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How many czars does it take to run the federal government? More and more, it seems.In a Twitter message on May 30, 2009, Sen. John McCain took this poke at the Obama administration:Obama has more czars than the Romanovs — who ruled Russia for 3 centuries. Romanovs 18, cyberczar makes 20.First of all, yes, John McCain — the guy criticized during the presidential campaign for being computer illiterate — is tweeting.But what about the czars? It sure seems like we keep reading about one czar after another being appointed to oversee the auto industry, the Great Lakes, and the closure of Gitmo, and we wondered: Just how many czars does the Obama administration actually have?First off, the Obama administration doesn't usually call any of these people czars. We only found two instances of President Barack Obama using the term, once in an April 15, 2009, interview withCNN En Espanolwhen he talked about the role of his border czar, and once during the campaign when he promised to appoint an autism czar to coordinate a nationwide autism effort (he hasn't yet). And in announcing Obama's nomination of Gil Kerlikowske as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Vice President Joe Biden referred to the position as our nation's drug czar.We're sure there are more, but the point is that, by and large, you don't often hear the administration talking about its czars.In fact, the administration has at times gone to some lengths to avoid the moniker, as was the case in this somewhat humorous (in an inside-the-Beltway sorta way) exchange between a reporter and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on June 10, 2009:Reporter: On Ken Feinberg, I think that he's maybe the 20th czar-type position you've named.Gibbs: No, I think the title is special master.So who exactly qualifies as a czar? As best we can tell, it's whenever someone in the media says so. You can identify a guy as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, but it's a lot easier on everyone to just say Science Czar. And Special Master sounds like Richie Rich's best friend.So the title of czar is largely arbitrary media shorthand for It's this person's job to make sure (blank) goes right. And we think everyone can agree that Terrorism Czar sounds way cooler than Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security.Below, we have compiled a wildly unscientific list of Obama administration czars. But we're not the first. Talking Points Memo has a slideshow of Obama's czars.They count 23. And ForeignPolicy.com came up withat least 18.We've got 28.Some of these czars are carryover positions from previous administrations. And czars go way back in presidential history. Roosevelt had a slew of so-called czars. But to the extent that Obama has created a number of new positions to oversee various issues and to cut through bureaucratic red tape, he seems to have a lot more czars than his predecessors. Or you could argue that the media has just seized on a new buzzword it likes. We're not going to wade into the debate about whether having more czars is a good idea, but Foxran a storyabout concerns some lawmakers have with it.We're just fact-checking McCain's claim that Obama has more czars than the Romanovs. According to theWorld Book Encyclopedia, there were, as McCain said, 18 Romanov czars, starting with Michael Romanov in 1613 and ending with Nicholas II, who was killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.As for Obama's czars, we've got 28 who have been referred to as a czar ... somewhere. Undoubtedly some will take issue with some of the czars on our list, but we think McCain is on solid ground. He earns a True.NameCzar TitleActual (boring) TitleHerb AllisonTARP CzarAssistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial StabilityAlan BersinBorder CzarAssistant Secretary for International Affairs and Special Representative for Border AffairsDennis BlairIntelligence CzarDirector of National IntelligenceJohn BrennanTerrorism CzarDeputy National Security Adviser for Homeland SecurityCarol BrownerEnergy CzarAssistant to the President for Energy and Climate ChangeAdolfo Carrion, JrUrban Affairs CzarDirector of the White House Office of Urban AffairsAshton CarterWeapons CzarUnder Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and LogisticsAneesh ChopraTechnology CzarChief Technology OfficerJeffrey CrowleyAIDS CzarDirector of the Office of National AIDS PolicyCameron DavisGreat Lakes CzarSpecial advisor to the U.S. EPA overseeing its Great Lakes restoration planNancy-Ann DeParleHealth CzarDirector of the White House Office of Health ReformEarl DevaneyStimulus Accountability CzarChair of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability BoardJoshua DuBoisFaith-based CzarDirector of the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood PartnershipsKenneth FeinbergPay CzarSpecial Master on executive payDanny FriedGuantanamo Closure CzarSpecial envoy to oversee the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo BayJ. Scott GrationSudan CzarSpecial Envoy to SudanRichard HolbrookeAfghanistan CzarSpecial Representative for Afghanistan and PakistanJohn HoldrenScience CzarAssistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and TechnologyVan JonesGreen Jobs CzarSpecial Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental QualityGil KerlikowskeDrug CzarDirector of the Office of National Drug Control PolicyVivek KundraInformation CzarFederal Chief Information OfficerGeorge MitchellMideast Peace CzarSpecial Envoy to the Middle EastEd MontgomeryCar CzarDirector of Recovery for Auto Communities and WorkersDennis RossMideast Policy CzarSpecial Adviser for the Persian Gulf and Southwest AsiaGary SamoreWMD CzarCoordinator for the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and TerrorismTodd SternClimate CzarSpecial Envoy for Climate ChangeCass SunsteinRegulatory CzarDirector of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory AffairsPaul VolckerEconomic CzarChairman of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board
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