Agencies tasked with opening many career SES roles to political appointments

Trump Administration Pushes for Conversion of Federal Positions into Political Roles

Last updated Feb 25, 2025

TL/DR –

The Trump administration has published a memo indicating that many career federal positions in the Senior Executive Service (SES) may soon become political appointments. The Office of Personnel Management has given agencies until March 24 to revise their rosters of “career reserved” SES positions and align them with the administration’s goal of transforming traditionally career federal positions into political roles. As of August 2024, there are 7,887 career SES members, all of whom could potentially be impacted by the new guidance.

Several Senior Executive Service (SES) career federal positions may soon transform into political appointments, per a Trump administration memo published Monday. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has asked agencies to revise their “career reserved” SES roles to align with this goal by March 24.

Under OPM’s guidance, agencies will convert “career reserved” roles, typically filled by career federal employees, into “general” SES roles fillable by either a career or political SES member.

OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell expressed that agencies should have “maximum flexibility” to opt for non-career SES roles as necessary. Many current career reserved positions, in his view, are not the technical positions suited for career reserved status.

The guidance could impact thousands of career SES members. As of August 2024, there are 7,887 career SES members. Over the last decade, this workforce has grown by over 800 roles.

Ezell stated that the number of career reserved roles in SES has “grown rapidly” over the past four years without good reason. Ezell pointed out that the number of career SES workforce far exceeds the minimum of 3,571 “career reserved” positions required by law.

The Trump administration’s larger efforts to convert career federal positions into political roles include previous guidance to agencies to convert their Chief Information Officer (CIO) positions into “general” roles.

The administration has expressed that too many federal positions are career roles, which limits their ability to shape federal workforce activities and policy implementation.

OPM’s latest guidance calls for agencies to convert SES roles to “general” for positions like assistant secretary, principal deputy assistant secretary, as well as prior “general” SES positions before President Biden’s inauguration. It also expects the conversion of attorneys general, general counsels, and program office directors to “general” roles.

Ezell pointed to SES positions with “policy” in their title as roles that should not be “career reserved”. However, Don Kettl, former dean of the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, argued that many targeted positions like chief technology officers need years of expertise for effective performance.

—
Read More US Political News