His brief leadership of the Commerce Department, with its disparate 12 bureaus, including NOAA, which is responsible for ocean fisheries, will perhaps be remembered best for the successful completion of the 2010 Census. The constitutionally-mandated headcount came in under-budget and with relatively few management concerns, successes Locke's closest aides credited to the secretary holding regular operational meetings in its final months.

A senior administration official said no potential successors for Locke at Commerce were yet being considered; the administration still lacks a nominee to serve as the department's deputy secretary, the source said.

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