This Executive Order aims to increase accountability in the federal workforce by reinstating and amending Executive Order 13957 from 2020, which created a new category of federal positions outside standard civil service protections. According to the order, current accountability mechanisms are inadequate, with the order citing that only 41 percent of civil service supervisors feel confident they can remove employees for insubordination or misconduct, and just 26 percent believe they can remove poor performers. The order frames this as particularly problematic for employees in "policy-influencing positions" who shape actions affecting Americans, claiming there have been "numerous and well-documented cases" of career employees undermining executive leadership policies.
The order reinstates the previous administration's Schedule F designation (renaming it to "Schedule Policy/Career") for positions of a "confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character." It explicitly removes these positions from competitive service protections and adverse action procedures. The order makes several amendments to the original 2020 policy, including clarifying that employees in these designated positions are not required to personally or politically support the President, but must "faithfully implement administration policies" or face dismissal. Additionally, it instructs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director to rescind a 2024 rule on "Upholding Civil Service Protections" that would impede implementation of the reinstated policy. The order also revokes Executive Order 14003 from January 22, 2021, which had protected federal workforce policies.
Implementation responsibilities fall primarily to the OPM Director, who is directed to recommend positions for Schedule Policy/Career designation to the President after agency heads identify eligible positions. Within 30 days, the OPM Director must issue guidance about additional position categories for consideration after consulting with the Executive Office of the President. Agency heads are also instructed to review, suspend, revise or rescind existing agency actions related to discipline and performance policies as established under the now-revoked Executive Order 14003. The order's stated goal is to enhance presidential control over the executive branch by increasing accountability for employees who shape and implement policy, framing this as necessary for effective governance under the constitutional authority vested in the President under Article II.