A 21st-Century Cabinet and Your Part in It

From Patchwork Parts to a Working System

2028 Presidential Campaign of Martin A. Ginsburg, RN

March 2, 2026

We intend to advocate—and plan to work toward, subject to congressional approval—a cabinet structure that matches the jobs citizens need done in the 21st century. None of this moves without you.

A practical analogy—many parts, no vehicle.For decades, the federal executive has accreted parts the way a hobbyist piles hardware on a workbench: a steering wheel here (policy levers), a bicycle chain there (grant programs), an aircraft engine from a different era (legacy agencies), a motorcycle transmission (duplicative processes), tracked treads (special missions), and even a locomotive boiler (old subsidy pipes). Each part has value; together they don’t steer, start, or stop like a real vehicle. Our approach is to build a road-ready vehicle: a single chassis (clear missions), a compatible drivetrain (aligned org charts and budgets), common controls (plain rules that work the same way everywhere), and a readable dashboard (public reporting, service targets, and automatic stabilizers).

The cabinet map at a glance (15 → 12)

This briefing reflects the 12-department design in A 21st Century Cabinet—Proposing a

New Departmental Map for Modern Governance.

	Current Cabinet Department(s)	Proposed Department	What changes (plain English)	Why it improves service
2	Defense (DoD) + Veterans Affairs (VA)	Defense & Veterans’ Services	One roof from enlistment through lifelong care; unified health, benefits, records, transition.	Ends hand-offs; faster decisions; single accountability chain.
2	Justice (DOJ) + Homeland Security	Constitutional Affairs	Core justice functions focused on rights, lawful enforcement, civil liberties, access to the ballot.	Centers constitutional stewardship and civil-rights protection.
2	Labor + Commerce (+ SBA)	Economic Mobility & Development	Jobs, skills, small-business capital, and regional industry strategy under one hub.	Aligns workforce, capital access, and market development.
2	Health & Human Services (HHS) (human services side) + HUD (+ parts of Education/Labor)	Families & Human Development	Housing, safety-net, child/elder supports aligned as one continuum.	One front door for families; fewer agency hand-offs.
1	Education	Education & Learning Access	Keeps national coherence and portability; separates from workforce grants now in EMD.	Clear roles; transparent outcomes without dictating curriculum.
	HHS (public health) + CDC/NIH + FEMA (preparedness)	Public Health & Resilience	Unifies public-health surveillance, research, and preparedness.	Faster, coordinated responses to pandemics/disasters.
1	EPA + USGS + Forest Service (USDA) + Interior conservation programs	Environmental & Resource Stewardship	Regulation, conservation, and science-driven resource management under one roof.	Ends split accountability across land, water, air.
1	Agriculture (USDA) (minus Forest Service)	Food & Rural Equity	Focus on agriculture, food security, and rural infrastructure.	Targets rural prosperity and supply stability.
2	Transportation (DOT) + Energy (civilian grid) + Commerce (broadband) + infra roles (HUD/USDA)	Infrastructure & Mobility	One strategy for transport, grid, and broadband; one front door for projects.	Cuts duplicative grants; speeds delivery to ground.
1	State + USAID (+ INR)	State & Global Strategy	Diplomacy, development, and analysis coordinated and measured.	Aligns foreign policy and soft power for results.
	ODNI/CIA/NSA (+ DHS I&A)	National Intelligence & Security Coordination	Integrates foreign/domestic intel, cyber, and threat response.	Closes gaps between collection and protection.
1	Treasury (+ IRS) (+ OMB budget execution)	Treasury & Fiscal Accountability	Tax, sanctions, fiscal reporting, and debt strategy with traceable dollars.	Every federal dollar tied to outcomes citizens can see.

Selected major agencies realigned (illustrative, not exhaustive): EPA → Environmental & Resource Stewardship; USAID → State & Global Strategy; SBA → Economic Mobility & Development; USGS & Forest Service (conservation) → Environmental & Resource Stewardship; FEMA (preparedness) → Public Health & Resilience; ODNI/CIA/NSA (+ DHS I&A) → National Intelligence & Security Coordination.

How this fixes the “parts on a bench” problem

• One chassis, not scattered frames. Lifelong missions (e.g., service to veterans) sit under one accountable roof.

• Compatible drivetrain. Lead/support compacts define who leads and who supports on cross-cutting work (rural development, permitting, disaster response).

• Common controls. One front door for communities seeking grants; one playbook for delivery.

• Readable dashboard. Public service targets, monthly redlines, and “misses with fixes” so citizens see course corrections—not spin.

Service targets & public reporting (what we’ll measure)

• Defense & Veterans’ Services: time from discharge to benefits decision; specialty appointment wait times; appeal resolution times.

• Economic Mobility & Development: time-to-capital for small businesses; time-to-placement and wage outcomes for training programs.

• Families & Human Development: days from application to housing/benefit decision; successful hand-offs between housing, food, and care supports.

• Public Health & Resilience: incident detection-to-action times; stockpile readiness; interoperable alerting drills.

• Infrastructure & Mobility: permit timeline medians and variance; award-to-groundbreaking cycle time; on-budget/on-schedule rates.

• Environmental & Resource Stewardship: permit-to-monitor transparency; remediation timelines; conservation outcomes (acres/watersheds).

• Treasury & Fiscal Accountability: time-to-refund; improper-payment rates; open ledgers tying dollars to outcomes.

Guardrails for citizens and public servants

• Fix-first, no-blame. We repair broken steps; only willful misconduct draws discipline.

• Continuity, no cliffs. Every change ships with an unwind plan, citizen-facing closure notes, and continuity contacts.

• Five-year convert-or-sunset. Major executive rules convert to statute, modify, or sunset on a five-year clock—with unwind plans and guaranteed floor debate (germaneness enforced).