flag seniority

[mtrosson]

I work in a government facility. We have 3 flag poles. The center pole is taller than the others and has the U.S. flag on it. The other poles have the Montana state flag and the Department of Homeland Security flag on them. What is the proper order for the state and government agency flags?

[csaanv]

This is from Best Way - Proper State Flag Etiquette @ eHow.com
Adjacent Staffs
Some staffs or flagpoles are set up in a row at equal heights. In this situation, it is impossible to fly one flag higher than the others. Display the state flag in the second position from the left. The spectator's far left staff is reserved for the American flag, according to USFlags.com.


Best Way - Proper State Flag Etiquette | eHow.com

[Peter Ansoff]

Greetings, mtrosson. Welcome to the forum!

The center pole is taller than the others and has the U.S. flag on it. The other poles have the Montana state flag and the Department of Homeland Security flag on them. What is the proper order for the state and government agency flags?

This is actually a rather interesting question. Obviously, the US flag goes on the middle pole since it's higher than the others. (If they were the same height, the US flag would go on its own right, as csaanv pointed out). The tricky part concerns the other two.

In my experience, it's not too common for US Federal agencies to fly state flags at their installations. In the case of the DHS, the applicable regulation states that the DHS flag will only be flown when the building is solely occupied by the Department. Here's the actual language:

The DHS flag may be displayed, usually with the United States flag, in the lobbies of buildings or on the grounds of buildings occupied solely by DHS organizational elements. The DHS flag also may be displayed, usually with the United States flag, in the reception rooms and lobbies of offices or leased space occupied solely by DHS organizational elements. (DHS MD0400, para VI.A.1)

In other words, if a state agency or private concern shares the building, the DHS flag is not supposed to be flown out front. If the DHS is the sole occupant, there would be no protocol reason to fly the state flag.

Given that you're going to fly both, however, I'd say that the state flag should take precedence over the DHS flag. That opinion is based on military regulations, which generally give state flags precedence over organizational flags (although I don't know of any that specifically mention non-DoD organizational components). That would make the order State-USA-DHS, from left to right as seen by an observer facing the building.

Again, my impression is that US agencies don't normally fly state flags at their facilities. That seems to be generally true here in the Washington DC area.

Best regards,

Peter Ansoff