Describe the organization of the federal bureaucracy.

The federal bureaucracy is a complex, and sometimes convoluted web of departments, agencies, positions, and organizations. From the executive branch down, the federal bureaucracy is a general attempt to organize and compartmentalize the duties and obligations of the role of federal government. The federal bureaucracy begins at the chief executive (President), and moves into two directions. These are line agencies and staff agencies. Line agencies carry out the policies of the government and provide services while the staff agencies gather information, making it available to the chief executive, also known as the President.  The line agencies are departments that handle the administration of the government (e.g. Treasury, Justice, Agriculture, etc.). From this, the system breaks down into bureaus within the agencies (FBI is a bureau of the Department of Justice). Furthermore, field services are the subunits of these bureaus. Also, agencies, corporations, regulatory commissions, and independent civil service agencies function as somewhat independent bodies while still falling under the control of the executive powers.

Under the notion of staff agencies, the cabinet is the largest body in the system of federal bureaucracy. The Presidential cabinet is comprised of the heads of major executive departments (line agencies like Department of State, Justice, Defense, etc.) as well as other advisors. They are charged with advising the policy of the President, and making sure that intelligence and information is gather properly and effectively. There is also the executive office of the President, established in the 1930s to take care of the administrative role of the President. This takes on matters like Domestic Policy, Trade, Economic Advisory, amongst other areas.