Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology
The Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, or USC, is a high-ranking official in the United States Department of Commerce and the principal advisor to the United States Secretary of Commerce on the technological development. The Under Secretary is dual hatted as the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the Commerce Department; the Under Secretary is appointed by the President of the United States with the consent of the United States Senate to serve at the pleasure of the President. A past Under Secretary is Patrick D. Gallagher, appointed by President Barack Obama on November 5, 2009. On May 5, 2015, Willie E. May became Under Secretary. On January 4, 2017, May retired and Kent Rochford became acting Under Secretary. On September 12, 2017, Walter Copan was announced as the nominee for Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology. Copan was confirmed unanimously by the U. S. Senate on October 5, 2017; as the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Under Secretary is responsible for promoting American innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.
With the rank of Under Secretary, the USC/Director is a Level III position within the Executive Schedule. The Under Secretary ranks sixth in the line of succession for the office of Secretary of Commerce; the position of Under Secretary/Director was created by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010. The 106th Congress had created a position for Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology in the Electronic Commerce Technology Promotion Act, appointing Dr Cheryl L. Shavers to the position. Officials reporting to the USC/Director include: Associate Director for Laboratory Program/Principal Deputy Associate Director for Innovation and Industry Services Associate DIrector for Management Resources National Institute of Standards and Technology Official website
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
The Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, or USC, is a high-ranking official in the United States Department of Commerce and the principal advisor to the United States Secretary of Commerce on the environmental and scientific activities of the Department. The Under Secretary is dual hatted as the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the Commerce Department; the Under Secretary is appointed by the President of the United States with the consent of the United States Senate to serve at the pleasure of the President. The current acting Under Secretary is Neal Jacobs, the agency’s assistant secretary for environmental observation and prediction, who took office on February 25, 2019, after being promoted to replace Timothy Gallaudet so that Gallaudet could focus on his Senate-confirmed post as the assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere. Donald Trump nominated former AccuWeather CEO Barry Myers to serve as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere on Oct 12, 2017.
His nomination was returned to President Trump by the Senate on January 3, 2018, resubmitted on January 8, 2018 returned again on January 3, 2019, resubmitted again on January 16, 2019. As the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Under Secretary oversees the day-to-day functions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as laying out its strategic and operational future. Components of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that the Administrator oversees include the National Environmental Satellite and Information Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Ocean Service, National Weather Service and Atmospheric Research and Aviation Operations, the NOAA Corps. With the rank of Under Secretary, the USC is a Level III position within the Executive Schedule Since January 2010, the annual rate of pay for Level III is $165,300; the Under Secretary ranks fifth in the line of succession for the office of Secretary of Commerce.
The position of Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Fisheries Program Authorization Act of 1985. The position was created to serve as the Administrator of NOAA, it created an Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to serve as Deputy Administrator of NOAA. William Evans was the first person to have the title of Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere; the position of Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was created earlier by the Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970. Officials reporting to the USC/Administrator include: Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Conservation and Management/Deputy Administrator Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction/Deputy Administration NOAA Chief Scientist Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Operations Assistant Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service Assistant Administrator, National Ocean Service Assistant Administrator, National Environmental Satellite and Information Service Assistant Administrator and Atmospheric Research Assistant Administrator, National Weather Service Assistant Administrator, Program Planning and Integration From 1970 to 1988, the head of NOAA was the NOAA Administrator.
Starting with Bill Evans in 1988, that person held the title of Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
Wilbur Ross
Wilbur Louis Ross Jr. is an American investor and the current United States Secretary of Commerce. On November 30, 2016, then-President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Ross for that post. On February 27, 2017, the Senate confirmed him in a 72–27 vote, he was sworn into office on February 28, 2017. Before he was appointed, Ross was a banker known for restructuring failed companies in industries such as: steel, telecommunications, foreign investment and textiles and who specialized in leveraged buyouts and distressed businesses. In February 2017, Forbes magazine reported. However, financial disclosure forms Ross filed after his nomination for Secretary of Commerce showed less than $700 million in assets, Forbes removed him from their billionaires list in November 2017, he is called the "King of Bankruptcy" because of his record of buying bankrupt companies in the manufacturing and steel industries, selling them for a large profit after operations improve. In November 2017, leaked documents known as the Paradise Papers showed that Ross had failed to disclose a financial interest in a Russian company during his confirmation hearings.
