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（谁是世界最大的间谍？）
How much power does the President of United States really have? 
Dan Holliday, Talent Acquisition / Recruiting (2011-present)
Updated Jan 3, 2012
Significant.
Most people are totally unaware of exactly how much power the president of the USA has. I'll attempt to break it into its effective pieces.
Within the executive branch, the POTUS (our acronym for "President of the United States") is effectively dictator (albeit a benevolent one). As long as he operates within the confines of the law, he can direct any executive agency to do anything he desires. Typically presidents are aware of their limited tenure and the Congress's ability to remove him (as yet, only "him", but one day a "her"), so they don't abuse the power overly. But it's there for them to use.
Building on the previous point, The President is "Commander in Chief" of military and can direct it as he sees fit. Congress can de-fund his project, but as Teddy Roosevelt discovered, Congress is loath to leave our soldiers and sailors stranded halfway around the world. Because he is commander in chief of the military, he is effectively the absolute authority on military policy, including all the massive number of bases and members around the world.
He is the head of state (meaning he is the figurehead of the nation of people called "the United States of America") and he is the head of government (meaning he is the political head of the apparatus of government of the United States of America). In many countries these positions are split into their two parts, but in the USA they are joined, giving the president a significantly higher level of authority than that seen in other world leaders.
The president appoints numerous powerful positions like the cabinet secretaries (like State & Defense), ambassadors and directors of semi-autonomous agencies (like the CIA, NSA and FBI). He also appoints the chairman of the Federal Reserve bank (who can be dismissed by the president and who, effectively holds the most powerful economic position in the country). Lastly, he appoints judges to the various courts and justices to the Supreme Court, the ramifications of which are not to be underestimated since the Supreme Court holds the power to decide and interpret all laws within the USA. All of these appointments must be confirmed by the Senate, but despite what you've heard, the president enjoys great latitude in choosing who he likes and his pick is typically approved (except in inferior court judges, which are held up for eons due to our broken political system).
The president is the de facto leader of the free world. As much as other countries hate this fact, inevitably they turn to the US for permission and guidance when engaging in any number of activities. Take a look at Libya for example. The French and British attempted to coordinate and bomb Libya RIGHT IN THEIR OWN BACK YARDS, but couldn't accomplish this without American support and aid. Right down to something tiny like using the coordinating infrastructure they had in place-- they soon discovered that it was so antiquated and so incapable of projecting their power a scant 1,000 miles from home that they had to turn to the US Sixth Fleet in Italy to help coordinate the effort and inevitably turn to American sea and land power to make the mission a success. All this happened at the President's direction and at his discretion.
The president has the ability to veto any bill that the Congress sends to him. Unless they have 2/3 votes within both houses (which, let's face it, they rarely do), it is effectively dead.
The president is also the "spy in chief" in that he receives the largest array of intelligence available to any leader on earth. He is the head of 16 major spy agencies, all of whom distill and send their intelligence to him on a daily basis. How big is the us intelligence community? Enormous. The US intelligence community receives more funding than any other MILITARY on earth. That is: The USA spends more on just its intelligence gathering than any other nation does (save, possibly for China) on their entire military aparatus. The numbers were recently published in 2010:
--$80 billion per year goes to the US Intelligence gathering systems (+/- $700 billion on defense, excluding intel.).
--China (No. 2) spent $114 billion on its entire military, (though that number may be as low as $80 billion, since the Chinese are known to inflate military figures)
--France (No. 3) spent $61 billion on defense
--The UK (No. 4) spent $57 billion on defense
--Russia (No. 4) spent $53 billion on defense (though Russian purchasing power parity would likely make that $53 billion closer to $75 billion)
Keep in mind that most countries spend a scant $1-4 billion per year on intelligence gathering. Numbers are typically kept under-cover, but the British (who are the world's best spies, wrote the book on spying and more than likely outspend anybody but the US-- and they are the US's closest allies) recently published their intelligence spending numbers from 2010 at ￡2.1 billion ($3.3 billion). That means that the US spent 24 times than the British did on intelligence. My guess is that Canada and Australia spend about half that. Together, with New Zealand, they form the UK/USA pact (an intelligence sharing and gathering alliance), which puts their combined efforts upwards of $90 billion per year.
The president is the "court of last appeal" for crimes against the USA. He can even override (so to speak) a conviction upheld by the US Supreme Court and pardon, commute or reduce a sentence of which the person has duly been convicted. We saw this, in fact, when Ford pre-emptively pardoned Nixon to close down the Watergate fiasco.
And these are just the few powers the President has that I can think of. Without a doubt, there are much much more.
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Ross Cohen · 18 upvotes
This is a good answer but a couple things need to be corrected. The President does appoint the Fed Chairman but he can't dismiss him. Also, the President is not the"absolute authority on military policy" because the Uniform Code of Military Justice is set by law, which is why the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy could not be ended without Congressional action.
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Dan Holliday Original Author · · 4 upvotes
The UCMJ guides the behaviors of the military personnel NOT the president. The Supreme Court has held that the Congress cannot enhance or remove powers from the president.
The President is a civilian, not bound by the UCMJ and is the commander and chief (as per the constitution) and can do whatever he likes with the military (see: Roosevelt sending the fleet to South America and saying, basically, "If you ever want to see the fleet again, you'll appropriate funds.").
Presidents have, in every administration, conducted military affairs without congressional approval (*cough* Libya *cough*). Now, Congress can withhold the funds, but as we both know, they are loath to strand American service personnel abroad without financial means.
There's some legal debate about the DADT and if he could have worked a legal loop hole by saying, "It's still the law of the land, but I've enacted my powers as POTUS and ordered the military to ignore it due to current military circumstances and readiness issues."
And, word 'round the scuttlebutt is that's what he did. Ever see the numbers of people leaving under DADT? No trials. Confessions. Who are the people "confessing" to be gay? The ones who want out.
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Justin George
Lol. You said a few things need corrected. He called the president a dictator in first paragraph. Not exactly true. Through I see where he is going. He is powerful. But war time president of US is most powerful. And why we always in wars? Hmmmm
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Bruce Feldman · 17 upvotes
Great answer ... and just the tip of the iceberg. Creation of the cabinet level Dep't of Homeland Security effectively gives POTUS unprecedented powers never held before. Frankly, it's scary, especially considering the traveling circus show of republican candidates out there running for this office.
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Dan Holliday Original Author · · 17 upvotes including Bruce Feldman
I know. It's a bit frightening. I had a friend leave Homeland for State because of how horrible that department was. Justice, Transportation and Defense should be handling "homeland security". I've yet to understand what it's for, other than to justify a massive power grab and budget increase. NONE of the security measures required a new gangly department.
BUT WE GOT ONE!!!
And, what's worse, is that Justice, Transportation and Defense STILL handle homeland security, so all we got was another department that is so new that it lacks any credible culture of quality managers, so they just take whomever they can get. The result? Shitty results and more turf wars.
The solution to the "thing" that led to 9/11 was to reform the Justice + Transportation + the Intelligence Community + Defense + the addition of the Director of National Intelligence. AND THAT HAPPENED. Stop there. Do not do anything else. . . .
They didn't listen.
Sigh.
Apparently, not happy with actually doing something effectively, the previous administration (with no movement to repair it by this administration) created a new department that does . . . um. . . . wait. What does Homeland Sec do?
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