<P> Most White House chiefs of staff are former politicians, and many continue their political careers in other senior roles . Lyndon Johnson's chief of staff W. Marvin Watson became the Postmaster General later in LBJ's term . Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff Alexander Haig, a career U.S. Army officer with his capstone military position being CINCUSEUCOM / SACEUR, later became Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan . Cheney later became a Congressman for Wyoming, Secretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush and vice president in the George W. Bush administration . Donald Rumsfeld was another chief of staff for Ford and subsequently served as Secretary of Defense both in the Ford administration and decades later, also in the George W. Bush administration . Rahm Emanuel left the House of Representatives to become Barack Obama's chief of staff and subsequently became Mayor of Chicago . Jack Lew, President Obama's fourth chief of staff, was later appointed Secretary of the Treasury . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (September 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (September 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Chris Whipple, author of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, loosely describes the role of a White House chief of staff through his interview with former President Barack Obama: "During the last days of his presidency, Barack Obama observed:' One of the things I've learned is that the big breakthroughs are typically the result of a lot of grunt work--just a whole lot of blocking and tackling .' Grunt work is what chiefs of staff do ." </P>

Who has more power the secretary of state or chief of staff