United States Secretary of the Interior


The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The Department of the Interior in the United States is responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources; it oversees such agencies as the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Geological Survey, and the National Park Service. The secretary also serves on and appoints the private citizens on the National Park Foundation board. The secretary is a member of the president's Cabinet. The U.S. Department of the Interior should not be confused with the Ministries of the Interior as used in many other countries, which correspond primarily to the Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. Cabinet and secondarily to the Department of Justice.
Because the policies and activities of the Department of the Interior and many of its agencies have a substantial impact in the Western United States, the Secretary of the Interior has typically come from a western state; only three of the individuals to hold the office since 1949 have not been from a state lying west of the Mississippi River. The current interior secretary is David Bernhardt, who held the office in an acting capacity until April 2019. He succeeded Ryan Zinke who resigned on January 2, 2019.

Line of succession

The line of succession for the Secretary of Interior is as follows:
  1. Deputy Secretary of the Interior
  2. Solicitor of the Interior
  3. Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget
  4. Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management
  5. Assistant Secretary for Water and Science
  6. Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks
  7. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs
  8. Director, Security, Safety, and Law Enforcement, Bureau of Reclamation
  9. Central Region Director, US Geological Survey
  10. Intermountain Regional Director, National Park Service
  11. Region 6 Director, US Fish and Wildlife Service
  12. Colorado State Director, Bureau of Land Management
  13. Regional Solicitor, Rocky Mountain Region

    List of secretaries of the interior

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Living former secretaries of the interior

As of, eight former secretaries of the interior are alive, the oldest being Donald P. Hodel. The most recent to die was Manuel Lujan Jr., on April 25, 2019. He was also the most recently serving secretary to die.
NameTerm of officeDate of birth
James G. Watt1981–1983
Donald P. Hodel1985–1989
Bruce E. Babbitt1993–2001
Gale A. Norton2001–2006
Dirk Kempthorne2006–2009
Ken Salazar2009–2013
Sally Jewell2013–2017
Ryan Zinke2017–2019