Passing laws is a complex process.  For instance, say Congress wants to pass a bill requiring that all cosmetic products carry a label listing the ingredients.  To make the bill specific, they must include such standards as what size the type must be, the order of the ingredients, what is considered a "cosmetic product," etc.  Congress cannot deal with these details alone.  The executive branch takes care of this stuff.  Of course, the President himself does not tend to these things.  He has a bureaucracy to take care of this.  The President sits at the top of the bureaucracy.

    Executive orders are rules or commands that the President issues that have the same force as a law.  The President usually makes an executive order in a time of tradgedy or crisis.  Agencies of the executive branch may also make executive orders.  Most executive orders are issued during a tradgedy or crisis.

    The President can appoint officials to his cabinet, judges, heads of government agencies, and ambassadors.  The President can also remove them all except for judges.  Congress must approve of most of the appointed officials.  This is an example of our nation's system of checks and balances.  The President appoints people who will support him and his policies to see that they are carried out.

President Bush created the office of Homeland Security by an executive order and appointed Tom Ridge to head the agency.