During the 2018-2019 U. S. federal government shutdown, Ross was criticized for making comments perceived as being out of touch with average American citizens after expressing bewilderment on CNBC about why furloughed, unpaid workers and contractors would choose to visit food banks rather than apply for a personal loan. In February 2019 it was reported that Ross' financial disclosure was rejected by the United States Office of Government Ethics after reporting he sold bank stock that other reports indicate he did not sell on his annual financial disclosure. Ross was born on November 28, 1937, in Weehawken, New Jersey, grew up in nearby North Bergen, his father, Wilbur Louis Ross Sr. was a lawyer who became a judge, his mother, was a school teacher. Ross drove two hours a day from New Jersey to attend the Catholic college preparatory Xavier High School in Manhattan, he was captain of the rifle team. He received his bachelor's degree from his father's alma mater. At Yale, Ross worked at the radio station.
He wanted to be a writer, but after his experience in a fiction class requiring 500 words daily, he concluded that he had "run out of material." His faculty adviser at Yale helped. He earned his MBA degree at Harvard Business School. After obtaining his MBA from Harvard, Ross launched his career, working for money-management firms and investment banks. In the late 1970s, Ross began his 24-year employment with the New York City office of N M Rothschild & Sons, where he ran the bankruptcy-restructuring advisory practice. In the 1980s, Donald Trump was in financial trouble, his three casinos in Atlantic City were under foreclosure threat from lenders. Ross, the senior managing director of Rothschild Inc. represented investors in the casino. Along with Carl Icahn, Ross convinced bondholders to strike a deal with Trump that allowed Trump to keep control of the casinos. Ross's private equity fund, WL Ross & Company, was created in April 2000, he had started a $200 million fund at Rothschild to invest in distressed assets.
As the U. S. bubble began to burst, he decided he wanted to advise less. In 2000, the 62-year-old banker raised $450 million to buy out the fund from Rothschild and make further investments in distressed assets; the new firm was named WL Co.. In 2003 investment committee was composed of David H. Storper, David L. Wax, Stephen J. Toy, Pamela K. Wilson, a J. P. Morgan & Co. veteran. In 2006 Ross sold WL Ross & Co. to Invesco Amvescap. WL Ross operates as a subsidiary of Invesco. In August 2016, Ross agreed to reimburse investors $11.8 million and pay a fine of $2.3 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission probe into the overcharging of fees by WL Ross & Co. The company did not admit any liability. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, by January 2016, WL Ross & Co. was the "biggest investor" in "Navigator Holdings, a liquefied gas shipping company."In December 2017, Irish politician and Member of the European Parliament Luke Ming Flanagan accused Ross of insider trading from WL Ross, as part of a 2014 sale of shares in the Bank of Ireland.
In 2002, Ross founded International Steel Group after purchasing the assets of several bankrupt steel companies. Ross had support from the local steelworkers union, negotiating a deal with them to "save" Pennsylvania's steel industry. Leo Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers union stated about Ross that "he was open and accessible and candid and honest and he put a lot of money back into the mills, so tens of thousands of jobs were saved." Ross sold International Steel Group to Mittal Steel Company for $4.5 billion, half in cash and half in stock, in April 2005. Ross combined Burlington Industries and Cone Mills in 2004 to form International Textile Group. ITG operates five businesses, all of which operate under separate brand names: Cone Denim, Burlington Apparel Fabrics, Home Furnishings, Carlisle Finishing and Nano-Tex. In 2005, Ross purchased 77.3% of Safety Components International for $51.2 million. In 2006, Ross merged the firm into his International Textile Group.
