The Trump administration is pushing for a change in the classification of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across US federal agencies. The acting director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) argues that CIOs are no longer purely technical roles and should be reclassified as political appointees to better align with the administration's digital policy goals. This move has raised concerns about the politicization of government technology and the potential for career tech experts to be sidelined if they don't align with the administration's agenda.
Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across the US federal government are facing heightened job insecurity as the Trump administration advocates for agencies to reclassify these roles. This could potentially transform them into political appointees . In a memo issued yesterday, acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Charles Ezell, stated that CIOs are no longer perceived as purely 'impartial and apolitical technocrats.
' Instead, their responsibilities now encompass policy-making on politically charged issues. Ezell wrote, 'It is a focus of President Trump's administration to improve the government's digital policy to make government more responsive, transparent, efficient, and accessible to the public.' 'The administration rightly expects that agency CIOs will be on the front lines of articulating and implementing such policies, both within government and before the general public.' This memo resonates with numerous aspects of an executive order issued by President Trump on his first day in office, which aimed to 'restore accountability' by ensuring the federal workforce aligns with the President's directives. Resistance to these directives could potentially lead to dismissal. 'In recent years … there have been numerous and well-documented cases of career Federal employees resisting and undermining the policies and directives of their executive leadership,' the executive order asserted. 'Principles of good administration, therefore, necessitate action to restore accountability to the career civil service, beginning with positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character.' According to Ezell's memo, federal agency CIOs are involved in 'policy-making and policy-determining capabilities across a range of controversial political topics.' This suggests that career tech experts might find themselves sidelined if they fail to align with the administration's agenda. Ezell further elaborated, 'The CIO does not spend his days writing complex lines of code, setting up secure networks, or performing other 'highly technical' tasks,' Ezell continued.'Instead, he crafts and effectuates policy, and sets and deploys his budget, based on his administration's priorities.'Consequently, Ezell recommends that agencies with CIOs classified as senior executive service (SES) and designated as 'career reserved' submit a request to OPM to have these positions redesignated as 'general.' The OPM memo argues that the pool of career SES candidates is too limited and suggests that redesignating CIO positions as 'general' will expand the talent pool beyond seasoned federal employees. This move might explain President Trump's selection for federal CIO - Greg Barbaccia - who hails from the private sector. The timing of the memo also coincides with the turmoil in Washington DC caused by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which has been making headlines with its unconventional approaches and proposals.
Trump Administration Cios Federal Government Political Appointees US Government Digital Policy Technocrats Accountability
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