White House officials said during the announcement of the acting leadership that almost everyone is a career official, and many have spent years with the agencies that will now lead them temporarily.
For example, TSA Administrator David Pekoske will act as Secretary of Homeland Security while Alejandro Mayorkas awaits confirmation. Putting Pekoske in charge means Biden has a Senate-confirmed leader at DHS who has a deep knowledge of the department. And David Cohen, acting CIA director, was deputy director at the agency under Obama and will return to the role under Biden.
The White House has not officially announced an acting leadership for a number of cabinet agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Home Affairs, Trade, Transport, Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development.
At the Department of Education, Phil Rosenfelt, senior career official, will become acting secretary, a White House official confirmed. And at the Environmental Protection Agency, career staff Charlotte Bertrand will become acting administrator, according to an email from the internal agency seen by POLITICO.
And Kevin Shea will serve as acting head of the Department of Agriculture while Tom Vilsack awaits Senate confirmation. Shea was recently administrator of the Service and Plant Health Inspection Service, a position he has held since 2013.
Here are the acting heads of White House officials announced Wednesday:
– Central Intelligence Agency, David Cohen
– Department of Defense, David Norquist
– Department of Energy, David Huizenga
– Department of Health and Human Services, Norris Cochran
– Department of Homeland Security, David Pekoske
– Department of Justice, Monty Wilkinson
– Department of Labor, Al Stewart
– Department of State, Dan Smith
– Department of Treasury, Andy Baukol
Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Lora Shiao
Office of Management and Budget, Rob Fairweather
Office of the American Trade Representative, Maria Pagan
– Small Business Administration, Tami Perriello
General Services Administration, Katy Kale
– National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Steve Jurczyk
– National Endowment for the Arts, Ann Eilers
– National Endowment for the Humanities, Adam Wolfson
– Office of the National Drug Control Policy, Regina LaBelle
– Office of Personnel Management, Kathy McGettigan
– Social Security Administration, Andrew Saul
– American Agency for International Development, Gloria Steele
American International Development Finance Corporation, Dev Jagadesan
– American Mission to the United Nations, Rich Mills
Michael Stratford, Stephanie Beasley, Liz Crampton and Alex Guillén contributed to this report.