Civil Service on the Radar

For decades, Paul Volcker and other good government reformers called for overhauling federal civil service. Good candidates are repelled by rigid hiring protocols, by red tape management, and by the inability to get rid of poor performers. But almost no one paid attention.

Now President Trump, on the eve of the election, has inexplicably thrown a bomb into this reform backwater. Instead of fixing the problems with civil service, he proposes to do away with civil service for potentially thousands of federal officials who are in policy positions, such as, for example, Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx. High level officials could be hired and fired at will, similar to political appointees.

Long time civil service reformers were appalled at the potential politicization of scientific officials. The President's order is unlikely to get far, for a number of reasons. But perhaps there's a silver lining here.

Civil service reform should indeed be a priority. The guiding principles, as in the original Pendleton Act of 1883, should be to avoid political hacks with a neutral hiring system, and to hold officials accountable based on their performance — that's why it was called the "merit system." But many aspects of the current system must be scrapped. As Philip Howard has argued, Congress's imposition of collective bargaining is clearly unconstitutional.

The solution is not to return to the spoils system but to create a new framework that attracts good people and inspires an energetic, honorable public culture. Here is our platform for rebuilding federal civil service. We will be hosting public forums on civil service reform in December.

Let us know if you would like to help in our campaign to rebuild the broken operating systems of government. We need missionaries and funding.