United States Office Of Personnel Management

The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is an independent agency of the United States government that manages the United States federal civil service. The agency provides federal human resources policy, oversight, and support, and tends to healthcare ( FEHB), life insurance ( FEGLI), and retirement benefits ( CSRS and FERS, but not TSP) for federal government employees, retirees, and their dependents.

OPM is headed by a director, who is nominated by the president. As of January 20, 2025, Charles Ezell is acting director.

History

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 created OPM's predecessor, the United States Civil Service Commission. On January 1, 1979, the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1978 took effect, dissolving the Commission and assigning most of its former functions—except the federal employees appellate function—to new agencies, with most assigned to the newly created U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) (, ).

The United States Office of Government Ethics, responsible for directing executive branch policies relating to the prevention of conflicts of interest on the part of federal executive branch officers and employees, was part of OPM until being spun off as an independent agency in 1989.

In 1996, OPM's investigation branch was privatized, and USIS was formed.Gayathri, Amrutha.
USIS That Vetted Snowden Under Investigation; Booz Allen Hamilton Overlooked Snowden Resume Discrepancies
." ''International Business Times''. June 21, 2013. Retrieved on October 15, 2022. In 2014, after several scandals, OPM declined to renew its contract with USIS and brought background investigations back in house under the short-lived National Background Investigations Bureau. In 2019, responsibility for conducting federal background checks changed hands again when NBIB was dissolved and its functions were given to the Defense Security Service, part of the Department of Defense, which was reorganized into the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency for the purpose.

Obama-era reform efforts

In July 2013, Representative Blake Farenthold introduced the Office of Personnel Management Inspector General Act. The bill would increase oversight of OPM's revolving fund. Farenthold introduced the bill as a response to accusations of fraud and concern about security clearance background investigations."OPM Inspector General Act signed into law”
''Ripon Advance''. 2014-02-17 (Retrieved 2014-02-17) The bill would fund the expenses for investigations, oversight activities, and audits from the revolving fund. ''The Week in Congress''; Volume 10 Number 3. 2014-01-17 (Retrieved 2014-02-17) The bill was in response to a discovery that between 2002 and 2012, OPM's revolving fund had tripled, totaling over $2 billion, or 90% of OPM's budget. In February 2014, President Barack Obama signed the bill into law. The fund's history dates to the early 1980s, where it was used for two main activities: training and background investigations for government personnel.

2015 data breach

In April 2015, hackers working on behalf of the Jiangsu State Security Department, a provincial branch of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, obtained access to 22.1 million SF-86 records of U.S. federal employees, contractors, and their friends and family. In one of the largest breaches of government data in U.S. history, information that was obtained and exfiltrated in the breach included personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers, names, dates and places of birth, and addresses.

New information about this security breach came to light on September 24, 2015. The agency then indicated that additional evidence showed that 5.6 million people's fingerprints were stolen as part of the hacks, more than five times the 1.1 million originally estimated. The total number of people whose records were disclosed in whole or part, including Social Security numbers and addresses, remained at 21.5 million.

First Trump administration proposal to merge into GSA

Between 2018 and 2019, as part of a larger initiative to restructure the executive branch, President Donald Trump submitted a proposal to congress to merge OPM into the General Services Administration (GSA) while returning the federal personnel policy-making components under the direct authority of the Executive Office of the President of the United States to the Office of Management and Budget in the White House. Representative Gerry Connolly, chair of the Subcommittee on Government Operations under the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, fiercely criticized the proposal. During a congressional hearing, Connolly said: "The administration wants to take over the merit policy-making functions and put them into the highly politicized environment of the White House itself, away from direct congressional oversight and inspector general review." Political pressure against the proposal peaked when a provision barring the president from transferring any function, responsibility, authority, service, system, or program until six months after the completion of an "independent report" by the federally chartered National Academy of Public Administration was added to the 1,120 page bill S-1790, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020.

Second Trump administration workforce restructuring and security concerns

To reduce the federal workforce, Trump established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on January 20, 2025, and appointed Elon Musk as its leader. DOGE is leveraging OPM's authority and influence to execute the Trump administration's initiatives for restructuring the federal workforce.

Charles Ezell, OPM's acting director, has been issuing guidance and memos to implement Trump's executive orders, including his January 27 memorandum regarding Schedule F. This aligns closely with DOGE's objectives and workforce restructuring plans.

Other efforts in line with DOGE's goals include revising telework policies, considering the termination of recently hired federal employees, and instructing agencies to bypass certain regulations.

On January 20, 2025, with the revocation of Executive Order 13988, the OPM ceased enforcement of gender identity discrimination complaints for federal employees, which are now handled solely by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Deferred resignation program

In January 2025, the OPM launched a controversial "deferred resignation" program, offering federal employees the option to resign effective September 30, 2025, while continuing to receive pay and benefits until that date. The program was announced in an email headed " Fork in the Road", framed as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce the federal workforce.

The proposal faced immediate backlash from federal employees and unions. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) warned workers not to accept the offer, citing concerns over potential benefit disputes and unclear legal protections. Legal experts also raised concerns about the program's unprecedented nature, questioning its compliance with federal employment laws.

Musk's aides and congressional oversight

According to ''Reuters'', on January 20, Musk's team took control of OPM's headquarters. By January 31, it had revoked the access of several OPM senior career civil servants, blocking them from key government computer systems. This included access to the Enterprise Human Resources Integration, a comprehensive database storing sensitive information such as government employees' dates of birth, Social Security numbers, performance appraisals, and home addresses. Concerns were raised about lack of congressional oversight at OPM.

