Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. It was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903. It was subsequently renamed to the Department of Commerce on March 4, 1913, and its bureaus and agencies specializing in labor were transferred to the new Department of Labor.
The DoC has an annual budget of $14.0 billion (2009) and employs 141,885 people. The current Secretary of Commerce is Gary Locke and the Deputy Secretary of Commerce is Dennis Hightower[1].
Contents
Mission
The historic mission of the Department is "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce" of the United States. This has evolved, as a result of legislative and administrative additions, to encompass broadly the responsibility to foster, serve, and promote the Nation's economic development and technological advancement. The Department fulfills this mission by:
- a. Participating with other Government agencies in the creation of national policy, through the President's Cabinet and its subdivisions.
- b. Promoting and assisting international trade.
- c. Strengthening the international economic position of the United States.
- d. Promoting progressive domestic business policies and growth.
- e. Improving comprehension and uses of the physical environment and its oceanic life.
- f. Ensuring effective use and growth of the Nation's scientific and technical resources.
- g. Acquiring, analyzing, and disseminating information regarding the Nation and the economy to help achieve increased social and economic benefit.
- h. Assisting states, communities, and individuals with economic progress[2].
Operating Units
- Bureau of Industry and Security
- Economics and Statistics Administration
- Bureau of the Census
- Bureau of Economic Analysis
- Economic Development Administration
- International Trade Administration
- Minority Business Development Agency
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
- National Technical Information Service
- National Telecommunications and Information Administration
- Patent and Trademark Office
Footnotes
External Links
Operating Units External Links
- Bureau of Industry and Security
- Economics and Statistics Administration
- Bureau of the Census
- Bureau of Economic Analysis
- Economic Development Administration
- International Trade Administration
- Minority Business Development
- National Institute Standards and Technology
- National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration
- National Technical Information Service
- National Telecommunications Information Administration
- Patent Trade Office
- Proposed and finalized federal regulations from the United States Department of Commerce
