Flashcards › Executive Branch At Work

secretary the head of a cabinet-level department within the executive branch of the U.S. government attorney general the head of the U.S. department of Justice and the chief legal adviser to the president and federal government. bureaucracy any management structure that carries out policy on a day-to-day basis, that is based on job specialization, uses standardized procedures, and continues its operations regardless of changes in leadership bureaucrat a worker in bureaucracy public comment the opportunity for interested parties to react to a regulation that is proposed by a government agency before the regulation goes into effect independent agency a federal executive agency not included in a cabinet department. regulatory commission an independent agency created by Congress with a greater degree of autonomy, or self-rule, than others government corporation an independent agency that manages a self-supporting business civil servant any nonmilitary employee of government, particularly one who was awarded his or her job on the basis of the merit system spoils system the practice of government officials awarding public jobs and public contracts to political supporters rather than awarding them on the basis of job qualifications merit system a system for hiring government workers based on demonstrated qualifications and competitive examinations