crs_reports: R48932

Congressional Research Service reports with summaries, authors, and topic classifications.

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R48932 The Senior Executive Service: Overview and Recent Developments 2026-05-01T04:00:00Z 2026-05-02T05:54:00Z Active Reports Maeve P. Carey   The Senior Executive Service (SES) was established in the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) of 1978 as a centralized personnel system of government managers. The vast majority of members of the SES are career appointees who generally comprise the highest levels of leadership within federal agencies, often reporting directly to the Senate-confirmed agency leadership. As a result of the SES’s position within the federal government, senior executives often play a large role in the implementation of federal programs and management of the civil service. According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), as of April 2026, the SES had 6,647 members. Congress created the SES to encourage productivity and efficiency in government administration and to establish sturdy and continuous leadership that would remain in place across presidential Administrations. Several aspects of the SES’s statutorily established organization, structure, and operations were meant to contribute to these outcomes. For example, the SES is primarily (around 85%-90%) career appointees who have protections against politically motivated removal. Certain aspects of the SES performance management system were established in law; for example, senior executives receive performance appraisals based on their own performance as well as their organization’s performance. The SES has a performance-based pay system that includes basic pay and potential eligibility for performance awards. The SES hiring process prioritizes applicants’ executive qualifications and includes a shared responsibility between agencies and OPM to ensure that the individuals selected for appointment are adequately qualified for membership in the SES and the position for which they may be hired. The Trump Administration has made several changes that have advanced a stronger view of presidential control over the SES. On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued a presidential memorandum entitled “Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives.” The memorandum instructed OPM and agency heads to take several actions to increase control and accountability over the SES. The memorandum required OPM to issue a new SES performance plan for senior executives that agencies were required to adopt, instructed agencies to reassign senior executives to ensure more optimal implementation of the President’s policy agenda, called for a larger role for noncareer senior executives in the hiring process and overall executive management within agencies, instructed agencies to ensure individuals involved in performance reviews are fully committed to the President’s vision for the SES, and required agencies to immediately “take all appropriate actions, up to and including removal” of senior executives whose “performance or continued occupancy of the position is inconsistent with either the principles reaffirmed in this Order or their duties to the Nation under section 3131 of Title 5, United States Code.” OPM has taken several actions to implement the policies included in the President’s memorandum. For example, OPM directed agencies to redesignate certain types of positions so that they may be filled through noncareer (political) appointment instead of remaining reserved for career appointment; these positions include chief information officers and chief human capital officers. OPM created a new, standardized performance appraisal system that all agencies were required to adopt for senior executives beginning in October 2025. OPM also changed its regulations on performance appraisals to limit the number of senior executives who can receive high-level performance ratings and to remove language relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion from performance appraisals. Congress could consider enacting legislation in response to the changes made during the Trump Administration, including by amending Title 5 of the U.S. Code. https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R48932/R48932.1.pdf https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/HTML/R48932.html

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