The Trump administration is taking another step toward placing more political appointees into senior positions across the federal government.
This time, the Office of Personnel Management’s targets are senior human relations positions filled by career officials, along with their supposed role in helping implement the Biden administration’s “diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility” policies that are opposed by President Donald Trump.
In a memo dated Thursday, OPM’s acting director, Charles Ezell, instructed all department heads and acting heads to submit to the agency by March 24 a formal request that any chief human capital officer (CHCO) whose position is designated as “career reserved” be reclassified to allow “the position to be filled by either a career or non-career official.”
Ezell wrote in the overview section of the memo that the move is needed “to ensure accurate and consistent classification” of these senior executive service, or SES, positions.
