In addition to the thousands of political appointees Donald Trump will place in the government, there are 300 Senior Executive Service jobs that the Biden administration was in the process of filling, which Trump will now be able to fill, a Daily Wire review of government job ads found.
The SES, as it is known, is what many mean when they think of the “deep state.” They are career civil servants who are paid over $200,000 a year, and are often involved in high-level policy, yet are considered permanent government employees whose term does not end with a president. They are difficult to fire, typically Democrats, and have their own lobbying organization.
But the SES could be a valuable resource for Trump, giving him hundreds of extra high-level jobs to fill, beyond the approximately 3,000 political appointees who comprise a small fraction of the federal workforce. The SES level is a crucial layer that could either cause Trump’s policies to filter from executive suites to the rank-and-file, or isolate political appointees and obstruct their efforts.
If Trump exerts his influence on the hiring of these employees, it could have a lasting effect on the government that outlives his presidency. On his first day in office, he signaled his intent to do just that, signing an executive order called “Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member