President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order that strips long-standing job protections from approximately 8,000 senior federal employees, a move the administration says will increase accountability but critics argue could fundamentally reshape the nonpartisan civil service.
The order, signed this week, formally creates a new employment category known as "Schedule Policy/Career," reclassifying senior government workers who are deemed to have significant influence over federal policy. Employees moved into the category can be removed much more easily than traditional career civil servants and will no longer have many of the appeal rights that previously protected them from dismissal.