In February 2014, Ross paid $81 million to settle a lawsuit brought by shareholders that Ross breached his fiduciary duty when structuring the merger of two companies that he majority-owned: Safety Components International Inc. and International Textile Group Inc. International Textile Group was sold to private equity firm Platinum E
United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce
The Deputy Secretary of Commerce is a high-ranking position within the U. S. Department of Commerce, it was created on December 13, 1979, when President Jimmy Carter sent a letter to the U. S. Senate and nominated Luther H. Hodges, Jr. who currently held the title of Under Secretary of Commerce. The deputy secretary serves as the department’s chief operating officer, with responsibility for the day-to-day management of its $6.5 billion budget, 13 operating units, 38,000 employees. In that capacity, the deputy secretary is a member of the President’s Management Council; the deputy secretary serves as the principal deputy of the Secretary of Commerce in all matters affecting the department and performs continuing and special duties as the secretary may assign including, as may be specified by the secretary, the exercise of policy direction and general supervision over operating units not placed under other Secretarial Officers or other Department officials. In addition, the deputy secretary acts as secretary if the secretary has died, resigned, or is otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of the office of secretary.
Rebecca M. Blank was the Deputy Secretary of Commerce until she stepped down on May 31, 2013, she was confirmed by unanimous consent by the U. S. Senate in March 2012, she had been serving as acting deputy secretary since November 18, 2010. She replaced Dennis F. Hightower, Deputy Secretary of Commerce from August 2009 to August 2010. Patrick D. Gallagher was appointed acting deputy secretary on June 1, 2013. Bruce H. Andrews was confirmed as the next deputy secretary on July 24, 2014; the official biography of Sampson, the former Deputy Secretary The mission and organization of the Department of Commerce, in which the Deputy Secretary's functions and duties are listed Executive order on the line of succession for the Secretary of Commerce
National Technical Information Service
The National Technical Information Service is an agency within the U. S. Department of Commerce; the primary mission of NTIS is to collect and organize scientific, technical and business information generated by U. S. Government-sponsored research and development, for private industry, government and the public; the systems, financial structure, specialized staff skills that NTIS maintains to undertake its primary mission allow it to provide assistance to other agencies requiring such specialized resources. Under the provisions of the National Technical Information Act of 1988, NTIS is authorized to establish and maintain a permanent repository of non-classified scientific and engineering information. NTIS serves the United States as a central repository for government-funded scientific, technical and business related information to assure businesses, libraries and the public timely access to 2.5 million publications covering over 350 subject areas. The stated aim of NTIS is to support the Department of Commerce mission to promote the nation's economic growth by providing access to information that stimulates innovation and discovery..
Containing over 2.5 million bibliographic records, the NTIS content collection is a significant resource for accessing the latest research sponsored by the United States and select foreign governments. The collection represents the technical results of billions of dollars the U. S. Government allocates for scientific research; the contents of the collection include research reports, computer products and more. The complete electronic file dates back to 1964. On average, NTIS has added over 30,000 new records per year to the collection over the past ten years. Most records include meta-data, it contains a comprehensive collection of nuclear research, beginning with the Manhattan project, the latest government sponsored research. NTIS covers a wide spectrum of subject areas with 39 Major Subject Categories and 375 Sub-categories. NTIS operations includes the acquisition and archiving in perpetuity of scientific and technical information; this information is disseminated to the public on a fee-based cost-recovery model.
NTIS provides technical support solutions to other Federal Government Agencies. These Lines of Business include: Shipping & Fulfillment Services e-Training Services NTIS is an OPM-approved eTraining Service Provider Federal Energy Data Management Mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 Government Web Hosting Scanning, Digitization & Electronic Archive Services NTIS working with the Social Security Administration, National Science Foundation, Internal Revenue Service, other Federal Agencies Other Support solutions Includes Electronic & Multimedia Services, Email Broadcast & Fax Management, Billing & Collections Services, more In 2008, NTIS recognized the need to provide subscription-based access to the collection using an online platform. In April 2009, the National Technical Reports Library was introduced which offered convenient and cost-effective access to the collection to subscribers worldwide. Building upon the success of the NTRL, in early 2012 NTIS introduced a beta release of the new NTRL Repository Version 3.0 which uses the open-source platform Fedora/Solr which provides a flexible, overarching repository solution.
