U.S. Department of the Interior: -Year Presidential Transition Briefing Book

Key Chapter Title List

1. Department Overview: Mission, Vision, and Resource Management Scale
2. Organizational Structure and Overview of Major Bureaus/Offices
3. Strategic Plan (FY 2022-2026) and Implementation Framework
4. Human Resources and Budget Information
5. Congressional Relations and Jurisdictional Committees
6. Current Major Issues (21st Century Workplace, Wildfire Management, etc.)
7. Organizational Structure: Secretary's Office and Responsibilities of Assistant Secretaries
8. Detailed Functions of Department of the Interior Offices (e.g., Office of Inspector General, Office of the Solicitor, etc.)
9. Assistant Secretary - Policy, Management and Budget Office and its Subordinate Agencies
10. Functions of Offices Under the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Environmental Management
11. Functions of Offices Under the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, Finance, Appropriations and Acquisition
12. Functions of Offices Under the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administrative Services

Document Introduction

This document is the official briefing handbook compiled by the U.S. Department of the Interior for the 2024-2025 Presidential Transition period. It aims to provide the new administration's leadership with an authoritative and systematic introduction to the Department's mission, operations, challenges, and strategic direction. As a federal cabinet-level agency established in 1849, the Department of the Interior has an exceptionally broad scope of responsibilities. This includes managing approximately 20% of the nation's land, nearly 500 million acres of public lands, and mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf; fulfilling federal trust responsibilities to Indian tribes and Alaska Natives; and overseeing core functions such as national parks, wildlife refuges, Western water resources, historic preservation, endangered species, mine reclamation, and support for insular areas.

The handbook details the Department's vast assets and operational scale, encompassing over 4,800 buildings, more than 2,500 dams, over 100,000 miles of roads, and an extensive network of approximately 70,000 employees and 345,000 volunteers. The document systematically outlines the Department's latest results-oriented Strategic Plan (FY 2022-2026), which is structured around four strategic goals: advancing the well-being, equity, and justice for Tribal and Insular communities; protecting and managing natural and cultural resources in the context of climate change; sustainably balancing resource use to support communities and the economy; and serving and maintaining public trust. The handbook further provides a detailed budget analysis, including the composition of approximately $16.9 billion in appropriations for FY 2024, funding allocations across major activity categories (such as land management, commitments to Tribes, wildfire management), and trends in future budget requests.

The report provides an in-depth analysis of the major issues currently facing the Department of the Interior, offering a critical perspective for understanding its policy priorities. These issues include the transition to a 21st-century workplace (telework policies, AI applications), increasingly severe wildfire management challenges, remediation of orphaned oil and gas wells and abandoned mine lands, implementation of the Endangered Species Act, major restoration projects (e.g., Klamath Basin), and the impact of large-scale one-time investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. In the energy sector, the handbook focuses on public land renewable energy development, Outer Continental Shelf offshore wind and oil/gas development, and critical mineral mining. Regarding water resource management, it emphasizes the analysis of Western drought resilience, Colorado River contingency plans, Columbia River operations, and the complexities of the Central Valley Project.

Furthermore, the handbook details the Department's interactions with Congress, listing key committees with jurisdiction in the 118th Congress and their focus areas, and outlines major pending legislation that may affect the Department. The final section of the document extensively describes the Department's organizational structure, from the offices of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary to the five program Assistant Secretaries (overseeing Land and Minerals, Water and Science, Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Indian Affairs, Insular and International Affairs) and their subordinate bureaus, as well as the numerous functional offices directly under the Secretary (such as the Office of Inspector General, Office of the Solicitor, Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, etc.). It provides detailed overviews, organizational charts, staffing information, contact details, and key operational management issues for many of these critical offices. This handbook is an indispensable reference for gaining a deep understanding of the core federal agency responsible for U.S. land, resource, tribal, and cultural policies.