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The Bush administration includes President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Bush's Cabinet, and other select officials and advisors. The Bush administration took office on January 20, 2001, and continues through to the present day. The administration's term is scheduled to end at noon on January 20th, 2009, when the administration of the 44th President, to be elected in November 2008, is to take office.

Bush's cabinet includes figures that were prominent in past administrations, notably former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had served as United States National Security Advisor under Ronald Reagan. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had served as White House Chief of Staff and Secretary of Defense under Gerald Ford; Rumsfeld's successor, Robert Gates, served as Director of Central Intelligence under George H.W. Bush. Vice President Richard Cheney served as Secretary of Defense under George H. W. Bush.

Bush places a high value on personal loyalty and, as a result, his administration has high message discipline. He maintains a "hands-off" style of management that he believes prevents him from being tangled by intricacies that hinder sound decision-making. "I'm confident in my management style. I'm a delegator because I trust the people I've asked to join the team. I'm willing to delegate. That makes it easier to be President," he said in an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC in December of 2003. Critics allege, however, that Bush is willing to overlook mistakes^[1] made by loyal subordinates, and that Bush has surrounded himself with "yes men".^[2]

There has been only one non-Republican present in Bush's cabinet: Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, the first Asian American cabinet secretary, who had previously served as Secretary of Commerce under Bill Clinton, is a Democrat. Mineta resigned from Bush's cabinet on July 7, 2006 to pursue "other challenges".^[3] Mary Peters, a Republican, was nominated and confirmed to succeed him as Transportation Secretary.

Contents 1 Cabinet 2 Other advisors and officials 3 Supreme Court nominations and appointments 4 Federal Reserve appointment 5 Political philosophy 6 Controversy 7 References 8 See also

Office	Name	Term
President	George W. Bush	2001—
Vice President	Richard B. Cheney	2001—
Sec. of State	Colin L. Powell	2001–2005
	Condoleezza Rice	2005—
Sec. of Defense	Donald H. Rumsfeld	2001–2006
	Robert M. Gates	2006—
Sec. of the Treasury	Paul H. O'Neill	2001–2003
	John W. Snow	2003–2006
	Henry M. Paulson	2006—
Attorney General	John D. Ashcroft	2001–2005
	Alberto R. Gonzales	2005—
Sec. of the Interior	Gale A. Norton	2001–2006
	Dirk Kempthorne	2006—
Sec. of Agriculture	Ann M. Veneman	2001–2005
	Michael O. Johanns	2005—
Sec. of Commerce	Donald L. Evans	2001–2005
	Carlos M. Gutierrez	2005—
Sec. of Labor	Elaine L. Chao	2001—
Sec. of HHS	Tommy G. Thompson	2001–2005
	Michael O. Leavitt	2005—
Sec. of HUD	Melquiades R. Martinez	2001–2003
	Alphonso R. Jackson	2004—
Sec. of Transportation	Norman Y. Mineta	2001–2006
	Mary Peters	2006—
Sec. of Energy	E. Spencer Abraham	2001–2005
	Samuel W. Bodman	2005—
Sec. of Education	Roderick R. Paige	2001–2005
	Margaret Spellings	2005—
Sec. of Veterans Affairs	Anthony J. Principi	2001–2005
	R. James Nicholson	2005—
Sec. of Homeland Security	Thomas J. Ridge	2003–2005
	Michael Chertoff	2005—

• Director of National Intelligence - John Negroponte (2005–2007), John Michael McConnell (2007-)
• Director of Central Intelligence - George Tenet (2001–2004), John E. McLaughlin (acting, 2004), Porter J. Goss (2004-2006), General Michael Hayden (2006-)
• FBI Director - Louis Freeh (2001), Thomas J. Pickard (acting, 2001), Robert S. Mueller (2001–)
• National Security Advisor - Condoleezza Rice (2001–2005), Stephen Hadley (2005—)
• EPA Administrator - Christine Todd Whitman (2001–2003), Michael O. Leavitt (2003–2005), Stephen L. Johnson (2005-)
• UN Ambassador - John Negroponte (2001–2004), John Danforth (2004); John R. Bolton (2005-2006)
• FCC Chairman - Michael Powell (2001-2005), Kevin Martin (2005-)
• OMB Director - Mitch Daniels (2001–2003), Joshua B. Bolten (2003—2006), Rob Portman (2006-)
• White House Chief of Staff - Andrew Card (2001-2006), Joshua B. Bolten (2006—)
• White House counsel - Alberto R. Gonzales (2001–2005), Harriet Miers (2005-2007), Fred Fielding (2007-)
• Advisor - Karen Hughes (2001–2002) Appointed in 2005 to rank of Ambassador and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the State Department.
• White House Press Secretary - Ari Fleischer (2001–2003), Scott McClellan (2003-2006), Tony Snow (2006-)
• Personal aide (body man) - Blake Gottesman (2002-)
• Deputy Chiefs of Staff - Joe Hagin (2001-), Joshua B. Bolten (2001-2003), Harriet Miers (2003-2004), Karl Rove (2005-), Joel Kaplan (2006-)

Bush nominated the following people to the Supreme Court of the United States:

• John Roberts – 2005, was first nominated for Associate Justice replacing Sandra Day O'Connor; after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Bush nominated him for the position of Chief Justice. Confirmed: 78-22
• Harriet Miers – 2005, was nominated upon the elevation of John Roberts as the Chief Justice. Her nomination was later withdrawn due to the strong opposition from conservatives, led by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), who perceived her as a closet liberal like Associate Jusitce David Souter, who was nominated by President George H.W. Bush, but turned out to be a strong liberal.
• Samuel Alito – 2006, nominated in 2005 upon the withdrawal of Harriet Miers. Confirmed: 58-42

On October 24, 2005, Bush nominated Ben Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Senate Banking Committee recommended Bernanke's confirmation by a 13-1 voice vote on November 16, 2005. With the full Senate's approval on January 31, 2006 by another voice vote, Bernanke was sworn in on February 1, 2006.

