White House memo shifts messaging power to Cabinet secretaries under new chief of staff
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
A memo circulated after Stephen Miller became chief of staff lays out a restructuring that weakens centralized White House message control and hands more authority to individual Cabinet leaders.
A memo circulated within the White House this week lays out a reorganization of the Cabinet communications hierarchy after Stephen Miller assumed the chief-of-staff role on Monday. The document, framed as a memo on administrative matters and personnel changes, says the position of Cabinet Secretary will be renamed Director of Cabinet Relations and will be focused on supporting the President's Cabinet secretaries rather than concentrating power at the center.
According to a source familiar with the memo, the change is meant to let each Cabinet leader manage messaging for their department and to scale back the tighter centralized oversight that had defined the operation. The source said the new arrangement should allow the Cabinet to “deliver swift, critical, and lasting wins for the American people,” language that underscores the political message being pushed.
Another source familiar with day-to-day operations said the shift reflects a move away from the communications control that former chief of staff Susie Wiles reportedly exercised during the first two years of President Donald Trump's second term. The source added that the policy change “recognizes you can’t effectively micromanage an organization of this size” and that it “trusts and invests in a support system that elevates the people who are closest to the issues.”
A former administration official described Wiles’s prior approach as seeking “complete authority” and warned that Cabinet secretaries faced pressure to stay on script, with potential media repercussions for deviations. The account suggests an overmanaged system that left little room for independent judgment.
The memo also notes other structural adjustments, including that the director of presidential scheduling and the Office of Presidential Scheduling will report directly to Chamberlain Harris, deputy director of outer oval operations, and that Caleb Orr will become chief of staff for policy. It outlines a policy process that will be overseen by the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and the National Security Advisor, with clearly defined responsibilities and no overlapping portfolios.
Wiles did not respond to a request for comment.