The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The U.S. Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries. Ministries of the Interior correspond primarily to theDepartment of Homeland Security in the U.S. Cabinet and secondarily to the Department of Justice.
The Department of the Interior 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.
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,[2] the Secretary of the Interior has typically come from a western state; only one of the individuals to hold the office since 1949 is not identified with a state lying west of the Mississippi River. The Secretary of the Interior is eighth in the United States presidential line of succession.
The current Secretary of the Interior in Barack Obama's administration is former REI CEO Sally Jewell of Washington. She was confirmed by the Senate on April 10, 2013.[3]