Department of State
Secretary:	Marco Rubio
Year created:	1789
Official website:	State.gov

Executive Departments of the United States

Executive DepartmentsDepartment of State •Department of the Treasury •Department of Defense •Department of Justice •Department of the Interior •Department of Agriculture •Department of Commerce •Department of Labor •Department of Health and Human Services •Department of Housing and Urban Development •Department of Transportation •Department of Energy •Department of Education •Department of Veterans Affairs •Department of Homeland Security

Department SecretariesMarco Rubio •Scott Bessent •Pete Hegseth •Pam Bondi •Doug Burgum •Brooke Rollins •Lori Chavez-DeRemer •Robert F. Kennedy Jr. •Scott Turner •Howard Lutnick •Sean Duffy •Chris Wright •Linda McMahon •Doug Collins •Kristi Noem

TheDepartment of State is a United States executive department formed in 1789 to assist the president in foreign and domestic diplomatic affairs.

Marco Rubio is the current secretary of state. He wasconfirmed on January 20, 2025, by a vote of 99-0.

History

Thomas Jefferson was the first person appointed to the office of secretary of state. He was appointed by President George Washington to the position in 1790. Jefferson and President Washington lobbied Congress for funding to establish overseas consulates and diplomatic missions. As a result, 16 consulates and five diplomatic missions were started outside of the United States by 1792. The missions were established as the official diplomatic representatives of the United States. They sent regular news reports on political and economic developments in their base countries back to the United States and carried out directives sent from the American government. The consulates were established to assist U.S. citizens abroad as well as to resolve commercial issues. Jefferson's staff included six people working in the United States: a chief clerk who wrote all of the office's correspondence, three more clerks, one translator, and one messenger. Overseas diplomats were paid small amounts and often spent their personal fortunes in order to attain higher status in their stationed countries.^[1]

During the early 1800s, purchases made by the Department of State brought significant changes to the geography of the United States. It conducted the Louisiana Purchase and obtained both Florida and land bordering Canada on the 49th parallel west of the Rocky Mountains. President James Monroe and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams established the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, which stated that the United States would use force against nations that attempted to further colonize the Western Hemisphere.^[1]

Mission

The United States Department of State building

The official department mission statement is as follows:

Leadership

Administrative State
Read more about theadministrative state on Ballotpedia.

Marco Rubio is the secretary of state.

The secretary of state is the top adviser to the president on foreign policy. The duties of the secretary of state include:

• Advising the president on diplomatic representatives;
• Negotiating, interpreting, and terminating treaties and international agreements;
• Providing information to U.S. citizens and Congress on relations and welfare of foreign countries;
• Representing the U.S. in international conferences, organizations, and agencies;
• Administering the Department of State; and
• Issuing passports to U.S. citizens and foreign diplomatic representatives.

Note: Votes marked "N/A" represent voice votes or unrecorded votes. Missing votes will be filled as they are researched.

Organization

See also

External links

• Department of State website
• Department of State on Facebook
• Department of State on Twitter
• Department of State Youtube channel
• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

