Talk:Foreign Agricultural Service

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In the section of heads of FAS, several of the more recent heads were acting, albeit for a notable time; they were not nominated to the Senate and approved as Administrator. I recommend that those acting Administrators be so indicated, perhaps with a footnote. Huetes 16:53, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

While I do not disagree that there is merit in noting those who were interim or acting heads of FAS, the issue of Senate confirmation is a moot point because the position of Adminstrator of this agency is not a Senate-cofirmed post.--Cycloneusa 18:43, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

In my contribution of the list of agency heads, I have not bothered to designate who was acting vs. permanent in part because several career employees were acting for a time before being permanently appointed. Examples include Les Wheeler, who was acting for three years before becoming permanent head of FAS/OFAR for another 14, and Dick Smith, among others. Some of them were acting longer than "permanent" agency heads were in charge! For me the dividing line is whether somebody was named to head FAS, whether on an interim basis or permanently, by the Secretary, as opposed to those who were named acting administrator or director by the incumbent administrator during vacations, travel, and so on. On top of that you have the question of Fran Wilcox, appointed "on an interim basis" but by the Secretary as the last permanent director of foreign agricultural relations -- for all of two weeks. It just seemed like too much work to sort this out! And Cycloneusa is correct, the head of FAS is not confirmed by the Senate. The only head of FAS ever to undergo such confirmation was Romeo Short, when he was promoted to Assistant Secretary for the Foreign Agricultural Service in 1953, a position he held for two months. It was never done before or after. Amustard (talk) 14:59, 17 February 2008 (UTC)