The new NTRL V3.0 is the first of several repositories planned for introduction under the new Federal Science Repository Service.. The FSRS was created to assist government agencies with the preservation of collections consisting of scientific and technical reports, images and other content which represents the mission of an agency or other institution; the FSRS provides a supporting infrastructure, long-term storage, interface design, content management and operational expertise. An agency can utilize this entire service or select components, resulting in the design of an agency-specific Repository that serves as a distinct gateway to its content. NTIS has been working with Public. Resource. Org to digitize videos and to post these on YouTube. NTIS' basic authority to operate a permanent clearinghouse of scientific and technical information is codified as chapter 23 of Title 15 of the United States Code; this chapter established NTIS' authority to charge fees for its products and services and to recover all costs through such fees "to the extent feasible."
This authority was restated in the National Technical Information Act of 1988, codified at 15 U. S. C. 3704b. That Act gave NTIS the authority to enter into joint ventures and declared the Clearinghouse to be a permanent Federal function that could not be eliminated or privatized without Congressional approval; that Act was amended by the American Technology Preeminence Act of 1992 which: required all costs associated with bibliographic control to be recovered by fees, required agencies to make copies of their scientific and technical reports available to NTIS, directed NTIS to focus on developing new electronic methods and media for disseminating information. Another statute having a profound impact on NTIS is the Commerce, State Appropriations Act for FY 1993 which established NTIS Revolving Fund and gave it the authority to use that Fund without f
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service is an agency of the United States federal government, tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the purposes of protection and general information. It is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration branch of the Department of Commerce, is headquartered in Silver Spring, within the Washington metropolitan area; the agency was known as the United States Weather Bureau from 1890 until it adopted its current name in 1970. The NWS performs its primary task through a collection of national and regional centers, 122 local Weather Forecast Offices; as the NWS is an agency of the U. S. federal government, most of its products are in available free of charge. In 1870, the Weather Bureau of the United States was established through a joint resolution of Congress signed by President Ulysses S. Grant with a mission to "provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories...and for giving notice on the northern Lakes and on the seacoast by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms."
The agency was placed under the Secretary of War as Congress felt "military discipline would secure the greatest promptness and accuracy in the required observations." Within the Department of War, it was assigned to the U. S. Army Signal Service under Brigadier General Albert J. Myer. General Myer gave the National Weather Service its first name: The Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce. Cleveland Abbe – who began developing probabilistic forecasts using daily weather data sent by the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and Western Union, which he convinced to back the collection of such information in 1869 – was appointed as the Bureau's first chief meteorologist. In his earlier role as the civilian assistant to the chief of the Signal Service, Abbe urged the Department of War to research weather conditions to provide a scientific basis behind the forecasts. While a debate went on between the Signal Service and Congress over whether the forecasting of weather conditions should be handled by civilian agencies or the Signal Service's existing forecast office, a Congressional committee was formed to oversee the matter, recommending that the office's operations be transferred to the Department of War following a two-year investigation.
The agency first became a civilian enterprise in 1890, when it became part of the Department of Agriculture. Under the oversight of that branch, the Bureau began issuing flood warnings and fire weather forecasts, issued the first daily national surface weather maps; the first Weather Bureau radiosonde was launched in Massachusetts in 1937, which prompted a switch from routine aircraft observation to radiosondes within two years. The Bureau prohibited the word "tornado" from being used in any of its weather products out of concern for inciting panic until 1938, when it began disseminating tornado warnings to emergency management personnel; the Bureau would be moved to the Department of Commerce in 1940. On July 12, 1950, bureau chief Francis W. Reichelderfer lifted the agency's ban on public tornado alerts in a Circular Letter, noting to all first order stations that "Weather Bureau employees should avoid statements that can be interpreted as a negation of the Bureau's willingness or ability to make tornado forecasts", that a "good probability of verification" exist when issuing such forecasts due to the difficulty in predicting tornadic activity.
