Presidential Personnel Office: Difference between revisions

The White House Personnel Office (WHPO) was created by [[Fred Malek|Frederick V. Malek]] in 1971 to standardize the White House's hiring process.<ref name="Nelson2015"/><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |title=Nixon's Talent Hunter Also Wields Executive Hatchet |first=James M. |last=Naughton |date=July 12, 1971 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/12/archives/nixons-talent-hunter-also-wields-executive-hatchet.html |access-date=July 30, 2018 |archive-date=July 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730080821/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/12/archives/nixons-talent-hunter-also-wields-executive-hatchet.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1974, President [[Gerald Ford]] renamed the WHPO to the Presidential Personnel Office (PPO) and restructured it to focus more on presidential appointments, relying more on department heads to secure non-presidential appointments in their departments.<ref name="Nelson2015">{{cite book|author=Michael Nelson|title=Guide to the Presidency|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fK_lCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA492|date=1 May 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-91462-2|page=492|access-date=30 July 2018|archive-date=27 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027180332/https://books.google.com/books?id=fK_lCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA492|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/guides/findingaid/ppo.asp |title=PRESIDENTIAL PERSONNEL OFFICE FILES, (1953–73) 1974–77 |access-date=July 30, 2018 |publisher=[[Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library]] |archive-date=February 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216093323/https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/guides/findingaid/ppo.asp |url-status=live }}</ref>

On January 4, 2017, President [[Donald Trump]] named [[Johnny DeStefano]] Director of PPO in the incoming Trump administration.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/01/trump-white-house-hires-233189|title=Trump announces 11 more White House hires|last=Nussbaum|first=Matthew|website=[[Politico]]|language=en|access-date=2019-10-11|archive-date=2019-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011205636/https://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/01/trump-white-house-hires-233189|url-status=live}}</ref> On January 30, 2017, DeStefano wrote a letter to Acting Attorney General [[Sally Yates]] informing her of [[Dismissals of Sally Yates and Daniel Ragsdale|her dismissal]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/us/politics/trump-immigration-ban-memo.html|title=Trump Fires Acting Attorney General Who Defied Him|first1=Michael D.|last1=Shear|first2=Mark|last2=Landler|first3=Matt|last3=Apuzzo|first4=Eric|last4=Lichtblau|date=30 January 2017|website=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=27 November 2020|archive-date=3 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803104913/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/us/politics/trump-immigration-ban-memo.html|url-status=live}}</ref> DeStefano left the position on May 24, 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/long-serving-trump-aide-destefano-to-depart-white-house/2019/05/21/a3faa8f8-7b4a-11e9-a66c-d36e482aa873_story.html|title=Long-serving Trump aide DeStefano to depart White House|last1=Dawsey|first1=Josh|date=May 21, 2019|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=June 15, 2019|last2=Sonmez|first2=Felicia|archive-date=June 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190613014453/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/long-serving-trump-aide-destefano-to-depart-white-house/2019/05/21/a3faa8f8-7b4a-11e9-a66c-d36e482aa873_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In January 2020, Trump appointed [[John McEntee (political aide)|John McEntee]] Director of PPO,<ref name=Tenpas>{{Cite web|last=Tenpas|first=Kathryn Dunn|date=2020-10-07|title=Tracking turnover in the Trump administration|url=https://www.brookings.edu/research/tracking-turnover-in-the-trump-administration/|access-date=2020-10-09|website=[[Brookings Institution]]|archive-date=2018-06-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615011944/https://www.brookings.edu/research/tracking-turnover-in-the-trump-administration/|url-status=live}}</ref> reporting directly to Trump, who tasked him with identifying and removing [[Political appointments in the United States|political appointees]] and career officials deemed insufficiently loyal to the Trump administration.<ref name=Haberman-Dec2019>{{cite news|last=Haberman|first=Maggie|author-link=Maggie Haberman|date=2019-12-14|title=Ex-Trump Aide Is Expected to Return to White House|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/14/us/politics/john-mcentee-white-house.html|access-date=2020-10-08|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2020-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009154822/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/14/us/politics/john-mcentee-white-house.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=NYT2020>{{cite news|work=[[The New York Times]]|last1=Shear|first1=Michael D.|last2=Haberman|first2=Maggie|authorlink2=Maggie Haberman|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/us/politics/trump-roger-stone.html|title=Trump Places Loyalists in Key Jobs Inside the White House While Raging Against Enemies Outside|date=February 13, 2020|access-date=February 13, 2020|archive-date=February 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213152119/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/us/politics/trump-roger-stone.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=WaPo2020>{{cite news|title=Trump embarks on expansive search for disloyalty as administration-wide purge escalates|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/were-cleaning-it-out-trump-embarks-on-expansive-search-for-disloyalty-as-administration-wide-purge-escalates/2020/02/21/870e6c56-54c1-11ea-b119-4faabac6674f_story.html|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=2020-02-22|access-date=2020-10-09|first1=Toluse|last1=Olorunnipa|authorlink1=Toluse Olorunnipa|first2=Ashley|last2=Parker|authorlink2=Ashley Parker|authorlink3=Josh Dawsey|first3=Josh|last3=Dawsey|archive-date=2020-02-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223064348/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/were-cleaning-it-out-trump-embarks-on-expansive-search-for-disloyalty-as-administration-wide-purge-escalates/2020/02/21/870e6c56-54c1-11ea-b119-4faabac6674f_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=CNN2020>{{cite news|date=2020-02-21|access-date=2020-10-09|title=President's new personnel head tells agencies to look out for disloyal staffers|first1=Jeremy|last1=Diamond|authorlink1=Jeremy Diamond|first2=Jim|last2=Acosta|authorlink2=Jim Acosta|first3=Kaitlan|last3=Collins|authorlink3=Kaitlan Collins|first4=Kristen|last4=Holmes|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/21/politics/john-mcentee-disloyal-white-house-staffers/index.html|work=[[CNN]]|archive-date=2020-02-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223064924/https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/21/politics/john-mcentee-disloyal-white-house-staffers/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-white-house-purge/2020/11/13/2af12c94-25ca-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html |title=In Trump’s final days, a 30-year-old aide purges officials seen as insufficiently loyal - The Washington Post<!-- Bot generated title --> |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=2020-11-25 |archive-date=2020-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128090111/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-white-house-purge/2020/11/13/2af12c94-25ca-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On October 21, 2020, two weeks before the 2020 elections, President Trump signed an executive order creating a new [[Schedule F appointment|Schedule F category]] within the [[excepted service]] for employees “in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making and policy-advocating positions”. He also instructed agencies to identify and transfer [[competitive service]] employees that meet that description into the new job classification, an initiative that could strip hundreds of thousands of federal workers of their civil service protections and effectively make them at-will employees. Reviews by agencies are due at the PPO by January 19, 2021, a day before the end of the Trump presidency.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/10/stunning-executive-order-would-politicize-civil-service/169479/|title='Stunning' Executive Order Would Politicize Civil Service|website=Government Executive|access-date=2020-11-27|archive-date=2020-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125020552/https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/10/stunning-executive-order-would-politicize-civil-service/169479/|url-status=live}}</ref>