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v • e The Administrative State Main The Administrative State Project main page •Administrative State Project Index •Glossary of administrative state terms •Quotes about the administrative state •Administrative state •Rulemaking •Deference •Adjudication •Nondelegation doctrine •Ballotpedia's administrative state legislation tracker Pillars Agency control •Executive control •Judicial control •Legislative control •Public control Reporting Changes to the Federal Register •Completed OIRA review of federal administrative agency rules •Federal agency rules repealed under the Congressional Review Act •Historical additions to the Federal Register, 1936-2016 Laws Administrative Procedure Act •Antiquities Act •Civil Service Reform Act •Clayton Antitrust Act •Communications Act of 1934 •Congressional Review Act •Electronic Freedom of Information Act •Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 •Federal Housekeeping Statute •Federal Reserve Act •Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 •Freedom of Information Act •Government in the Sunshine Act •Independent Offices Appropriations Act of 1952 •Information Quality Act •Interstate Commerce Act •National Labor Relations Act •Paperwork Reduction Act •Pendleton Act •Privacy Act of 1974 •Regulatory Flexibility Act •REINS Act •REINS Act (Wisconsin) •Securities Act of 1933 •Securities Exchange Act of 1934 •Sherman Antitrust Act •Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act •Truth in Regulating Act •Unfunded Mandates Reform Act Cases Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner •A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States •Association of Data Processing Service Organizations v. Camp •Auer v. Robbins •Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council •Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe •Federal Trade Commission (FTC) v. Standard Oil Company of California •Field v. Clark •Food and Drug Administration v. Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation •Humphrey's Executor v. United States •Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) v. Chadha •J.W. Hampton Jr. & Company v. United States •Lucia v. SEC •Marshall v. Barlow's •Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency •Mistretta v. United States •National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius •National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning Company •National Labor Relations Board v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. •Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan •Securities and Exchange Commission v. Chenery Corporation •Skidmore v. Swift & Co. •United States v. Lopez •United States v. Western Pacific Railroad Co. •Universal Camera Corporation v. National Labor Relations Board •Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council •Wayman v. Southard •Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service •Whitman v. American Trucking Associations •Wickard v. Filburn •Wiener v. United States Terms Adjudication (administrative state) •Administrative judge •Administrative law •Administrative law judge •Administrative state •Arbitrary-or-capricious test •Auer deference •Barrier to entry •Bootleggers and Baptists •Chevron deference (doctrine) •Civil servant •Civil service •Code of Federal Regulations •Codify (administrative state) •Comment period •Compliance costs •Congressional Record •Coordination (administrative state) •Deference (administrative state) •Direct and indirect costs (administrative state) •Enabling statute •Ex parte communication (administrative state) •Executive agency •Federal law •Federal Register •Federalism •Final rule •Formal rulemaking •Formalism (law) •Functionalism (law) •Guidance (administrative state) •Hybrid rulemaking •Incorporation by reference •Independent federal agency •Informal rulemaking •Joint resolution of disapproval (administrative state) •Major rule •Negotiated rulemaking •Nondelegation doctrine •OIRA prompt letter •Organic statute •Pragmatism (law) •Precautionary principle •Promulgate •Proposed rule •Publication rulemaking •Regulatory budget •Regulatory capture •Regulatory dark matter •Regulatory impact analysis •Regulatory policy officer •Regulatory reform officer •Regulatory review •Rent seeking •Retrospective regulatory review •Risk assessment (administrative state) •Rulemaking •Separation of powers •Significant regulatory action •Skidmore deference •Statutory authority •Substantive law and procedural law •Sue and settle •Sunset provision •Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions •United States Code •United States Statutes at Large Bibliography "Administrative Law - The 20th Century Bequeaths an 'Illegitimate Exotic' in Full and Terrifying Flower" by Stephen P. Dresch (2000) "Confronting the Administrative Threat" by Philip Hamburger and Tony Mills (2017) "Constitutionalism after the New Deal" by Cass R. Sunstein (1987) Federalist No. 23 by Alexander Hamilton (1787) "From Administrative State to Constitutional Government" by Joseph Postell (2012) "Interring the Nondelegation Doctrine" by Eric A. Posner and Adrian Vermeule (2002) "Rulemaking as Legislating" by Kathryn Watts (2015) "The Checks & Balances of the Regulatory State" by Paul R. Verkuil (2016) "The Myth of the Nondelegation Doctrine" by Keith E. Whittington and Jason Iuliano (2017) "The Progressive Origins of the Administrative State: Wilson, Goodnow, and Landis" by Ronald J. Pestritto (2007) "The Rise and Rise of the Administrative State" by Gary Lawson (1994) "The Study of Administration" by Woodrow Wilson (1887) "The Threat to Liberty" by Steven F. Hayward (2017) "Why the Modern Administrative State Is Inconsistent with the Rule of Law" by Richard A. Epstein (2008) Agencies Administrative Conference of the United States •United States Civil Service Commission •U.S. Government Accountability Office •U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs •U.S. Office of Management and Budget