Department of State 6 Bureaus (See map- hover over map to see regions)
Bureau of African Affairs
Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
Department of Defense 8 Commands (See map.)
United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM), Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
United States Central Command (CENTCOM), MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
United States European Command (EUCOM) SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe), Belgium (USEUCOM HQ in Stuttgart, Germany)
United States Pacific Command (PACOM) Camp H. M. Smith, Oahu, Hawaii
United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Miami, Florida
United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany - Under consideration for a move to Africa
United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska
Note: Department of Veteran's Affairs falls under this Department.
Department of Homeland Security 6 Regions
United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM)
United States Central Command (CENTCOM)
United States European Command (EUCOM)
United States Pacific Command (PACOM)
United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)
United States Africa Command (AFRICOM)
Note: Covers all intel community.
Domestic Cabinet
These two Departments are umbrellas to the other Departments.
Department of Treasury (A department in it's own right)
Commerce
Agriculture
Labor
And
Office of Management and Budget
United States Trade Representative
Department of Interior (Also a department in its own right)
Health and Human Services
Housing and Urban Development
Transportation
Energy
Education
And
Environmental Protection Agency
National Drug Control Policy
Note: President or VP can run Justice, as it is not a particularly active Department in GovSim; likewise they can run Press Secretary or appoint someone informally. Chief of Staff can be an informal position or not exist at all, at the administration's discretion.
The Five Cabinet members can not have multis and must be confirmed for their positions, which will be considered full-time, high-level administrative positions. They will not go through committee confirmations, in the interest of confirming positions in an expedited manner.
Setting Departmental Priorities
Each Secretary has a set of markers- red, orange, and green. Green is default. They each have a limited number of red and orange markers that they can place on any "bureau" (as I'll call all the little groupings here). There's a default number, but raising or lowering numbers in the budget will impact the number of markers available for each department.
The markers indicate funding and resources. If you let the green marker stay, you may receive "we don't know, sirs" or "we don't have the resoures to do that" more frequently than you would normally in that bureau- not by default and not more times than not, just more frequently. If you have an orange marker in place, this represents the current level of general availability of resources we presume. You can do or ask most things and get a fair response and dedicated resources. This is essentially the current response for most requests. If you have a red marker, this is your top priority and will be treated thusly. It will be very rare to receive an "I don't know" or "we don't have the resources" response, and you will always receive some options for proceeding. In other words, this is the place all your little bureaucrats aspire to work as they know they have a better shot at a promotion some day.
All three levels essentially represent readiness and focus. Green does not necessarily reflect incompetence and greater chance of failure, but it may mean not getting the full story or the kind of dedicated resources you'd like. Red does not guarantee success. That's not to say a major emergency or event in a non-priority area won't be covered by admins, but the response capability may differ.
Priorities can be adjusted once per GovSim year. Secretaries can raise a green to an orange, an orange to a red, and drop a red to a green all in one turn. The sole exception is that you can't raise a green to a red immediately, as the adjustment to "orange" for a year represents a ramping up process within the bureau.
Foreign
State and HS Defaults-
1 Red
2 Orange
3 Green
Defense Default-
2 Red
2 Orange
4 Green
Domestics
Commerce Default-
1 Red
2 Orange
3 Green
HHS Defaults-
2 Red
2 Orange
4 Green
Note: For domestics, there may be less flexibility for resource allocation due to specific, targetted budget funding. However, Cabinet Secretaries can still place priorities and that will reflect bureaucratic emphasis on this area. For instance, Ag may have been cut in the budget, but if the Commerce Sec places a red marker on it, they may have less resources, but might be more nimble because of streamlining- hence, they are more effective in their efforts regardless of a lower budget. They might not be able to spearhead new projects as easily as they'd like, though.
Bureau Heads: Optional
The Secretary of each department can hire from a pool of 10-12 competent professionals to fill these positions. You will receive guidance and assistance based on the capability and personality of the person you promote. Each professional comes with attributes that can come into play in various scenarios. These are generally positive. Think of these as "bonus" cards. They are admin-run.