National, Homeland Security Would Be Compromised if Schedule F Returns: Senate Hearing

The impact of the potential return of Schedule F on national security and law enforcement agencies was the topic of a recent hearing on Capitol Hill.

Witnesses told senators that it could impact everything from disaster response to patrolling the border to securing technology for the nation’s military.

The hearing was held by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

However, no Republicans questioned witnesses at the hearing.

Schedule F is the Trump-era executive order that would allow a president to reclassify large swathes of the civil service to at-will employees, making them easier to remove. President Biden rescinded that order and has been working to codify protections for the civil service.

At the hearing, Chairman Gary Peters (D-MI) noted that a return of Schedule F would “weaken our national security and make us vulnerable to serious threats that continually face our nation.”

Concerns Span the National Security Community

Witnesses including former Department of Defense (DOD) Acting Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness Peter Levine and former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting and Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke agreed with the chairman’s comments.

Former Under Secretary Levine noted that civilian employees touch nearly all aspects of defense and that their ability to provide advice is unmeasurable.

“The ability of career civil servants to provide open and candid advice without losing their jobs enables political appointees like me to benefit from their knowledge and expertise,” said Levine. “The risk that political appointees will fail to listen to the informed views of career civil servants is far greater than the risk that civil servants will fail to carry out a directive from a political appointee once it has been made.” 

Former Acting Secretary Duke noted it would harm the mission.

“The ability to carry out the mission would be eroded by not having enough people doing the mission and not having that institutional knowledge. Many of the career paths in the Homeland Security mission take years to train and develop,” stated Duke.  

Also testifying was Government Accountability Project Legal Director Tom Devine who noted that Schedule F would erase the merit systems’ check on abuses of power in the Executive Branch, no matter which party holds the White House. 

“We have seen the Schedule F playbook, and it is a recipe for corruption and abuse that will harm not only millions of federal employees, but the public they serve,” said Devine.

In addition, lawmakers questioned how agencies could continue to function, if at least 50,000 career federal positions can be converted into political roles. Currently, just 4,000 positions require a political appointment, and many of those get held up in the confirmation process.

“Adding at least 50,000 more political positions, as proposed by the advocates of Schedule F, I believe would undoubtedly result in a higher number of vacant positions at these agencies,” said Senator Peters.

President Trump has vowed to reinstate Schedule F if he wins the November election.