Why Not Both?

In picturing the role of Ministers in the USC leadership, as opposed to the Consuls, it is worth looking at them as different fields within the larger USC community:

The Two Pillars of USC Leadership

1. The Consuls are your more "traditional" guild leadership, with the Consul of War being the "Raid Leader" and the Consul of Peace being the "Guild Owner" who makes sure permissions are given responsibly and the "Guild Bank" is safe.  They set long-term goals related to their respective spheres.

2. Ministers are a different type of leader, but still a familiar archetype to a long-time gamer. They are the Mod Creators, or the leaders of teams of Mod Creators.  Star Citizen is a sandbox, or at least has a heavy sandbox element with a reliance on players generating their own content in-game.  That's where the Ministers come in.  It is their job to make sure that content is created. If players are seeking new mysteries to unlock, the Minister of Intelligence and Exploration will lead their team in making sure new investigations are opened. If players are seeking new combat challenges, the Minister of Security Services will lead their team in drafting new missions to push our combat pilots to the limit.

The Voice Of The Citizens

• The Prime Minister is unique, in that their role is a bit of both. They set goals like the Consul, based on the platform they were elected on, though these are shorter-term goals to be responsive to the community.  They are also, by their responsive nature, a key voice in ensuring that content the membership wants to do is being created.  If the Ministers are too focused on a certain content type, a member could run on a platform of more content variety and their election would send a clear signal to the Ministers to adjust their course... presumably with help from the newly elected Prime Minister who ran on promises of that content appearing! In this way, they exist in both spheres of leadership on the Council.

The USC Organization Chart:

Ministries

The United Space Confederation benefits from the efforts and hard work of it's flat leadership structure. The leadership team has seven (7) positions which consist of: one (1) Prime Minister, two (2) Consuls, and four (4) Ministers. 

Our Ministers are directly responsible for the creation of in-game sandbox content.

• The Ministry of Security Services (MSS)

• The Ministry of Interstellar Commerce (MIC)

• The Ministry of Intelligence and Exploration (MIE)

• The Ministry of Engineering and Support (MES)

Our Consul of Peace is directly responsible for the provision of support to the org's membership, it's various communication platforms and to the creation of group gameplay content. 

• The Ministry of State Affairs (MSA)

Our Consul of War is directly responsible for the effective operation of the Navy. The Navy is the equivalent of a 'progression raid team' typical in traditional MMO games. The USC Navy is responsible for gathering information to formulate 'operations', with organizing groups of players qualified to perform specific duties required to successfully complete the operation's objectives, and finally distribute the rewards (loot) from the operation to USC storage and participating members.  

• The USC Navy