The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing economic development, promoting foreign direct investment, and safeguarding national economic security.
The Department of Commerce is one of four federal agencies authorized to appoint personnel in the United States Foreign Service, and its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Officer Corps—formerly the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps—is one of the eight branches of the uniformed services of the United States. During a large-scale disaster or catastrophe, it assumes the coordinating responsibilities for the economic recovery support function under the National Disaster Recovery Framework. Since 2023, it has led U.S. government activities related to safe artificial intelligence development. From 1913 to 1939, it also managed the National Aquarium.
The department is headed by the secretary of commerce, who is a member of the president's Cabinet and tenth in the United States presidential line of succession. It is headquartered in the Herbert C. Hoover Building in Washington, D.C.
Mission The Department of Commerce renewed its mission statement in its 2022 to 2026 strategic plan:
The responsibilities of its major operating units include weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and fisheries management (NOAA); promoting U.S. exports and attracting foreign direct investment (International Trade Administration); producing the decennial census and other vital and economic statistics (Bureau of the Census); regulating the export of sensitive technologies (Bureau of Industry and Security); registering patents, trademarks, and copyrights (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office); managing and preserving the United States customary system of weights and measures (National Institute of Standards and Technology); maintaining the national interoperable broadband emergency network (FirstNet Authority); and coordinating economic recovery following a major disaster (Economic Development Administration).
History
Organizational history The department was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903. It was subsequently renamed the Department of Commerce on March 4, 1913, as the bureaus and agencies specializing in labor were transferred to the new Department of Labor.
Since its creation, the Commerce Department has seen various agencies and administrative offices shift in and out of its organizational structure. The United States Patent and Trademark Office was transferred from the Interior Department into the Commerce Department in 1925. The Federal Employment Stabilization Office existed within the department from 1931 to 1939. In 1940, the Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) was transferred from the Agriculture Department, and the Civil Aeronautics Authority was also merged into the Commerce Department. In 1949, the Public Roads Administration was added to the department after the Federal Works Agency was dismantled.
In 1958, the independent Federal Aviation Agency was created and the Civil Aeronautics Authority was abolished. The United States Travel Service was established by the United States Secretary of Commerce on July 1, 1961, pursuant to the International Travel Act of 1961 (75 Stat. 129; 22 U.S.C. 2121 note) The Economic Development Administration was created in 1965. In 1966, the Bureau of Public Roads was transferred to the newly created Department of Transportation. The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) was created on March 5, 1969, originally established by President Richard M. Nixon as the Office of Minority Business Enterprise. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was created on October 3, 1970.
The Cabinet Council on Commerce and Trade was one of multiple Cabinet Councils established in the United States on or about February 26, 1981 by the Reagan Administration.21 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 671, 692 (Spring2011)
2020 data breach In 2020, the Department of Commerce suffered a data breach following a cyberattack likely conducted by a nation state adversary, possibly Russia.
Herbert Hoover as secretary of commerce
Herbert Hoover was appointed Secretary of Commerce in 1921 by then-President Warren G. Harding. Hoover was, by far, the most active secretary in the history of the department until the end of his position in 1928.Kendrick A. Clements, The Life of Herbert Hoover: Imperfect Visionary, 1918–1928 (2010). In his memoirs, he described the office as he found it after being sworn in:The Department of Commerce was a congeries of independent bureaus left behind when the labor activities were separated into the Labor Department some years before. It consisted of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Lighthouses, Navigation, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Census, Standards, and Fisheries and the Steamboat Inspection Service. They were all old establishments created prior to the Department itself. Each was an inbred bureaucracy of its own. There was little departmental spirit, or esprit de corps. Some of the bureaus even placed their own names on their letterheads without mentioning the Department. This lack of cohesion was emphasized by the fact that the Bureaus were housed in fifteen different buildings, mostly rented, and some of them condemned by the District of Columbia fire and health departments. Oscar Straus, who was one of my predecessors, told me that my job would not require more than two hours of work a day. Indeed, that was all the time that the former Secretaries devoted to it. Putting the fish to bed at night and turning on the lights around the coast were possibly the major concepts of the office.After his election as president in 1920, Warren G. Harding rewarded Hoover for his support, offering to appoint him as either Secretary of the Interior or Secretary of Commerce. Secretary of Commerce was considered a minor Cabinet post, with limited and vaguely defined responsibilities, but Hoover, emphasizing his identity as a businessman, accepted the position. In sharp contrast to the Interior Department, there were no scandals at Commerce.
