Postal Service.
By law, each agency must submit an annual Section 300 report to the
President's Office of Management & Budget.[1] This is part of a larger set of
more extensive annual requirements called Circular A-11. Section 300
specifically covers planning, budgeting, acquisition, and management of capital
assets. Increasingly, details on how agencies collect and share information, and
how they are upgrading and improving their information technology decisions is
becoming increasingly important. Within Section 300 there is a special exhibit
called Exhibit 53 which gives extensive details on agency information technology
investments. These investments make up most of the information technology
investments from the annual budgets. For the fiscal year 2008's budget, that
spending exceeds $66.4 billion.[2]
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