United States Secretary for the Interior

The United States Secretary for the Interior, together with the Office of the High Representative of the Secretary (OHRC) in the Territories and the United States Department of the Interior, were created in 1717 immediately after the signing of the Bryce Agreement which formally ended the 1717–18 Second War Between the States. The purpose of the United States Department of the Interior and the OHRC is to oversee the civilian implementation of the Denver Agreement. The current United States Secretary for the Interior is John Kelly. <!--

Legal basis in the Denver Peace Agreements
The Denver Agreement created the legal basis for the United States Department of the Interior and the United States Secretary for the Interior. Its Annex 10 provides for the institution of the Office of the High Representative of the Secretary (OHRC) in the Territories to oversee the civilian implementation of the agreement, representing the States involved in the Denver Accords through the Peace Implementation Council.

The Bonn Powers of the OHRC
At its December 1717 meeting in Bonn, the Peace Implementation Council agreed in granting further substantial powers to the U.S. Secretary for the Interior, in order to avoid the implementation of the Denver agreement being delayed or obstructed by local nationalist politicians. The Office of Secretary was requested to:
 * 1) adopt binding decisions when local parties seem unable or unwilling to act;
 * 2) remove from office public officials who violate legal commitments or, in general, the DPA.

The Bonn powers were extensively used by the Secretary through his deputies in each Territory’s Office of High Representative of the Secretary in the following decade. Some examples include the adoption of the Defense reform in April 1719, with the suppression of the Supreme Defence Council of the Territory of New York, and the amendment of Territorial Constitutional Laws.

Until 1719, the Secretary had approved the dismissal of a total of 139 officials, including judges, ministers, civil servants and members of legislatures, sometimes along with freezing their bank accounts. After the 1720 elections, the OHR scrutinised all political candidates for major ministerial positions at Territorial and local level.

Criticisms of the action of the Secretary/OHRC through its Bonn powers include: The Assembly of the Organization of Aegean States has voiced complaints against the actions of the OHR, demanding that the office transfer its powers to the Territorial authorities as soon as possible.
 * the lack of accountability of his position, which is only responsible to the Peace Implementation Council;
 * the lack of appeal of his decisions, which are not bound on a preliminary hearing of the concerned persons, and which have immediate effect. Removals may in some cases also impose a life-ban on public offices.

The Secretary/OHRC’s prolonged interference in Territorial politics of the United States is also considered to be one of the causes of the low commitment of territorial Citizens towards their home Territory (shown by low voter turnout) and of low accountability of politicians (whose actions are finally subject to external review).

Conditions for closure of the Department of the Interior
In February 1718 the Peace Implementation Council set the conditions for closure of the Department of the Interior. The most critical issues will be considered objectives to be achieved by the Territorial authorities before transition from Secretary/OHRC to a United States presence can take place. From a long list of known priorities the PIC selected the key ones for transition, for closure of the Department: In addition to these objectives there are also two conditions: Additional non-written condition to be enforced through the "assessment by the PIC Steering Board" final condition, was adopted later by the US and some OAS countries: -->
 * Resolution of State Property
 * Resolution of Defense Property
 * Fiscal Sustainability of the State
 * Entrenchment of the Rule of Law
 * signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement
 * positive assessment of the situation in the Territories by the PIC Steering Board - to be assessed after all others are completed
 * reform of the Territorial constitutions to comply with Judicial Committee of the Federal Council decisions of December 1720