# Executive Personnel Systems in the U.S. Executive Personnel Systems refer to frameworks created to manage top-level professionals in government roles, especially in the U.S. public sector. These systems aim to bring more flexibility, accountability, and performance orientation to how senior government executives are selected, evaluated, and retained. --- ## Entries ### Experiences at the federal level prior to [[U.S. Senior Executive Service|SES]] (1978) **Historical overview** Between the 1930s and 1978, the U.S. federal government faced the growing challenge of managing an increasingly complex public administration. Across several administrations, experiments and reforms emerged aiming to create a group of high-level managers—a layer that didn’t fit neatly into the traditional dichotomy between career civil servants and political appointees. The result, decades later, was the creation of the Senior Executive Service (SES) in 1978. But the story leading up to it is full of institutional attempts, conceptual adjustments, and political disputes that sought to balance technical competence with political responsiveness. **Key milestones and institutional initiatives** - **1940s: war and state expansion** - The New Deal and World War II demanded intense personnel coordination and a higher caliber of administrative leadership. - _Supergrades_ (GS-16, GS-17, GS-18) were formally introduced in the **Classification Act of 1949**. These were high-trust, high-expertise career positions with better pay, designed to attract and retain top talent, though they were often criticized for becoming siloed within specific agencies. - The first **Hoover Commission (1949)**, tasked with reorganizing the executive branch, proposed a _Senior Civil Service_. This corps would have "rank-in-person" (personal status and rank, like military officers), making them mobile and deployable across agencies based on need, and would create a clear distinction between top career administrators and non-career political executives. - **1950s: Eisenhower and the loyalty dilemma** - The **Second Hoover Commission (1955)** forcefully reiterated the call for a Senior Civil Service, a recommendation President Eisenhower considered "one of the most far-reaching and imaginative proposals" for government effectiveness. - _Schedule C_ was created by Executive Order in 1953 for roles of a "confidential or policy-determining character," allowing the administration to make political appointments in key positions below the cabinet level to ensure responsiveness. - Eisenhower attempted to institutionalize a _Career Executive Program_ through **EO 10758 (1958)**. It established a Career Executive Board to select and develop a pool of top managers for grades GS-16 and above, a direct step toward the Hoover Commission's vision. However, it was short-lived, revoked in 1960 after Congress denied it funding, reflecting political resistance to a centrally managed executive corps. - **1960s: Reforms under Kennedy and Johnson** - The Kennedy and Johnson administrations marked a turning point, seeking to enhance leadership capacity by building and formalizing a modern appointments process directly within the White House. This effort went far beyond previous operations, with a goal of making the executive branch more responsive to presidential policy goals. - **Kennedy's initiatives** included the **Career Executive Roster (1961)**, a centralized list to identify high-potential executives. In parallel, he established a **Senior Staffing Unit** in the White House to recruit candidates with technical and managerial expertise from universities, foundations, and other institutions. However, this unit lacked influence, as key players were not interested in clearing appointments through it. - **Johnson's expansion** of this model was more aggressive, largely orchestrated by **John Macy**. Macy held the unique dual roles of Civil Service Commission Chairman and White House Personnel Advisor, and he also directed the White House Personnel Appointment Office. This centralization of power gave the administration unprecedented control over executive staffing. - The culmination of this effort was Johnson's **Executive Assignment System (1966)**, created via **EO 11315**. It was the most structured attempt to date and formalized three distinct categories for supergrade positions: - **Career Executive Assignment (CEA):** For career service positions filled through a competitive process. - **Limited Executive Assignment (LEA):** For temporary appointments, often for individuals with specialized skills needed for a limited duration. - **Noncareer Executive Assignment (NEA):** For political appointments at the executive level, replacing Schedule C for grades 16-18. These roles involved advocacy for administration programs or confidential support. - **1970s: The tension of political responsiveness** - Nixon proposed a _Federal Executive Service_ (FES) in 1971. This plan would have covered all supergrade employees and allowed for a significant percentage of appointments to be noncareer, giving the administration more flexibility. The proposal was not approved by Congress, which feared an erosion of the merit system. - The Watergate scandal intensified criticism of the "politicization" of the civil service and the blurring of lines between career and political roles, exposing abuses and reinforcing the need for clearer definitions. - Under President Carter, these decades of debate and experimentation were consolidated in the **Personnel Management Project (1977)**. This comprehensive review, led by Alan "Scotty" Campbell, directly shaped the proposals that became the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, which finally established the SES. **Emerging concepts** - There was growing recognition that modern governance requires a third layer of official: - Neither a traditional, rule-bound bureaucrat nor a transient political appointee. - A group of _senior managers_ — technically capable, politically savvy, and able to lead large programs and implement policy with flexibility and integrity. - Terms used over time reflect this evolving idea: - _career executives_, _supergrades_, _senior staffing_, _executive manpower_, _hybrid officials_, _institutional intermediaries_, _managerial class_, _executive corps_. - Nixon used the term _Federal Executive Service_; Carter ultimately chose _Senior Executive Service_. **Structures and tools tested** - **Supergrades:** A higher salary scale (GS-16 to GS-18) to attract and retain experts. - **Schedule C:** Politically appointed positions exempt from the competitive service for policy-relevant roles. - **Career Executive Program (1958):** An early, but failed, attempt to create a centrally managed executive corps with a dedicated selection board. - **Executive Assignment System (1966):** - **CEA:** Competitive reassignment of career executives. - **LEA:** Temporary, non-renewable executive appointments. - **NEA:** Regulated and registered political appointments at the executive level. - **Federal Executive Institute (1968):** Established in Charlottesville, VA, the FEI was created to provide specific, high-level training and development for federal executives. Its founding director was **Frank P. Sherwood**, a distinguished scholar and professor in public administration who wrote extensively on government leadership and executive personnel systems in US states. - Under his guidance, the FEI became a premier institution for executive development. The FEI implemented innovative programs, such as the **[Executives in Residence (EIR)](https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ml0037/ML003701949.pdf)** program, in which senior career executives serve as visiting faculty. This program allows rising leaders to learn directly from experienced practitioners while giving the EIRs the opportunity to conduct research, expand their networks, and share new perspectives with their home agencies. **Key sources and moments** - **Brownlow Committee (1937):** Its famous declaration, “the president needs help,” set the stage for strengthening the executive branch's managerial capacity. - **Hoover Commissions (1949, 1955):** Championed the concept of a professional, mobile, and nonpartisan _Senior Civil Service_. - **Civil Service Commission (1960s–70s):** Conducted numerous studies on _Executive Manpower_ and the challenges of mobility and development. - **Post-Watergate (1974):** The climate after the scandal created strong momentum for reforms that would protect the integrity of the civil service and establish clearer lines between political and career roles. - **Nixon’s message to Congress (1971):** Explicitly proposed a national executive corps, putting the full weight of the presidency behind the concept, even though it failed. **Lessons learned and institutional legacy** - The creation of the SES in 1978 was not a sudden invention but the culmination of nearly 40 years of trial, error, and institutional learning. - The SES consolidated over 60 distinct systems for managing federal executives into a single, unified framework. - It institutionalized key concepts debated for decades: - Inter-agency mobility as a goal. - Rank-in-person, not rank-in-position. - A formal emphasis on leadership development. - A statutory 10% cap on noncareer (political) appointments government-wide. - It sought to finally strike a durable balance between: - **Technical competence** and leadership (merit). - **Alignment with policy direction** from the elected administration (responsiveness).