United States President, Donald Trump is pushing to abolish the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees the country’s nearly 2.8 million civilian Public Servants.
For more than 125 years, OPM and its predecessor Agency, the Civil Service Commission, have been the Federal Government’s chief human resources Agency and personnel policy arm.
Among its many responsibilities, OPM manages the Government’s merit-based personnel system, provides corrective oversight to Federal Agencies that break the law, manages Federal pay policy, and administers health care and retirement benefits for current and retired Federal workers and their dependents.
It is an independent Agency created by Congress in 1978, as the successor to the Civil Service Commission, with the aim of protecting Public Servants from undue political influence on their work.
This is not to the taste of the Trump Administration which wants to dismantle OPM and assume direct control of its personnel policy functions.
Critics point to what the President thinks of Government workers that step out of line.
They cite the example of Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Rick Bright (pictured) who raised early concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
Dr Bright was given an involuntary transfer to a minor post at the National Institutes of Health where he was no longer as involved with COVID-19.
Sources within the bureaucracy say countless career Public Servants, few as well-known as Dr Bright, face similar hostility and career-damaging actions by the Administration every day for just for doing their jobs.
Already the pressure is mounting.
Director of the OPM, Dale Cabaniss abruptly resigned in March after just six months on the job due to what was reported as poor treatment from White House political leaders.
The person who previously held the job, Jeff Pon, lasted seven months until he was forced out in October 2018 for opposing the Administration’s plans to dismantle OPM.
Late last year, Congress approved language blocking the Administration from moving forward with its plans and ordering an independent study of OPM and how to address any challenges facing the Agency.
Even so, there are clear signs the Administration is pressing ahead with its determination to abolish the Agency.
Washington, 15 July 2020
