# Independent Executive Agencies Hub Independent executive agencies sit outside the 15 cabinet departments but squarely inside presidential control — typically headed by a single administrator who serves at the President's pleasure. They differ from the [[Independent Regulatory Commissions Hub]] in lacking the multi-member, for-cause-protected structure; "independent" here means *not housed in a department*, not insulated from removal. This makes them more directly exposed to the [[Unitary Executive Theory]] project than the commissions — there is no removal protection to litigate, only a single leader to replace. The capture lens: these agencies are where [[DOGE]]-style cuts and [[Schedule F]] reclassification land most cleanly, because the President already controls the top. The salient cases are the ones running large workforces or sensitive missions — OPM (which administers the civil service itself, making it the lever for [[Schedule F]]), the CIA (also an [[Intelligence Community Hub]] element), GSA (the government's real-estate and procurement backbone, an early DOGE target), and SSA (the benefits apparatus tens of millions depend on). ## Major independent agencies Tracked as plain references until individual pages are built: - [[EPA]] (Environmental Protection Agency) — pollution regulation; a top deregulation and staff-cut target - [[OPM]] (Office of Personnel Management) — administers the federal civil service; the structural lever for [[Schedule F]] - [[GSA]] (General Services Administration) — federal real estate, procurement, and IT; an early [[DOGE]] target - [[SSA]] (Social Security Administration) — retirement and disability benefits - [[NASA]] (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) — civilian space program - [[CIA]] (Central Intelligence Agency) — foreign intelligence; also an [[Intelligence Community Hub]] element - **Small Business Administration (SBA)**, [[FEMA]] *(housed in DHS)*, **National Science Foundation (NSF)**, **United States Agency for International Development (USAID)** — effectively dismantled and folded into State in 2025 ## Related - [[Federal Agencies]] — parent MOC - [[Independent Regulatory Commissions Hub]] - [[Intelligence Community Hub]] - [[Schedule F]] - [[DOGE]]