The Executive Office of the President (EOP) consists of the immediate staff of the President of the United States, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the President. The EOP is headed by the White House Chief of Staff, currently Jacob Lew. The size of the White House staff has increased dramatically since 1939, and has grown to include an array of policy experts in various fields.

Chief of Staff

The White House Chief of Staff is an Assistant to the President, and is the highest-ranking employee of the White House Office inside the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The current White House Chief of Staff is Denis McDonough who took over the job from Jacob Lew in 2013.

Jacob Lew

The current White House Chief of Staff is Jacob Lew, who assumed the position on January 27, 2012, after William M. Daley resigned.

The duties of the White House Chief of Staff vary greatly from one administration to another; in fact, there is no legal requirement that the President even fill the position. However, since at least 1979, all Presidents have found the need for a Chief of Staff, who typically oversees the actions of the White House staff, manages the president's schedule, and decides who is allowed to meet with the president. Because of these duties, the Chief of Staff has at various times been labeled "The Gatekeeper," "The Power Behind the Throne," and "The Co-President. "

The roles of the Chief of Staff are both managerial and advisory. the Chief of Staff may select key White House staff and supervise them; structure the White House staff; control the flow of people into the Oval Office; and advise the President on various issues.

A powerful Chief of Staff with a "hands-off" president can become a de facto Prime Minister. Such prime ministers exist in some governmental systems: The prime minister runs the government, while the president remains somewhat aloof from the political process, but personally handling policy matters. Richard Nixon's first Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman, garnered a reputation in Washington for the iron hand he wielded in the position. By contrast, Andrew Card, President George W. Bush's first Chief of Staff, was not thought to be as powerful. It has been speculated that Card was "overshadowed" by the influence of Karl Rove, the Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff, who was "the architect" of Bush's political rise.

Deputy Chiefs of Staff

The Chief of Staff is assisted by one or more Deputy Chiefs of Staff. Under the Obama Administration, these roles are filled by Anita Decker Breckenridge, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Kristie Canegallo, Deputy Chief of Staff for Implementation. During the George W. Bush Administration, Joel Kaplan held this title for Policy. Karl Rove preceded Kaplan in this role until April 19, 2006, when Joshua Bolten, the recently appointed Chief of Staff, added his former Deputy Director of the OMB to the Deputies list. Rove left the White House officially on August 31, 2007. Joe Hagin is the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations under George W. Bush.

Counsel

The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States. The Counsel's role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and the White House. The current White House Counsel is W. Neil Eggleston since 2014. Although the White House Counsel offers legal advice to the President, the Counsel does so in the President's official capacity and does not serve as the President's personal attorney. Therefore, controversy has emerged over the scope of the attorney–client privilege between the Counsel and the President. It is clear, however, that the privilege does not apply in personal matters, such as impeachment proceedings; in such situations the President relies on a personal attorney for confidential legal advice.

Press Secretary

The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the administration. The Press Secretary is responsible for collecting information about actions and events within the president's administration and issues statements regarding the administration's reactions to developments around the world. The Press Secretary interacts with the media and deals with the White House press corps on a daily basis, generally in a daily press briefing. The current Press Secretary is Josh Earnest since 2014.

Jay Carney

Jay Carney is the current White House Press Secretary.

History of the Executive Office of the President

In 1939, during Franklin D. Roosevelt's second term in office, the foundations of the modern White House staff were created. Based on the recommendations of a presidentially commissioned panel of political science and public administration experts, the Brownlow Committee, Roosevelt was able to get Congress to approve the Reorganization Act of 1939. The Act led to Reorganization Plan No. 1, which created the EOP, which reported directly to the president. The EOP encompassed two subunits at its outset: the White House Office (WHO) and the Bureau of the Budget, the predecessor to today's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which had been created in 1921 and originally located in the Treasury Department. It absorbed most of the functions of the National Emergency Council. The main job of the OMB is to assist the President to prepare the budget. The OMB also measures the quality of agency programs, policies, and procedures and to see if they comply with the President's policies. In addition, the OMB oversees and coordinates the Administration's procurement, financial management, information, and regulatory policies. In each of these areas, the OMB's role is to help improve administrative management, to develop better performance measures and coordinating mechanisms, and to reduce any unnecessary burdens on the public.

From 1939 through the present, the situation changed dramatically. New units within the EOP were created, some by statute, some by executive order of the president. Among the most important are the Council of Economic Advisers (1946), the National Security Council and its staff (1947), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (1963), the Council on Environmental Quality (1970), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (1976), the Office of Administration (1977), and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (1989).

Under George W. Bush, additional units were added, such as the Office of Homeland Security (2001), which later became a cabinet department, and the Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives (2001). Precise estimates as to the size and budget of the EOP are difficult to come by. Many people who work on the staff are "detailed" from other federal departments and agencies, and budgetary expenses are often charged elsewhere, for example Defense Department staff for the White House Military Office. Ballpark estimates indicate some 2,000 to 2,500 persons serve in EOP staff positions with policy-making responsibilities, with a budget of 300 to 400 million dollars.