The Office of the Staff Secretary

The subject of White House staffing has never been the centerpiece of presidency literature. However, among the times when staffing should be the primary focus is the transition period when the president-elect prepares to become the next president. This article was prepared as part of a larger project designed to assist incoming White House staff by providing them with an "institutional memory" of sorts, describing and explaining the responsibilities, activities, and structuring of key White House offices. When one thinks of the White House, one may well envision numerous components-virtually all essential to the sitting president and most competing for the president's attention. A study of the Office of the Staff Secretary reveals that this little known entity(1) is indeed at the vortex of presidential action, as it determines what paperwork makes its way in and out of the Oval Office. We draw on the experiences and insights of previous presidential aides to provide a "how to" manual of sorts that would be useful to incoming staff secretaries and their staffs, particularly those who enter with a new administration. Not intended to be a theoretical or an exhaustive study of the Office of the Staff Secretary, this article seeks to offer a more practical perspective of the inner workings of this key White House unit. We proceed in four stages. Part 1 identifies the primary tasks of the staff secretary and, in the process, highlights the magnitude of the staff secretary's responsibilities. Part 2 explains how this office interfaces with other White House units, demonstrating that its contacts are primarily limited to others within the White House staff apparatus. Part 3 outlines the internal organization and operations of the Office of the Staff Secretary, paying particular attention to the subunits within the office. We conclude with advice for newcomers in part 4 by drawing lessons from past staff secretaries. Main Tasks of the Staff Secretary The primary job of the staff secretary is to control the paper flow to and from the president. James Cicconi, staff secretary for George Bush, underscored how critical this is: I knew that the core function of my job was being the President's in box and out box essentially, coordinating the decision-making process in the White House for the President, making sure that the issues were teed up for his decisions; he had the options and decisions placed in front of him and when he made them ensuring they were implemented; and that everybody that needed to be in the loop was, that he had the full range of advice from his advisors before he made a decision; people weren't cut out by other people and that once he made the decision there was a disciplined process of implementation. That's a job that is huge because you're really having to be involved with everything that passes through the President's hands for a decision. I knew that was the core of the job and it always has been the tradition of the job. It had been called secretary to the President at one time and it really was still that function. I knew that's how I would be measured as a success or failure in that job, how well I did that. (Cicconi interview, P. 4) Control Paper Flowing into the President: Serve as the "In Box" The volume of material coming to the president is astounding. Coping with it is initially "like trying to drink out of a fire hose" (Jones interview, p. 50). Such an onslaught requires an administrative staff that typically has worked two shifts and an alert staff secretary sensitive to what the president must see, what he should see to make informed decisions, and what he prefers to see. The material flowing into the staff secretary's office covers a wide range: presidential decision memos; bills that Congress has passed and associated signing or veto recommendations; drafts of presidential speeches; standard forms requiring the president's signature; the daily briefing book to prepare the president for the next day's schedule; White House guest lists; samples of personal mail from friends and colleagues; and presidential "night reading," "weekend reading," and "trip reading. …