[6] President George W. Bush appointed Cino to serve as assistant secretary and director general of the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service; in that capacity, "she supervised 1,700 employees and had a budget of $200 million".

[6] Cino was nominated by President George W. Bush as the Deputy Secretary of Transportation on April 6, 2005,[7] and was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 11, 2005.

[8][9] After Norman Mineta's departure in July 2006,[10] Cino served as acting United States Secretary of Transportation for a short time.

[3] In December 2010, Cino announced her candidacy for chair of the Republican National Committee in the RNC's January 2011 election.

She considers herself "pro-life" (part of the United States anti-abortion movement) and is also interested in increasing the numbers of Republican women holding office.