New term, new team

Agriculture

Budget: $19.1 billion

Employees: 109,832

Secretary designate: Mike Johanns

The son of a small dairy farmer from Iowa who went on to become governor of Nebraska, Mr. Johanns will take over a department that has seen its budget decline as funds are shifted to homeland security.

Commerce

Budget: $5.8 billion

Employees: 40,000

Secretary designate: Carlos Gutierrez

Mr. Gutierrez has the kind of up-by-the-bootstraps story the president loves: He's a Cuban immigrant who got his start delivering Kellogg's breakfast cereal in Mexico City-then worked his way up to CEO of the company. As the nation's top business advocate, he'll have the task of selling other CEOs on policies ranging from tax reform to ending corporate welfare.

Defense

Budget: $371 billion

Employees: 2,036,000

Secretary: Donald Rumsfeld

Despite rampant speculation to the contrary, Mr. Rumsfeld survived the president's purge to lead the Cabinet's largest department into a second term. Wildly popular after successful invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq, he's seen his credibility undermined-even within the GOP-by the unexpected difficulties of nation-building.

Education

Budget: $57.3 billion

Employees: 4,487

Secretary designate: Margaret Spellings

Ms. Spellings is regarded as a Bush confidante, having served as his chief education adviser during his days as governor. A vocal champion of public education, she elicits some skepticism among proponents of Christian schools. Thanks to Mr. Bush's sweeping No Child Left Behind policy, she takes over a newly empowered bureaucracy that conservatives had once slated for extinction.

Energy

Budget: $24.3 billion (gross)

Employees: 16,100 federal, 100,000 contract

Secretary designate: Samuel Bodman

After bouncing around as deputy secretary in several other departments, Mr. Bodman finally got his nomination for a top spot. He'll spearhead the administration's agenda for energy independence, including oil drilling in Alaska and the creation of hydrogen-powered automobiles.

Health and Human Services

Budget: $66.8 billion

Employees: 67,000

Secretary designate: Mike Leavitt

As the point man on moral issues ranging from cloning to abstinence education, Mr. Leavitt is drawing intense scrutiny from family groups. As a Mormon, the former Utah governor is generally pro-life, but some conservatives have questioned his record, including his decision to drop the state's federal court battle to uphold a tough anti-abortion law.

Homeland Security

Budget: $40 billion

Employees: 180,000

Secretary designate: Michael Chertoff

After the implosion of his high-profile nominee (former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik), President Bush tapped Mr. Chertoff, a relatively unknown federal judge, to lead the newest bureaucracy in Washington. His long legal career seems to have little bearing on national security, but he wins praise from both sides of the aisle in Congress.

Housing and Urban Development

Budget: $31.3 billion

Employees: 10,600

Secretary: Alphonso Jackson

Mr. Jackson moved up to the top spot after serving three years as deputy secretary at HUD. He previously ran a $13 billion utility company in Austin, Texas, as well as the public housing authorities in Dallas and Washington, D.C.

Interior

Budget: $10.8 billion

Employees: 71,436

Secretary: Gale Norton

Ms. Norton, a former Colorado attorney general, maintains a generally low profile within the administration despite her sprawling portfolio, which includes managing 20 percent of the nation's land and one-third of its energy supply.

Justice

Budget: $22 billion

Employees: 109,000

Secretary designate: Alberto Gonzales

Plucked from the relative obscurity of a Houston law firm, Mr. Gonzales was named to one high-level post after another by then-Gov. George W. Bush: general counsel to the governor, Texas secretary of state, and justice of the state Supreme Court. He moved with his mentor to Washington, serving as the president's legal counsel since 2001. Despite his tough reputation on law-and-order issues-he authored a controversial memo justifying the torture of terrorist suspects-Mr. Gonzales is suspected of being moderate on issues such as abortion.

Labor

Budget: $11.9 billion

Employees: 17,347

Secretary: Elaine Chao

As the first Asian-American woman to serve in the Cabinet, Ms. Chao brings a strong professional resumé but weak personal ties to the president. Much of her career was spent in nonprofits: heading up the Peace Corps, for instance, and leading the United Way out of a financial scandal. Charged with overseeing federal labor laws, her department is a darling of Democratic administrations but is virtually invisible under Republican regimes.

State

Budget: $10.3 billion

Employees: 30,266

Secretary designate: Condoleezza Rice

One of Mr. Bush's closest advisers will now be the most prominent member of his Cabinet. As the first black woman at the helm of State, Ms. Rice adds not only diversity, but also an impeccable resumé in foreign affairs. Long recognized for her academic expertise, she'll now face the challenge of selling the president's hawkish policies to a dovish department and a skeptical international community.

Transportation

Budget: $61.6 billion

Employees: 60,000

Secretary: Norman Mineta

One of more than 100,000 Japanese- Americans forced into World War II internment camps, Mr. Mineta became the first Asian to serve in the Cabinet when President Clinton appointed him to head the Commerce Department. Tapped by President Bush to lead Transportation in 2001, he was the first secretary to move directly from a Democratic to a Republican Cabinet. Credited with creating the Transportation Security Administration from a blank sheet of paper, he remains popular with leaders of both parties.

Treasury

Budget: $10.8 billion

Employees: 115,897

Secretary: John Snow

President Bush made a point of struggling publicly before asking his Treasury secretary to stay on for a second term. A well-regarded former chairman of railroad giant CSX, Mr. Snow also served in a variety of positions at the Transportation Department. As the point man on the economy, he'll be expected to reassure the markets at a time when interest rates are rising and the dollar is declining.

Veterans Affairs

Budget: $51 billion

Employees: 219,000

Secretary designate: Jim Nicholson

After earning two medals in Vietnam, Mr. Nicholson went on to a career in politics (national chairman of the GOP) and diplomacy (U.S. ambassador to the Vatican). His tenure at the VA will likely coincide with the return of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops from Iraq, putting a new strain on the department's healthcare infrastructure.

-with reporting by Kristin Chapman