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The United States Federal Executive Departments are among the oldest primary units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States—the Departments of State, War, and the Treasury all being established within a few weeks of each other in 1789.

The heads of the federal executive departments are the members of the traditional Cabinet; since 1792, they have, by statutory specification, constituted a line of succession, after the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate, to the presidency in the event of a vacancy in both that office and the vice presidency. The Constitution is referring to these officials when it authorizes the President, in Article II, section 2, to "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices." In brief, they and their organizations are the administrative arms of the President.

While most federal agencies are within one of the executive departments, a few agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, are not part of any the departments. Other departments, such as the United States Department of the Army, are not departments in same sense as the departments discussed in this article; these other departments are lower in the organizational hierarchy of the executive branch.

Table of Executive Departments, modifications to them since creation and their 2004 budget

All departments are listed by their present-day name and only departments with past or present cabinet-level status are listed.

Department	Creation	Modifications since creation	2004 Budget
State	1789		$9.96 Billion
Treasury	1789		$11.10 Billion
Interior	1849		$10.70 Billion
Justice	1870		$23.40 Billion
Agriculture	1889		$77.60 Billion
Commerce	1903	Originally named Commerce and Labor; Labor later separated	$6.20 Billion
Labor	1913		$59.70 Billion
Defense	1947	Initially named National Military Establishment	$375.20 Billion
Health and Human Services	1953	Originally named Health, Education, and Welfare; Education later separated	$543.20 Billion
Housing and Urban Development	1965		$46.20 Billion
Transportation	1966		$58.00 Billion
Energy	1977		$21.50 Billion
Education	1979		$62.80 Billion
Veterans Affairs	1988		$60.30 Billion
Homeland Security	2002		$36.50 Billion
Total budget (Fiscal Year 2004):			$1,402.36 Billion

Table of past departments

War	1789-1947	Subsumed by Department of Defense
Navy	1798-1947	Subsumed by Department of Defense
Post Office	1872-1971	Reorganized as quasi-independent agency, United States Postal Service
Commerce and Labor	1903-1913	Divided between Department of Commerce and Department of Labor
Health, Education, and Welfare	1953-1979	Divided between Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education

Sources

• Relyea, Harold C. "Homeland Security: Department Organization and Management", Report for Congress, 2002. RL31493 (August 7, 2002). (PDF)

United States Federal Executive Departments
Agriculture | Commerce | Defense | Education | Energy | Health and Human Services | Housing and Urban Development | Homeland Security | Interior | Justice | Labor | State | Transportation | Treasury | Veterans Affairs (Past departments: Commerce and Labor | Health, Education, and Welfare | Navy | Post Office | War)