United States Federal Executive Departments

Within the federal government, the departments are among the oldest primary units of the executive branch, the Departments of State, War, and the Treasury all being established within a few weeks of each other in 1789. The heads of the departments are the members of the traditional Cabinet; since 1792, they have, by statutory specification, constituted a line of succession, after the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate, to the presidency in the event of a vacancy in both that office and the vice presidency. The Constitution is referring to these officials when it authorizes the President, in Article II, section 2, to "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices." In brief, they and their organizations are the administrative arms of the President.

All departments are listed by their present-day name and only departments with past or present cabinet-level status are listed.

United States Federal Executive Departments

Department	Creation	Modifications since creation
State	1789
War (past)	1789	Subsumed by Defense
Treasury	1789
Navy (past)	1798	Subsumed by Defense
Interior	1849
Justice	1870
Post Office (past)	1872	Reorganized as U.S. Postal Service
Agriculture	1889
Commerce	1903	Originally named Commerce and Labor; Labor later separated
Labor	1913
Defense	1947	Initially named the National Military Establishment.
Health and Human Services	1953	Originally named Health, Education, and Welfare; Education later separated
Housing and Urban Development	1965
Transportation	1966
Energy	1977
Education	1979
Veterans Affairs	1988
Homeland Security	2002

Sources:

Relyea, Harold C. "Homeland Security: Department Organization and Management", Report for Congress. 2002. RL31493. http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/13385.pdf (August 7, 2002).