This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject , potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral.(February 2024) |
Agency overview | |
---|---|
Formed | 1857 |
Headquarters | West Wing of the White House |
Employees | 377 |
Agency executive | |
Parent agency | Executive Office of the President of the United States |
Website | 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. [1] The staff work for and report directly to the president, including West Wing staff and the president's senior advisers. Almost all of the White House Office staff are political appointees of the president, do not require Senate confirmation and can be dismissed at the discretion of the president.
The staff of the various offices are based in the West Wing and East Wing of the White House, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and the New Executive Office Building. Senior staff, with high level, close contact with the President, have the title Assistant to the President. Second-level staff have the title Deputy Assistant to the President, and third-level staff have the title Special Assistant to the President. [2] These aides oversee the political and policy interests of the president.
The White House Office was established in the Executive Office of the President by Reorganization Plan 1 of 1939 and Executive Order 8248 to provide assistance to the president in the performance of activities incident to his immediate office. [3] The White House Office is organized in accordance with the wishes of each incumbent president and is directed by staff chosen by the president. A staff authorization was initially established in 1978 (92 Stat. 2445). Some presidential boards, committees, and commissions function organizationally as subunits of the White House Office. [4]
Although still a subunit of the EOP, the White House Office remains the center of the presidential staff system. In many ways it is closest to the president both in physical proximity, its top aides occupy most of the offices in the West Wing, and in its impact on the day-to-day operations, deliberations, policy agendas, and public communications of a presidency. During the transition to office and continuing throughout an administration, the president enjoys a great deal of discretion in terms of how the White House Office is organized. [1]
The issues that confront the United States at any one time cannot be dealt with by the president alone, and therefore the president draws on the expertise of others in the administration and even within an administration as one chief of staff may differ from a predecessor or successor.
While chiefs of staff may differ in the degree of policy advice they provide a president, they are the managers of the White House staff system. At least in theory, they are the coordinators bringing the pieces together; they are the tone-setters and disciplinarians making for good organizational order, and often act as the gatekeeper for the president, overseeing every person, document and communication that goes to the president. [1]
This section may contain information not important or relevant to the article's subject.(February 2024) |
The White House Office under the administration of Joseph Biden as of October 2024 is as follows.
The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.
The Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP) comprises the offices and agencies that support the work of the president at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The office consists of several offices and agencies, such as the White House Office, the National Security Council, Homeland Security Council, Office of Management and Budget, Council of Economic Advisers, and others. The Eisenhower Executive Office Building houses most staff.
Counselor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States and senior members of the White House Office.
Valerie June Jarrett is an American businesswoman and former government official serving as the chief executive officer of the Obama Foundation since 2021. She was the longest-serving senior advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama. She was assistant to the president for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, overseeing the office of the same name, and chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls. Before that, she was the chief executive officer of The Habitat Company and served as a co-chair of the Obama–Biden Transition Project.
The White House staff position of liaison to the American Jewish community is a role charged with serving as a presidential administration's voice to the community and gathering the community's consensus viewpoint on issues affecting it for the benefit of White House policymakers. It has existed at least as early as the Carter Administration.
The Office of the Vice President includes personnel who directly support or advise the vice president of the United States. The office is headed by the chief of staff to the vice president of the United States, currently Lorraine Voles. The office also provides staffing and support to the second gentleman of the United States. It is primarily housed in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, with offices for the vice president also in the West Wing, the U.S. Capitol, and in the vice president's official residence.
Steven J. Ricchetti is an American political aide serving as a Counselor to the President under President Joe Biden. He was the chairman of Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. Ricchetti previously served as Chief of Staff to Vice President Biden during the Obama administration and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations under President Bill Clinton. In between stints in Democratic administrations, Ricchetti has worked as a lobbyist.
Bobbie Kilberg is an American political advisor who has worked for Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. Kilberg has served as the president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Technology Council since 1998. She was briefly an attorney with the Washington law firm of Arnold & Porter from 1971 to 1973. She served on the staff of President Richard Nixon's United States Domestic Policy Council, under President Gerald Ford as Associate Counsel, and for President George H.W. Bush as Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Liaison and director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
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.
Evan Maureen Ryan is an American public servant, serving as White House cabinet secretary in the administration of Joe Biden. She previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) in the Obama administration (2013–2017) and was assistant for intergovernmental affairs and public liaison for then-Vice President Joe Biden.
Nicholas Rathod is the founder and former executive director of the State Innovation Exchange, which was created and designed to build progressive power in state legislatures around the country, growing it from an idea to a multimillion dollar organization with more than 30 staff in 3 years. Prior to leading this organization, Rathod served as the director of state campaigns for Mayor Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety, where he oversaw legislative campaigns around gun control. Rathod also worked with Senator Elizabeth Warren to help build and establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and later served as the Bureau’s Assistant Director, in charge of Intergovernmental and International Affairs.
Danielle Gray is the former Assistant to the President, Cabinet Secretary, and a Senior Advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama. Previously, Gray served as Deputy Director of the National Economic Council and Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. Gray is currently executive vice president and global chief legal officer of Walgreen Boots Alliance.
The White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) is a unit of the White House Office, within the Executive Office of the President. It serves as the primary liaison between the White House and state, county (or county-equivalent), local, and tribal governments. The office focuses on building new and maintaining current relationships with governors, tribal leaders, mayors, state legislators, and county executives. The Office of Intergovernmental Affairs works with federal agencies and departments to ensure appropriate coordination between state, local, and tribal governments and the federal government. The Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House Office for the Biden administration was Julie Chavez Rodriguez until she resigned on May 16, 2023 to become Biden's Campaign Manager for his 2024 reelection bid. Tom Perez became Director on June 12, 2023.
Julie Chávez Rodriguez is an American political rights activist and the campaign manager for Vice President Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential campaign, transitioning to that role from President Joe Biden's 2024 re-election campaign.
The presidential transition of Joe Biden began on November 7, 2020, and ended on January 20, 2021. Unlike previous presidential transitions, which normally take place during the roughly 10-week period between the election in the first week of November and the inauguration on January 20, Biden's presidential transition was shortened somewhat because the General Services Administration under the outgoing Trump administration did not recognize Biden as the "apparent winner" until November 23.
The White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy is an office within the White House Office that is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. It is headed by the Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor, which is president's chief advisor on domestic climate change policy. In addition, the National Climate Advisor serves as vice-chair of the National Climate Task Force.
Yohannes Abraham is an American government official who served as United States Representative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from 2022 to 2024. He was selected to lead the planned presidential transition for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and resigned from the State Department to take up his new job in August 2024.
Aditi Hardikar is an American public official serving as the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Management at the United States Department of the Treasury since 2024. She was previously Deputy Chief of Staff to Janet Yellen, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, the associate director of public engagement in the White House Office of Public Engagement, and the primary liaison to the LGBTQ and AAPI communities during the second term of the Obama administration.