Hoover envisioned the Commerce Department as the hub of the nation's growth and stability.Leuchtenburg, Herbert Hoover pp. 53–63. His experience mobilizing the war-time economy convinced him that the federal government could promote efficiency by eliminating waste, increasing production, encouraging the adoption of data-based practices, investing in infrastructure, and conserving natural resources. Contemporaries described Hoover's approach as a "third alternative" between "unrestrained capitalism" and socialism, which was becoming increasingly popular in Europe.Kenneth Whyte, Hoover (2017) pp. 254–57. Hoover sought to foster a balance among labor, capital, and the government, and for this he has been variously labeled a "corporatist" or an associationalist.Martin L. Fausold, The Presidency of Herbert C. Hoover (1985 p. 106.
Hoover demanded, and received, authority to coordinate economic affairs throughout the government. He created many sub-departments and committees, overseeing and regulating everything from manufacturing statistics to air travel. In some instances he "seized" control of responsibilities from other Cabinet departments when he deemed that they were not carrying out their responsibilities well; some began referring to him as the "Secretary of Commerce and Under-Secretary of all other departments". In response to the Depression of 1920–21, he convinced Harding to assemble a presidential commission on unemployment, which encouraged local governments to engage in countercyclical infrastructure spending. He endorsed much of Mellon's tax reduction program, but favored a more progressive tax system and opposed the treasury secretary's efforts to eliminate the estate tax.Whyte, Hoover (2017) pp. 260–64, 303–04.
Radio
Until the passage of the Radio Act of 1912, radio transmissions (generally known as "wireless telegraphy") in the United States were largely unregulated. Radio at this time was almost exclusively employed for maritime use, so regulatory responsibility was assigned to Commerce's Bureau of Navigation.
When Hoover joined the department, almost no families had radio receivers. The early 1920s saw the rapid rise of broadcasting, to over 500 stations by the end of 1922. To receive advice on this innovation, Hoover called a series of four annual conferences, beginning with one held from February 27 to March 2, 1922.First National Radio Conference report, Radio Service Bulletin, May 1, 1922, pages 23-30.Second National Radio Conference report, Radio Service Bulletin, April 2, 1923, pages 9-13.Third National Radio Conference report (1924)Fourth National Radio Conference report (1925) Attendees at the first conference included: Dr. S. W. Stratton, chairman (Director of Bureau of Standards), Edwin H. Armstrong, Columbia University, Capt. Samuel W. Bryant, U.S.N., Navy Department, Dr. Alfred N. Goldsmith, secretary Institute of Radio Engineers, Prof. L. A. Hazeltine, Stevens Institute of Technology, R. B. Howell, Metropolitan Utilities District, Omaha, Nebraska, Hiram Percy Maxim, president American Radio Relay League, Maj. Gen. George O. Squier, War Department, and representative Wallace H. White, jr., of Maine.
A common theme at all four conferences was the need for clearer authority to regulate radio. However, Hoover's attempts at stronger regulating were not supported by all congressional representatives, and he received much opposition from the Senate and from radio station owners.C. M. Jansky Jr, "The contribution of Herbert Hoover to broadcasting". Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 1.3 (1957): 241–49.Louise Benjamin, "Working it out together: Radio policy from Hoover to the Radio Act of 1927". Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 42.2 (1998): 221–36.Mark Goodman, and Mark Gring. "The Radio Act of 1927: progressive ideology, epistemology, and praxis". Rhetoric & Public Affairs 3.3 (2000): 397–418. . In the summer of 1926, the federal government's authority to assign station frequencies and powers was successfully challenged by a Chicago station, WJAZ."Federal Regulation of Radio Broadcasting" by Acting Attorney William J. Donovan (July 8, 1926), Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States, Volume 35, 1929, pages 126-132. A chaotic period followed, until the situation was stabilized by the passage of the Radio Act of 1927, which transferred radio regulation to the newly formed Federal Radio Commission (FRC). This new agency required stations to demonstrate that they met a "convenience, interest, and necessity" standard. The original idea was that the FRC would function for one year, after which regulation would return to Commerce. However, reauthorizations of the FRC were made until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934.
Travel Hoover was also influential in the early development of air travel, and he sought to create a thriving private industry boosted by indirect government subsidies. He encouraged the development of emergency landing fields, required all runways to be equipped with lights and radio beams, and encouraged farmers to make use of planes for crop dusting. He also established the federal government's power to inspect planes and license pilots, setting a precedent for the later Federal Aviation Administration.
Standardization of hardware, toolmaking, manufacturing, housing and related industries