The guiding political philosophy of the Bush administration has been termed neoconservative. The specific elements of neoconservative leadership have been itemized in policy papers by members of the Project for a New American Century. Administration officials chosen from the membership of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) began with the selection of the candidate for vice president, Dick Cheney. Others included Richard Armitage, Zalmay Khalilzad, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Richard Perle, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz.

In 1998, following perceived Iraqi unwillingness to co-operate with UN weapons inspections, members of the PNAC, including former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, wrote to President Bill Clinton urging him to remove Saddam Hussein from power using US diplomatic, political and military power.

In September 2000, the PNAC issued a report entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces, and Resources For A New Century, proceeding "from the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces." The group stated that when diplomacy or sanctions fail, the United States must be prepared to take military action. The PNAC argued that the Cold War deployment of forces was obsolete. Defense spending and force deployment must reflect the post-Cold War duties that US forces are obligated to perform. Constabulary duties such as peacekeeping in the Balkans and the enforcement of the No Fly Zones in Iraq put a strain upon, and reduced the readiness of US forces. The PNAC recommended the forward redeployment of US forces at new strategically placed permanent military bases in Southeast Europe and Southeast Asia. Permanent bases would ease the strain on US forces, allowing readiness to be maintained and the carrier fleet to be reduced. Furthermore, PNAC advocated that the US-globalized military should be enlarged, equipped and restructured for the "constabulary" roles associated with shaping the security in critical regions of the world.^[4]

Bush's presidency has been characterized by a vigorous defense of "executive privilege", evidenced in such acts as signing Executive Order 13233, which suspends the release of presidential papers, tight control of Congressional inquiries into White House officers such as in the 9/11 Commission's interviews with Condoleezza Rice, Bush and Richard B. Cheney, and the generally high level of coordination between the White House, Congressional Republicans and Senate Republicans in both of Bush's terms. Many commentators have claimed that deference to executive privilege was one of the principal considerations in Bush's administration, when he proposed his three nominations for the Supreme Court, and appointed John R. Bolton to the United Nations.^[5][6]

Policies of the Bush administration have been criticized for subverting elements of the constitution, undermining treaty obligations, failing to prevent the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and obstructing justice. The suspension of habeas corpus was reversed by the Supreme Court In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 (2004). Domestic spying has included undercover infiltration of political organizations with no suspected terrorist affiliations, telephone surveillance without a warrant, and the Carnivore program for internet surveillance. The policy of holding enemy combatants in a legal status outside of either due process of criminal prosecution nor the Geneva conventions for prisoners of war created a legal limbo without a process for adjudication or appeal. The extraordinary rendition of an innocent citizen of Canada, to Syria, caused an international incident involving kidnapping, wrongful imprisonment and torture.^[7] The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, stated in a white paper that "President Bush's constitutional vision is, in short, sharply at odds with the text, history, and structure of our Constitution, which authorizes a government of limited powers."^[8]

Ellen Mariani, widow of Louis Neil Mariani, killed in the 911 attacks, has charged George W. Bush, et. al., because "Defendant GWB has not been forthright and honest with regard to his administration's pre-knowledge of the potential of the "911" attacks" (Mariani v. Bush, Case number 03-5273, United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania). Former White House chief counter-terrorism advisor Richard A. Clarke has criticized both the failure to prevent the attacks of 911, and the response to them in both domestic and foreign policy, in his book Against All Enemies.

Third Way today issued a new report on September 5, 2006 analyzing the Bush administration’s record on national security. The report was released at a press conference in the Capitol with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, retired General Wesley Clark, Assistant Minority Leader Dick Durbin, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Carl Levin, and founding Third Way Co-Chair Senator Thomas Carper. In The Neo Con: The Bush Defense Record by the Numbers, Third Way analyzed available data across seven key national security indicators: Iraq, terrorism (broadly defined), Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, the condition of the American military, and China. The report finds that the numbers lead to an indisputable conclusion that incompetence and a failed strategy have "helped lead us to this dangerous situation".^[9]

• George W. Bush's first term to second term cabinet reorganization
• Domestic policy of the George W. Bush administration

v • d • e George W. Bush
Life and politics	Early life · Professional life · Military service · First term as U.S. President (2001-2005) · Second term as U.S. President (2005-) · Administration
Terms and policies	Foreign policy · Domestic policy · Bush Doctrine · Economic policy  · Compassionate conservatism
Perceptions	Public perception · Bushisms · Criticism · Movement to impeach · Fictionalized portrayals · As the subject of books and films