The main burden of assuring that the resources of the federal government are well managed falls on relatively few of the five million men and women whom it employs. Under the department and agency heads there are 8r600 political, career, military, and foreign. Service executives-the top managers and professionals who exert major influence on the manner in which the rest are directed and utilized. Below their level there are other thousands with assignments of some managerial significance, but we believe that the line demarcation selected is the best available for our purposes in this attainment. In addition to presidential appointment in responsible posts, the 8,600 include the three highest grades under Classification Act; the three highest grades in the postal field service, comparable grades in the foreign service, general officers in the military service, and similar classes in Other special services and in agencies or positions excepted from the Classification Act. There is no complete inventory of positions or people in federal service at this level. The lack may be explained by separate agency statutes and personnel systems, diffusion among so many special services, and absence of any central point (short of the President himself) with jurisdiction over all upper-level personnel of the government. The committee considers establishment and maintenance of a central inventory of these key people and .positions to bean elementary necessity a first step in improved management throughout the Executive Branch. Top presidential appointees, about 500 of them, bear the brunt of translating the philosophy and aims of the current administration into practical programs. This group includes the secretaries and assistant secretaries of cabinet departments, agency heads and their deputies, heads and members of boards, and commissions with fixed terms and chiefs and directors of major bureaus, divisions and services. Appointments to many of these politically sensitive positions are made on recommendation by department or agency beads, but all are presumably responsible to Presidential leadership. One qualification for office at this level is that there be no basic disagreement with presidential political philosophy, at least so far as administrative judgments and actions are concerned. Apart from the bipartisan boards and commissions these men are normally identified with the political party of the president) or are sympathetic to it, although there are exceptions. There are four distinguishable kinds of top presidential appointees including -Those whom the President selects at the outset to establish immediate and effective control over the government (e. g. Cabinet secretaries, agency heads, his own White House staff and Executive Office personnel). -Those selected by department and agency heads in order to establish control within their respective organizations (e. g. assistant secretaries, deputies, assistants, and major line posts in some bureaus and divisions). -High-level appointees, who--though often requiring clearance through political or interest group channels, or both-must have known scientific or technical competence (e.g. the Surgeon General, the Commissioner of Education). -Those named to residual positions traditionally fdled on a partisan patronage basis. These appointees are primarily regarded as policy makers and over-seers of policy execution. In practice, however, they usually have substantial responsibilities ill line management, often requiring a thorough knowledge of substantive agency programs.