I’ve heard plenty of talk about the possibility of an executive hiring freeze following the upcoming inauguration. I’m currently in adjudication for a 3-letter IC agency.
From my understanding, it seems like CIA and ODNI jobs were exempted from the freeze last time. Would that have included all agencies that report to ODNI as well? I’m just curious to hear what the thoughts and experiences of those who are more knowledgeable about these things. I haven’t been stressed about the possibility of a hiring freeze at all, but with inauguration coming up so soon, I am getting a bit more worried about the possibility of ever starting this position.
I read that back in 2017 if you had an EOD before March I think it was, you were good to go. I want to believe positions within the IC are safe and exempt from freezes, but I think you need an FJO to be truly safe. I have an EOD inside the IC and my program officer has reassured me several times that I’m good to go.
Sometimes there are broad agency-wide freezes but more often there are more limited “freezes” as they prioritize certain positions over others. And I think they are reluctant to ever announce a “freeze” for fear of scaring off applicants.
And an FJO is good but still no guarantee. When you are sitting at your desk (or in your new employee orientation class) then you are safe.
It’s been announced I have a fjo with eod for an IC agency and they are apart of the executive branch, so they do have a hiring freeze the only ones safe are people with fjos and eod.
Agencies affected:
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense (DoD) exception is military
Department of Education
Department of Energy (DOE)
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Department of the Interior (DOI)
Department of Justice (DOJ)
Department of Labor (DOL)
Department of State
Department of Transportation (DOT)
Department of the Treasury
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Independent Agencies
These agencies are part of the executive branch but are not under the direct control of a cabinet department:
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Federal Reserve System (The Fed)
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
General Services Administration (GSA)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Small Business Administration (SBA)
Social Security Administration (SSA)
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Executive Office of the President (EOP)
These offices directly assist the President:
Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)
National Security Council (NSC)
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)
White House Office
Other Key Organizations
United States Postal Service (USPS) (an independent establishment of the executive branch)
Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)
The following exemptions to the Federal civilian hiring freeze are required:
b. Positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety.
In addition, the following exemptions to the Federal civilian hiring freeze are permitted:
e. Appointments made prior to January 20, 2025, under the Pathways Internship and
Presidential Management Fellows programs (this does not include the Recent Graduates
program): Agencies shall review such appointments on a case by case basis. Agencies
should ensure that such hires understand the provisional nature of these appointments and that retention is not guaranteed.
i. Job offers made prior to noon on January 20, 2025, for which the individual has accepted the position and has a designated start date on or before February 8, 2025. Those individuals should report to work according to their respective designated start date.
j. Job offers made and accepted prior to January 20, 2025, but for which the individual has a confirmed start date that is later than February 8, 2025 (or does not have a confirmed start date), are revoked. If an agency head would like to renew an offer, the agency head should consider essential mission priorities, current agency resources, and funding levels when making determinations about whether to reinstate job offers. If the agency head decides to reinstate the offer, the agency head must seek written approval from OPM before proceeding to hire the employee.
Respectfully, what do you mean by this? Not looking to pick a fight (and I generally think politics should be avoided on this forum), but Trump openly campaigned on shrinking government and was elected with majorities in the electoral and popular votes. It would seem that democracy worked, even if it didn’t produce the result you wanted.
I am curious what anyone’s point of contact in the IC, particularly NSA, is saying (whenever anyone hears back).
I am assuming I’ll be fine since my CJO wasn’t rescinded by the deadline today and it’s a national security position of course, but a little reassurance wouldn’t hurt.
Democracy degradation is my worry. Historically, Trumps ideology and methodology mimics that of many autocratic leaders from the past who used democracy to empower and embolden themselves at the demise of democracy. History professor’s know the playbook and I would love to survey 100 of them for their opinions.
No big surprises in this article. But, there is a paragraph in there about OPM providing the names of all US government hires within the last year. Thoughts?
I’m in a kind of similar position. One way (although probably not 100 percent reliable) to check if your agency falls under the hiring freeze is to look at USA jobs and see if they have any active postings there. If yes, then they are likely not affected because the OPM Memorandum (which you can also look up) says “All positions that are not exempt from the hiring freeze must be unlisted from USAJOBS.gov and any other applicable websites no later than January 21.”
I tested it with some non-national security departments and got no listings. The one I’m in the process with is still advertising though. So there’s some hope, I guess.
The Memo also states: The following exemptions to the Federal civilian hiring freeze are required:
a. Military etc.
b. Positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety.
c. Senior executives etc. etc.
It’s not much, I know, but let’s not lose hope! Good luck!