Department of the Interior
Departmental Manual
Effective Date: 9/3/04
Series: Departmental Management
Part 302: Automatic Succession
Chapter 3: Secretarial Succession
Originating Office: Office of Planning and
Performance Management
302 DM 3
3.1 Acting
Secretary. Automatic succession to
the position of Secretary of the Interior is provided by Executive Order 11487,
dated October 6, 1969 (Published in the Federal Register, October 8, 1969 - 34
FR 15593). Section 1 of the Order
provides that: “During any period when
by reason of absence, disability, or vacancy in office, neither the Secretary
of the Interior nor the Under Secretary of the Interior is available to
exercise the powers or perform the duties of the office of Secretary, an
Assistant Secretary of the Interior or the Solicitor of the Department of the
Interior, in such order as the Secretary of the Interior may from time to time
prescribe, shall act as Secretary. If no
such order of succession is in effect at that time, they shall act as Secretary
in the order in which they shall have taken office as Assistant Secretaries or
Solicitor."
A. Designation by the Secretary. In accordance with Executive Order 11487,
when neither the Secretary nor the Under (Deputy) Secretary is available to
exercise the power or perform the duties of the Secretary, the Departmental
officials listed in the following order shall act as Secretary:
(1) Solicitor
(2) Assistant Secretary - Policy, Management
and Budget
(3) Assistant Secretary - Land and Minerals
Management
(4) Assistant Secretary - Water and Science
(5) Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife
and Parks
(6) Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs
B. In emergency situations (when none of the
officials listed in 302 DM 3.1A, above, are available to exercise the
Secretary’s authority) the following positions are delegated full authority of
the Secretary in the order listed and until such time as one of the officials
listed above him or her is available to exercise the Secretary’s authority:
(1) Director, Security, Safety and Law
Enforcement, Bureau of Reclamation
(2) Central Region Director, U.S. Geological
Survey
(3) Intermountain Regional Director, National
Park Service
(4) Region 6 Regional Director, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service
(5) Colorado State Director, Bureau of Land
Management
(6) Regional Solicitor, Rocky Mountain Region
3.2 Acting
Deputy Secretary or Assistant Secretary.
Succession to the position of Deputy Secretary or Assistant Secretary is
provided by Executive Order 9794, dated October 26, 1946, which authorizes and
designates the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, when so directed by
the Secretary of the Interior, to perform the duties of the Deputy Secretary of
the Interior or of an Assistant Secretary of the Interior in the event of the
death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the Deputy Secretary or of an
Assistant Secretary of the Interior, respectively.