--- title: Ryan Zinke Makes Staff Raise a Special Flag When He's Around description: Zinke has revived an obscure military tradition that involves staffers raising and lowering a special secretarial flag when he's around canonical: https://time.com/4980898/ryan-zinke-interior-department-flag-ritual-donald-trump/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-13T00:38:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:18:58.227Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump's Interior Secretary Make Staff Raise a Special Flag When He's Around og:description: Ryan Zinke's flag ritual comes comes from military history og:url: https://time.com/4980898/ryan-zinke-interior-department-flag-ritual-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt456ac7770482163c/6988e1d5196cf4c0a5042525/ryan-zinke-interior-department-secretary-personal-flag.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Interior Secretary Zinke Discusses "Vision For American Energy Dominance" og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump's Interior Secretary Make Staff Raise a Special Flag When He's Around twitter:description: Ryan Zinke's flag ritual comes comes from military history twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt456ac7770482163c/6988e1d5196cf4c0a5042525/ryan-zinke-interior-department-secretary-personal-flag.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump's Interior Secretary Makes His Staff Raise a Special Flag When He's Around > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a6fb3951-5ffc-4b7e-92d6-7a3722752016&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Oct 13, 2017 12:38 AM UTC  Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke delivers a speech billed as "A Vision for American Energy Dominance" at the Heritage Foundation on Sept. 29, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke delivers a speech billed as "A Vision for American Energy Dominance" at the Heritage Foundation on Sept. 29, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Oct 13, 2017 12:38 AM UTC If any citizens are interested in the whereabouts of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, some unusual flags outside his agency’s headquarters may offer some information—for those that know how to decode them. Zinke has revived an obscure military tradition, according to the [Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wheres-zinke-the-interior-secretarys-special-flag-offers-clues/2017/10/12/68672476-aeb2-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.f25a2a5ae978), that involves staffers raising and lowering a special secretarial flag whenever he enters or leaves the building. The flag, which features the Interior Department’s bison seal on a blue banner with seven white stars for the agency’s bureaus, flies over the building whenever Zinke is present. If only Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt is in the office, a different flag is flown, according to the _Post_. A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior told the _Post_ that the Navy tradition is “a major sign of transparency.” “Ryan Zinke is proud and honored to lead the Department of the Interior, and is restoring honor and tradition to the department, whether it’s flying the flag when he is in garrison or restoring traditional access to public lands,” press secretary Heather Swift said, according to the _Post_. Zinke is a former Navy SEAL commander and a former congressman from Montana, who has already drawn attention and criticism with some of his choices since being appointed to [President Donald Trump’s](http://time.com/4979322/donald-trump-sean-hannity-north-korea/?iid=sr-link5) Cabinet. He [rode on horseback](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ryan-zinke-new-interior-secretary-rides-horse-first-day-work-n728151) to his first day in office, for example, and has commissioned coins with his name on them to give out as gifts. Recently, the secretary has also [come under investigation](http://time.com/4965916/ryan-zinke-interior-secretary-charter-plane-investigation/?iid=sr-link2) after he took taxpayer-funded charter flights that appeared to involve political appearances. No other Cabinet secretaries in Trump’s administration follow Zinke’s flag ritual, according to the _Post_, and the President does not signify when he is present in the White House. The personal flags do have a long military history, and marking an official’s presence is still done in the military, but that has not carried over to government employees in the past. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4980898/ryan-zinke-interior-department-flag-ritual-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4980898/ryan-zinke-interior-department-flag-ritual-donald-trump/"},"headline":"President Trump's Interior Secretary Makes His Staff Raise a Special Flag When He's Around","datePublished":"2017-10-13T00:38:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:18:58.227Z","description":"The flag ritual comes comes from military history","url":"https://time.com/4980898/ryan-zinke-interior-department-flag-ritual-donald-trump/","keywords":["onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt456ac7770482163c/6988e1d5196cf4c0a5042525/ryan-zinke-interior-department-secretary-personal-flag.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt456ac7770482163c/6988e1d5196cf4c0a5042525/ryan-zinke-interior-department-secretary-personal-flag.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Interior Secretary Zinke Discusses \"Vision For American Energy Dominance\"","caption":"Interior Secretary Zinke Discusses \"Vision For American Energy Dominance\"","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4980898/ryan-zinke-interior-department-flag-ritual-donald-trump/","name":"President Trump's Interior Secretary Makes His Staff Raise a Special Flag When He's Around"}}]}] ```