However it would not be until it faced criticism for continuing to refuse to provide public tornado warnings and preventing the release of the USAF Severe Weather Warning Center's tornado forecasts beyond military personnel that the Bureau issued its first experimental public tornado forecasts in March 1952. In 1957, the Bureau began using radars for short-term forecasting of local storms and hydrological events, using modified versions of those used by Navy aircraft to create the WSR-57, with a network of WSR systems being deployed nationwide through the early 1960s; the Weather Bureau became part of the Environmental Science Services Administration when that agency was formed in August 1966. The Environmental Science Services Administration was renamed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on October 1, 1970, with the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act. At this time, the Weather Bureau became the National Weather Service. NEXRAD, a system of Doppler radars deployed to improve the detection and warning time of severe local storms, replaced the WSR-57 and WSR-74 systems between 1988 and 1997.
Bob Glahn has written a comprehensive history of the first hundred years of the National Weather Service. The NWS, through a variety of sub-organizations, issues different forecasts to users, including the general public. Although, throughout history, text forecasts have been the means of product dissemination, the NWS has been using more forecast products of a digital, gridded, im
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U. S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy; the Census Bureau is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce and its director is appointed by the President of the United States; the Census Bureau's primary mission is conducting the U. S. Census every ten years, which allocates the seats of the U. S. House of Representatives to the states based on their population; the Bureau's various censuses and surveys help allocate over $400 billion in federal funds every year and it helps states, local communities, businesses make informed decisions. The information provided by the census informs decisions on where to build and maintain schools, transportation infrastructure, police and fire departments. In addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts dozens of other censuses and surveys, including the American Community Survey, the U. S. Economic Census, the Current Population Survey.
Furthermore and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government contain data produced by the Census Bureau. Article One of the United States Constitution directs the population be enumerated at least once every ten years and the resulting counts used to set the number of members from each state in the House of Representatives and, by extension, in the Electoral College; the Census Bureau now conducts a full population count every 10 years in years ending with a zero and uses the term "decennial" to describe the operation. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population projections. In addition, Census data directly affects how more than $400 billion per year in federal and state funding is allocated to communities for neighborhood improvements, public health, education and more; the Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations: the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, economy. The Census Bureau's legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code.
The Census Bureau conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, health, consumer expenditures, housing. Within the bureau, these are known as "demographic surveys" and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial population counts; the Census Bureau conducts economic surveys of manufacturing, retail and other establishments and of domestic governments. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts; the Census Act of 1840 established a central office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses at the 10-year intervals. In 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor; the department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their subordinate role in the department. An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every two years and agriculture censuses every 10 years.
In 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census. In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code. By law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U. S. President by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year; the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are "widely used...for data collection and analysis". The Census Bureau definition is pervasive. Regional divisions used by the United States Census Bureau: Region 1: Northeast Division 1: New England Division 2: Mid-Atlantic Region 2: Midwest Division 3: East North Central Division 4: West North Central Region 3: South Division 5: South Atlantic Division 6: East South Central Division 7: West South Central Region 4: West Division 8: Mountain Division 9: Pacific Many federal, state and tribal governments use census data to: Decide the location of new housing and public facilities, Examine the demographic characteristics of communities and the US, Plan transportation systems and roadways, Determine quotas and creation of police and fire precincts, Create localized areas for elections, utilities, etc.
Gathers population information every 10 years The United States Census Bureau is committed to confidentiality, guarantees non-disclosure of any addresses or personal information related to individuals or establishments. Title 13 of the U. S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information. All Census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment; the Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government
.jpg)