''Wired'' reported that a group of six engineers aged between 18 and 24 who previously worked for Musk were overseeing significant U.S. government roles, particularly the OPM and DOGE. This development came as Musk's influence expands into federal agencies under the Trump administration's initiatives to reshape the federal workforce. Government watchdogs and unions have raised concerns about inexperienced peopleone of whom recently graduated from high schoolaltering federal policies and operations.

Government watchdogs and lawmakers have demanded transparency, questioning whether Musk's associates had legal authority to oversee federal operations. The involvement of outsiders in federal decision-making raised ethics and security concerns, particularly as the administration pushed significant workforce reductions.

Cybersecurity lawsuit over newly deployed email servers

Simultaneously, OPM faced scrutiny over a newly deployed email system designed to send mass communications to federal employees. A lawsuit filed by two anonymous federal workers alleged that OPM failed to conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) before launching the system, potentially exposing sensitive government communications.

Critics warned that the system lacked basic encryption protections, making it vulnerable to spoofing, phishing, and unauthorized access. Some federal IT departments reportedly advised employees to flag all messages from the new system as potential phishing attempts due to authentication concerns.

The cybersecurity controversy further exacerbated concerns over OPM's security posture, especially given the agency's history with the 2015 OPM data breach, which compromised over 21 million federal employees' personal records. As of early 2025, OPM had not confirmed whether the vulnerabilities had been mitigated, and the lawsuit remained ongoing.

Requirement that employees report accomplishments

On February 22, 2025, the OPM emailed all federal employees, asking them to reply with "what you accomplished last week" by midnight EST on February 24. Shortly before the email was sent, Musk posted about it on X, writing, "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation." A claim that this action was unlawful was added to a pending lawsuit against the OPM for the mass layoffs of probationary workers. Some agencies instructed their employees not to reply to the email. On February 24, the OPM announced that employees were not required to reply to the email.

Function

According to its website, OPM's mission is "recruiting, retaining and honoring a world-class force to serve the American people". OPM is partially responsible for maintaining the appearance of independence and neutrality in the administrative law system. While technically employees of the agencies they work for, administrative law judges (ALJs) are hired exclusively by OPM, effectively removing any discretionary employment procedures from other agencies. OPM uses a rigorous selection process that ranks the top three candidates for each ALJ vacancy and then selects from those candidates, generally giving preference to veterans.

OPM is also responsible for federal employee retirement applications for FERS and CSRS employees. OPM makes decisions on federal employee regular and disability retirement cases. OPM also oversees FEHB and FEGLI, federal employees' health insurance and life insurance programs. But it does not oversee TSP, which is handled by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB), a separate independent agency.

OPM also had an innovation team, the Lab at OPM, that worked on complex challenges using human-centered design with federal partners ranging from CDC, VA, and others. On April 18, 2025, the entire team was eliminated by DOGE and the Trump agenda. The Lab at OPM aimed to understand and listen to people most impacted by government decisions in order to improve government.

At an underground limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania, federal employees' retirements are processed on paper by hand, and the information is stored in file cabinets. On average, it takes 61 days to process a retirement.

Components

* Retirement Services – Oversees the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
* Healthcare & Insurance – Oversees the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) and Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) programs.
* Employee Services Branch

Directors of OPM

Source: OPM's ''Agency Leadership Through Time''

* Alan K. Campbell (January 2, 1979 – January 20, 1981)
**Campbell was the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission at its dissolution
* Donald J. Devine (March 23, 1981 – March 25, 1985)
* Loretta Cornelius (acting; 1985)
* Constance Horner (August 22, 1985 – May 10, 1989)
* Constance Berry Newman (June 8, 1989 – June 30, 1992)
* James B. King (April 7, 1993 – September 1, 1997)
* Janice R. Lachance (November 12, 1997 – January 20, 2001)
* Steven R. Cohen (acting; January 20, 2001 – July 11, 2001)
* Kay Coles James (July 11, 2001 – January 31, 2005)
* Dan Gregory Blair (acting; February 1, 2005 – June 27, 2005)
* Linda M. Springer (June 28, 2005 – August 13, 2008)
*Michael Hager (acting; August 13, 2008 – January 20, 2009)
*Kathie Ann Whipple (acting; January 20, 2009 - April 13, 2009)
* John Berry (April 13, 2009 – April 13, 2013)
* Elaine Kaplan (acting; April 13, 2013 – November 4, 2013)
* Katherine Archuleta (November 4, 2013 – July 10, 2015)
* Beth Cobert (acting; July 10, 2015 - January 20, 2017)
* Kathleen McGettigan (acting; January 20, 2017 – March 9, 2018)
* Jeff Tien Han Pon (March 9, 2018 – October 5, 2018)
* Margaret Weichert (acting; October 5, 2018 – September 16, 2019)
*Dale Cabaniss (September 16, 2019 – March 17, 2020)
* Michael Rigas (acting; March 18, 2020 – January 20, 2021)
*Kathleen McGettigan (acting; January 20, 2021 – June 24, 2021)
* Kiran Ahuja (June 24, 2021 – May 6, 2024)
*Rob Shriver (acting; May 6, 2024 – January 20, 2025)
*Charles Ezell (acting; January 20, 2025 – present)

See also

*Civil service
* Combined Federal Campaign
* Federal Executive Boards
*Federal Labor Relations Authority
* Hatch Act
* Human Resources University
*Presidential Management Fellows Program
* Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations
*United States Merit Systems Protection Board

References

External links

Office of Personnel Management

Office of Personnel Management
on USAspending.gov

Office of Personnel Management
in the Federal Register

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Personnel Management
Civil service in the United States
Government agencies established in 1979
Human resource management
National civil service commissions
1979 establishments in Washington, D.C.