The United States secretary of energy is the head of the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

, a member of the Cabinet of the United States and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

signed the Department of Energy Organization Act, establishing the department. Originally, the secretary and the department focused on energy production and regulation. Over time, the emphasis shifted to developing technology for more efficient energy sources and energy education. After the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, the department's attention also turned to radioactive waste disposal and environmental quality maintenance. Former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger was the first secretary of energy. As a Republican nominated by Democratic President Jimmy Carter, Schlesinger’s appointment remains the only instance of a president choosing a member of another political party for the position. Schlesinger is also the only secretary to be dismissed from the post. Hazel O'Leary,

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

’s first secretary of energy, was the first female and first African American to hold the position. The first

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

to serve as energy secretary was Clinton’s second energy secretary, Federico Peña. Spencer Abraham became the first Arab American to hold the position on January 20, 2001, under President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. Steven Chu, appointed on January 20, 2009, under President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, became the first

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

to hold the position. Chu also served as the longest-serving secretary of energy and was the first individual to join the Cabinet after having received a Nobel Prize. Former Michigan governor, Jennifer Granholm, confirmed on February 25, 2021 under President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

, was the second woman to lead the Department of Energy.

Chris Wright Christopher Allen Wright (born January 15, 1965) is an American government official, engineer, and businessman serving as the 17th United States Secretary of Energy, United States secretary of energy since 2025. Before his appointment, he was th ...

is the current secretary of energy under the Trump administration, confirmed on February, 4, 2025.

Nuclear weapons

In addition to responsibilities related to generation and use of energy, the secretary is the most senior official other than the president of the United States or secretary of defense with primary responsibility for the nation's approximately 3,800 viable nuclear weapons. This arrangement is intended to maintain full civilian control over strategic weapons, except as directed by the president for specific military uses. The department of energy is responsible for the building, maintenance, and disposal of all nuclear weapons within the United States' arsenal in addition to safeguarding these weapons when they are not actively deployed in military service. Under the terms of several successive treaties, most recently New START, the United States has reduced its strategic arsenal to 1,500 deployed weapons. Consequently, many older legacy weapons systems have been dismantled or scheduled for dismantlement, with their core radioactive fuel - generally plutonium - being reprocessed into reactor-grade or space exploration fuel.

List of secretaries of energy

; Parties (7) (11) ;Status

References

External links

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Energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

Energy ministers

Nuclear weapons

List of secretaries of energy

See also

References

External links