Federal Times published its first issue in March 1965. Since that time, six cabinet departments and several smaller agencies have been created.
Here is a look back at agencies younger than Federal Times.
Cabinet
1965: Department of Housing and Urban Development. Created following the August 1965 passage of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 — which expanded federal housing programs — HUD gained its first secretary, Robert C. Weaver, in January 1966.
1966: Department of Transportation. Congress and the Lyndon Johnson administration created DoT to "untangle, to coordinate, and to build the national transportation system for America that America is deserving of," as Johnson put it in a speech marking the occasion.
1977: Department of Energy. According to the Department of Energy Organization Act, the department was created in response to "an increasing shortage of non-renewable energy resources" and "increasing dependence on foreign energy supplies." The Act identified the situation as a threat to national security and to the health, safety and welfare of Americans.
1980: Department of Education. The department was created by taking the education components of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, along with educational functions of several other departments and federal entities.
1989: Department of Veterans Affairs. Previously the Veterans Administration, the VA changed its name but not its initials when President Ronald Reagan elevated it to cabinet level. "Veterans have always had a strong voice in our government," Reagan said when announcing his support for the department's creation. "It's time to give them the recognition they so rightly deserve.''
2002: Department of Homeland Security. Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the George W. Bush administration led the blending of 22 federal departments and agencies into DHS, with the mission of safeguarding the United States from attacks within its borders.
Other Agencies
Office of Management and Budget: OMB, formed in 1970, is the successor to the Bureau of the Budget. The Richard Nixon administration reorganized the Bureau, which had been formed in 1921, and renamed it to reflect a broadened mission. (The bureau had long been a part of the Executive Office of the President, moving there from the Treasury Department in 1939.)
Environmental Protection Agency: The Nixon administration created EPA in 1970 to "consolidate in one agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection," according to the agency's website. The President's Council on Executive Organization had written a persuasive memo to Nixon earlier in 1970 advocating the agency's creation. Read it here.
Office of Personnel Management: The Civil Service Commission established in 1883 was reorganized almost a century later in 1978 under the Civil Service Reform Act, splitting into OPM, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
Government Accountability Office: The General Accounting Office, created in 1921 as an independent oversight body to investigate the spending of federal funds, evolved over the decades into a mature professional services organization auditing many aspects of agency performance. The Human Capital Reform Act of 2004 renamed the office to better reflect its contemporary place in the government.
