The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks,most national monuments,and other natural,historical,and recreational properties with various title designations. The U.S. Congress created the agency on August 25,1916,through the National Park Service Organic Act. It is headquartered in Washington,D.C.,within the main headquarters of the Department of the Interior.
In the United States,a national monument is a protected area that can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the president of the United States or an act of Congress. National monuments protect a wide variety of natural and historic resources,including sites of geologic,marine,archaeological,and cultural importance. In contrast,national parks in the U.S. must be created by Congressional legislation. Some national monuments were first created by presidential action and later designated as national parks by congressional approval.
Leon Edward Panetta is an American politician and government official who has served under several Democratic administrations as Secretary of Defense (2011–2013),director of the CIA (2009–2011),White House Chief of Staff (1994–1997),director of the Office of Management and Budget (1993–1994),and as a U.S. Representative from California (1977–1993).
The Antiquities Act of 1906,is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8,1906. This law gives the president of the United States the authority to,by presidential proclamation,create national monuments from federal lands to protect significant natural,cultural,or scientific features. The Act has been used more than a hundred times since its enactment.
The B Reactor at the Hanford Site,near Richland,Washington,was the first large-scale nuclear reactor ever built. The project was a key part of the Manhattan Project,the United States nuclear weapons development program during World War II. Its purpose was to convert natural uranium metal into plutonium-239 by neutron activation,as plutonium is simpler to chemically separate from spent fuel assemblies,for use in nuclear weapons,than it is to isotopically enrich uranium into weapon-grade material. The B reactor was fueled with metallic natural uranium,graphite moderated,and water-cooled. It has been designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark since August 19,2008 and in July 2011 the National Park Service recommended that the B Reactor be included in the Manhattan Project National Historical Park commemorating the Manhattan Project. Visitors can take a tour of the reactor by advance reservation.
John Owen Brennan is a former American intelligence officer who served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from March 2013 to January 2017. He served as chief counterterrorism advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama,with the title Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism,and Assistant to the President. Previously,he advised Obama on foreign policy and intelligence issues during the 2008 election campaign and presidential transition.
Horace Marden Albright was an American conservationist and the second director of the National Park Service.
Lael Brainard is an American economist serving as the 14th director of the National Economic Council since February 21,2023. She previously served as the 22nd vice chair of the Federal Reserve between May 2022 and February 2023. Prior to her term as vice chair,Brainard served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,taking office in 2014. Before her appointment to the Federal Reserve,she served as the under secretary of the treasury for international affairs from 2010 to 2013.
Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas is a Cuban-American lawyer and politician who has been serving as the seventh United States Secretary of Homeland Security since February 2,2021. During the Obama administration,he also served in the Department of Homeland Security,first as director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (2009–2013),and then as deputy secretary of DHS (2013–2016).
Regina McCarthy is an American air quality expert who served as the first White House national climate advisor from 2021 to 2022. She previously served as the thirteenth Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2013 to 2017.
Avril Danica Haines is an American lawyer and senior government official who serves as the director of national intelligence in the Biden administration. She is the first woman to serve in this role. Haines previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Obama administration. Prior to her appointment to the CIA,she served as Deputy Counsel to the President for National Security Affairs in the Office of White House Counsel.
Manhattan Project National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park commemorating the Manhattan Project that is run jointly by the National Park Service and Department of Energy. The park consists of three units:one in Oak Ridge,Tennessee,one in Los Alamos,New Mexico and one in Hanford,Washington. It was established on November 10,2015 when Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz signed the memorandum of agreement that defined the roles that the two agencies had when managing the park.
Nani A. Coloretti is an American policy advisor who is currently serving as the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. Coloretti served as United States Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2014 to 2017. Following her service as deputy secretary,she became senior vice president for financial and business strategy and treasurer at the Urban Institute.
Stonewall National Monument is a 7.7-acre (3.1 ha) U.S. national monument in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan,New York City. The designated area includes the Stonewall Inn,the 0.19-acre (0.077 ha) Christopher Park,and nearby streets including Christopher Street,the site of the Stonewall riots of June 28,1969,widely regarded as the start of the modern LGBT rights movement in the United States.
The Freedom Riders National Monument is a United States National Monument in Anniston,Alabama established by President Barack Obama in January 2017 to preserve and commemorate the Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights Movement. The monument is administered by the National Park Service. The Freedom Riders National Monument is one of three National Monuments that was designated by presidential proclamation of President Obama on January 12,2017. The second was the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument and the third,the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park,was re-designated as a National Historical Park on March 12,2019.
Adewale O. "Wally" Adeyemo is an American government official serving as the United States deputy secretary of the treasury. He was the first president of the Obama Foundation and also served during the Obama administration as the deputy national security advisor for international economics from 2015 to 2016 and deputy director of the National Economic Council.
Raymond David Vela is a parks administrator who is the former acting director of the United States National Park Service.
Michael T. Reynolds is a career parks administrator who served as an acting director of the United States National Park Service in the Trump administration.
Christine Sandra Abizaid is an American intelligence officer who is the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the Biden administration.
