Trump administration’s Civil Service
53 Articles
The President and the Peril of Politicizing our Military
After his inauguration, President Donald Trump didn’t take long to boast of his purported political support from the military. In his speech to the CIA – given in front…
Trump and the Immigration Bureaucracy: Should We Expect Civil Servants to Dissent?
President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) barring entry from seven Muslim majority countries and suspending the refugee resettlement program has sparked public outcry, caused upheaval…
Explainer on Officials in Contempt of Court Orders on #MuslimBan–Tracking All the Cases
In recent days, much of the focus has been on Washington State’s challenge to Trump’s Muslim Ban, which resulted in a nationwide stay upheld by the Ninth Circuit (see here…
Full Text of Remarks by Top State Dep’t Official Discharged by Trump’s White House
Last week, six top State Department officials were suddenly discharged by the White House—an Undersecretary, an acting Undersecretary, and four Assistant Secretaries—without…
The U.S. Constitution and the Risk of Democratic Backsliding
Is there a real possibility of the erosion of democratic institutions toward authoritarianism in the United States? What can the experience of other countries tell us about how…
Dissenting from Within the Trump Administration
After the presidential election, many of those who were already working in government or who were considering joining began to ask questions about the ethics of working for a Trump…
Five (Overlooked) Decision Points for the Trump Administration in National Security
What are the decision points that the President-elect’s transition team and incoming administration will likely face over the horizon in the national security arena? News media…
The Office of Special Counsel’s Oversight Role in National Security: A Home for Whistleblowers
To function efficiently and effectively, the government must promote whistleblowing by its employees. This is especially true in the national and homeland security contexts, where…
President-elect Trump’s Picks Redefine “Two-Tiered System of Justice”
With his selection of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to serve as national security adviser, his continued consideration of retired Gen. David Petraeus for a possible administration…
Shrinking the “Bloated” Federal Bureaucracy: A Bad Solution to a Non-Problem
During his campaign, Donald Trump promised “a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce the federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and…
Businesslike Government, Presidential Power, and the Erosion of the Civil Service
Immediately after the election, I wrote about the administrative separation of powers, specifically about how the rivalrous and contentious interplay of politically appointed agency…
Trump’s Whistleblowers—Whether Limited Pardons for Manning and Snowden Makes Sense Now
Whatever you might have previously thought about the notion of President Barack Obama pardoning Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, the election of Donald Trump changes everything.…