High-ranking government officials confront increased political scrutiny following Trump's pledge to eliminate perceived corruption, referring to them as a cancer.
President Trump has signed a new directive aiming to boost political influence over the hiring and performance reviews of Senior Executive Service (SES) members. The memo, issued on Monday, marks a shift in tone towards the top career staff and questions their current status with civil service protections.
The heads of executive departments and agencies have been instructed to select new members for the Executive Resources and Performance Review Boards. The directive emphasizes the need for these members to be committed to applying the new SES appraisal system requirements and ensuring a high-calibre SES. Previous guidance to consider diversity and inclusion in these selections has been replaced by a focus on alignment with the President’s memorandum on restoring accountability for career senior executives.
The memo requires the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget to set SES performance plans for agencies throughout government. It also mandates the ERBs to be comprised of a majority of non-career individuals.
While some, like Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, saw some positive elements in the memo, despite redundancies, others criticised Trump's approach. Joel Clement, a former SESer, described it as "ham-fisted and inappropriate."
In his first term, Trump's Interior Department sought to reassign much of its SES workforce, which led to widespread confusion. A subsequent inspector general report criticised the department for its approach to SES workforce reassignment. Allegations were made that the department was retaliating against employees working on issues not aligned with Trump administration priorities, such as climate change.
SES staff, like all career employees, already receive performance reviews. It is the responsibility of agency leadership, according to Max Stier, to ensure clarity about what SES staff are supposed to do.
The Justice Department has already reassigned more than a dozen senior executives. The Interior Department used only political appointees on its Executive Resource Board, contrary to OPM's guidance for a balanced perspective.
Trump believes the SES officials, who wield significant governmental authority, must serve at the pleasure of the president to faithfully execute laws. He referred to the directive as a means to "get rid of all the cancer" left by the Biden administration.
Max Stier emphasized the importance of agency leadership ensuring the best talent is selected for senior most career ranks, and that they are held accountable. He hoped some good would come of the renewed points of emphasis in the memo. The directive does not create new firing authorities, but instead reinforces existing provisions of law and agency performance plans for SESers.
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