# U.S. Senior Executive Service A collection of notes on the U.S. Senior Executive Service (SES), the federal government’s nonpartisan, performance-driven senior leadership corps established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. --- ## Entries **20/04/2025**: Took the time to read the [memorandum](https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/opm-memo-ses-performance-2025-2.pdf) issued on February 25, 2025 by Charles Ezell, Acting Director of [[U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)]], that establishes a new, mandatory SES Performance Appraisal System and Performance Plan effective FY 2026 (October 1, 2025). It directs agencies to reconstitute their Executive Resources Boards with senior political appointees as chairs and majority members, removes the prohibition on forced distributions by allowing a cap of 30 % on Level 4 and 5 ratings, introduces “Faithful Administration of the Law and the President’s Policies” as a critical performance element, imposes stricter consequences (including possible removal) for low ratings, and requires the immediate elimination of all DEI language from SES performance plans. Ron Sanders [sharply criticised](https://media.licdn.com/dms/document/media/v2/D4E1FAQEHsZOnvKMrFg/feedshare-document-pdf-analyzed/B4EZWRbgsTHcAc-/0/1741901666082?e=1746057600&v=beta&t=gncC5QKPpC8uRV43fim3Hk8UTzRyCAzXzH-QrqMnLDM) the memo's proposals for reliance on mandatory quotas, recalling that the US Army abandoned a similar system in its Officer Effectiveness Reports in the 1980s and 90s after discovering that arbitrary caps demoralised top performers, and warning that a 30% limit risks creating an artificial "wait-your-turn" cycle unrelated to real organisational outcomes. He argues this approach fails to link individual evaluations to overall agency performance and instead urges a return to the model developed under Kay Coles James at OPM, which ties SES ratings to [[GPRA]] metrics and relies on case‑by‑case judgments by the President’s Management Council to reward or penalize leadership teams based on genuine, team‑based results.