Warning: Trump Wants to Replace Federal Workers with Those Who Pledge Allegiance to Him
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By Robert Kirkner
If he secures a second term as President, Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans plan to replace tens of thousands of government employees with political operatives.
At the end of his term as president, Mr. Trump released an executive order that stripped protections from civil servants perceived as disloyal to the president. It created a new job category for federal employees in policy-related positions, dubbed Schedule F, that would exempt them from civil service protections and make them easier to remove. It also encouraged expressions of allegiance to the president when hiring.
The Executive Order was largely ineffective because President Biden rescinded it before it could be fully implemented. Now, Mr. Trump wants to bring it back.
Positions in the Excepted Service are exempt from the competitive hiring process used to fill other federal jobs. Candidates must still be hired based on individual qualifications and merit but are not required to compete for their positions. Employees hired on or converted to Schedule F positions also would have fewer job protections and would become, essentially, at-will employees, leaving them more exposed to partisan political interference.
Under Mr. Trump’s proposed Executive Order, employees in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating positions would be targeted for involuntary conversion to Schedule F. The order would involuntarily convert tens of thousands of federal workers from the Competitive Civil Service to the Excepted Service.
It is important to note that all federal employees, upon being appointed, swear an oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution. They do not pledge their allegiance to any individual, office, or political party.
The creation of Schedule F is part of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 manifesto, a playbook for how to carry out an authoritarian second Trump term. Mass employee conversions aim to ensure individual accountability by making it easier to fire employees who do not meet their performance requirements. In fact, the proposal would be a significant step in eviscerating the professional federal workforce.
Over time, this Executive Order would diminish the professionalism and expertise of the civil service. It would become a collection of partisan loyalists, prompting a return to a patronage system of cronyism in which employees were hired and retained based on partisan political loyalty, not on merit or competence.
The current system for dealing with underperforming or malfeasant employees is cumbersome and needs to be streamlined. However, stripping employees of due process protections and using political loyalty to determine who stays and who goes misses what is needed to fix the current system.
Concerned about the negative impact of Schedule F, several national security leaders from the George W. Bush Administration recently sent a letter to leaders in Congress urging them to withdraw their support for Schedule F. The letter stated that leaving federal employees open to partisan political retaliation poses “too great a risk to our national and homeland security.” The letter also outlined steps that might be taken to improve employee accountability without sacrificing due process.
Creating a Schedule F would have disastrous effects on our national security and the professionalism of the federal government. Non-career political appointees and senior executives carry out the President’s agenda. At the same time, career federal employees work for all Americans without regard to political party or partisan affiliation.
The proposed Schedule F would begin a return to the rampant cronyism and corruption of the spoils system. Since 1883 and the birth of the Civil Service, government workers have been professionals. Turning the clock back is terrible for federal workers and the American public. Gutting the Civil Service poses substantial risks to our national security. Do we really want to hire federal agents, scientists, or even food inspectors loyal to Donald Trump? If you think this is a bad idea, vote for a more deserving leader who understands that well-trained intelligence, defense, and other national security professionals keep American families safe, ensure that we travel safely, and help ensure our tap water is free from carcinogens.
Robert Kirkner is a retired member of the United States Senior Executive Service and former Chief Human Capital Officer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
