Ernest's inclusions under State don't make sense to me yet. (everything else is a bullseye, imo) I see the function of Diplomacy (and its overwhelming complexities all by itself) far departed from FCC, Interior, DoT, and the GSA. If it were a matter of keeping the Secretary of State busy...oh boy howdy am I gonna keep him busy... >
I do think USAID is again worth an explicit mention for State, as it's easily arguable under Commerce but its agenda is more than of soley economic strength for US interests, but rather our diplomatic interests that aren't necessarilly going to show a good balance sheet anytime soon--yet contributing greatly to our security strategems.
Interior, DoT, GSA, maybe NASA for the sake of tradition:
Whatdya say we give 'em to the VP! These aren't the sexy jobs, but they're important--and gives the VP a chance to contribute to the Administration instead of waiting around for...well...you know. This can be an informal accomodation---these policies officially resting on the President's direct authority--so no legislation or amending has to occur, don't you think?
Plus, this accomodation may include 'Homeland Secuirty' for the VP as well--to further divide the power to police...and share the secuirty gaming to boot.
Back in the days when the US government didn't have a whole bunch of departments, the State Department served as the department that took care of generic goverment funtions, so a good part of what became Interior and the GSA originated in the State Department. Over the years almost everything except foreign affairs was stripped away from State. In that context, placing Interior and the GSA under State made sense to me.
If we had a Post Office Department, DoT and the FCC would best fit in there. Since we don't, either State or Treasury would be the best choice for those two. I was trying to balance the load somewhat, so I picked State. This especially makes sense if Labor gets dumped on Treasury as well.
However, I like the idea of a six member cabinet as it can also be used to help solve the problem of what to do during a vacancy as we neither have nor need Deputy Secretaries. State and Defense can sub for each other; Attn. Gen. and Forum Affairs; Treasury and Labor.
It wouldn't hurt to explicitly mention USAID as while in the US gov't it reports to the SoS, it isn't part of the DoS.
