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One administration official is leading a government-run cultural institution in Washington as he conducts diplomatic talks with foreign countries. Another is in charge of two agencies, each with multibillion-dollar budgets and thousands of employees. And one Cabinet member is leading three agencies while also serving in a powerful role at the White House.
As President Trump dismantles parts of the government, remakes institutions and takes on perceived enemies and those who disappoint him, he is frequently putting top administration officials in charge of multiple federal agencies and offices — an approach that has little precedent.
Agencies and organizations where Trump officials are doing double duty
Targeted for change
Organizations Mr. Trump has clashed with or has sought to pull in line with his political agenda.
•National Archives
•John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
•Office of Special Counsel
•Office of Government Ethics
•Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
•Library of Congress
Targeted for dismantlement
Administration aims to eliminate or cut most staff.
•U.S. Agency for International Development
•Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Replacement picks
Mr. Trump rescinded his NASA nominee and reassigned his national security adviser.
•National security adviser
•NASA
Cabinet-level officials with more than one job
2
Acting U.S.A.I.D. administrator
3
Acting national archivist
4
Acting national security adviser
At the top of the list is Mr. Rubio, a former senator from Florida, who currently holds four jobs. The reasons for the expansion of Mr. Rubio’s portfolio have varied: He took over the aid agency as part of Mr. Trump’s efforts to dismantle it; became the chief national security adviser when Michael Waltz was reassigned to be U.N. ambassador after the Signal scandal; and took over as archivist after Mr. Trump pushed out the agency’s administrator.
The National Archives drew Mr. Trump’s ire for flagging his potential mishandling of classified materials, though the administrator he ousted was not at the archives when it raised the issue in 2022.
Mr. Rubio’s status is remarkable. Few cabinet officials in U.S. history have amassed so much power in so many areas, although Henry Kissinger was secretary of state and national security adviser in the Nixon and Ford administrations.
1
U.S. trade representative
2
Acting director of the Office of Special Counsel
3
Acting director of the Office of Government Ethics
Next up is Mr. Greer, the only other cabinet official who juggles more than one additional job. A lawyer and Air Force veteran who served in Iraq, Mr. Greer’s main job is that of the president’s top trade negotiator, which has included overseeing a zigzagging trade policy that has roiled financial markets.
But Mr. Greer is also serving as the acting leader of two anticorruption watchdog agencies: the Office of Special Counsel and the Office of Government Ethics. Both agencies irritated Mr. Trump during his first term, with the Office of Special Counsel urging him to fire one of his top advisers, Kellyanne Conway, and the Office of Government Ethics holding up the confirmation of some of his nominees.
Initially, Mr. Trump named Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to those roles, but then Mr. Greer took over. However, it is possible he will be leaving one of those posts soon. Mr. Trump has nominated Paul Ingrassia, a former podcast host, to lead the Office of Special Counsel.
1
Transportation secretary
2
Interim administrator of NASA
Mr. Duffy, a former Wisconsin congressman, lobbyist and reality star on MTV, is the latest Trump administration member to be appointed to a second job. The transportation secretary was already dealing with a number of crises at the Federal Aviation Administration, including a fatal crash in January.
But amid the busy summer travel season, Mr. Trump has also added the stewardship of NASA to Mr. Duffy’s responsibilities after turning away from his Elon Musk-backed pick to lead the agency, Jared Isaacman.
1
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
2
Acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Mr. Vought, an architect of the conservative Project 2025 blueprint for government, was a contentious if unsurprising addition to Mr. Trump’s cabinet and holds the same position he did in Mr. Trump’s first term.
A skeptic of government spending and self-described Christian nationalist, Mr. Vought was also installed at the consumer bureau in February by Mr. Trump, as his administration pushed to dismantle the watchdog agency. Court orders have stopped the government from fully gutting the agency, for now.
Dual roles beyond the cabinet
2
Interim head of the A.T.F.
Mr. Driscoll, a decorated veteran who led a platoon at Fort Drum and served in Iraq, seems a natural fit as the secretary of the Army, overseeing about a million soldiers. But in April he got a second assignment that didn’t quite suit his résumé: interim head of the embattled Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a small gun-safety agency that Republicans have long worked to kneecap. Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, was initially tapped for the role, but Mr. Driscoll, a friend of Vice President JD Vance, soon took over.
The A.T.F. has long been a revolving door for acting directors, and the current lack of leadership comes after President Biden’s Senate-confirmed director preemptively resigned in January as the agency braced for Mr. Trump’s return. The Trump administration has said the A.T.F. was “weaponized” against gun owners under Mr. Biden.
1
Envoy for special missions
2
Interim president of the Kennedy Center
Mr. Grenell, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany and one of Mr. Trump’s most dependable loyalists, has a newly created role in the administration: envoy for special missions, which focuses on thorny diplomatic issues. But the assignment has not always gone smoothly: In talks with Venezuela, he appeared to undercut negotiations Mr. Rubio was pursuing to swap Venezuelans held in El Salvador for American prisoners.
It’s not the only job Mr. Trump has carved out for Mr. Grenell. After the president took control of the Kennedy Center in February, moving to purge its once bipartisan board and install himself as chairman, he named Mr. Grenell as the cultural center’s interim leader. The center appears to be keeping Mr. Grenell busy. He has been forced to defend his leadership as ticket sales have slumped, workers have pushed to unionize, and five Democratic senators held a concert there in protest.
1
Deputy attorney general
2
Acting librarian of Congress, but not recognized by institution
Mr. Blanche, a former federal prosecutor, was Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer in his criminal trial in 2024 in Manhattan. Mr. Trump was found guilty of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal, but the pugnacious Mr. Blanche won the once and future president’s trust, and when Mr. Trump returned to office, he installed Mr. Blanche as deputy attorney general.
Mr. Blanche, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, claimed a second job in May, after the Trump administration fired the first African American librarian of Congress, citing “concerning things” it said she had done “in the pursuit of D.E.I.”
The White House claimed Mr. Blanche was the new acting director of the library, but staff members pushed back, and Mr. Blanche has yet to take an active role in the leadership of the institution.
