President Trump signed an executive order on June 3, 2026 that reclassifies roughly 8,000 senior federal positions into a new category called Schedule Policy/Career.

These are not entry-level desk jobs. The White House says 97 percent of the reclassified positions are GS-15 or Senior Level positions, or the equivalent.

In plain terms, this hits the people who shape policy inside the federal government.

The point is accountability. Under the order, these positions are at-will, meaning employees can be removed for poor performance, misconduct, corruption, or subversion of Presidential directives without lengthy procedural hurdles.

The White House is careful about what does not change. These remain career positions, and non-partisan hiring processes, competitive status, and other aspects stay in place.

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Removal decisions, according to the fact sheet, will be made without respect to political affiliation. This is about results, not loyalty tests.

The White House said the order restores accountability to the federal workforce:

RESTORING ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order that makes senior Federal leaders that influence policy decisions more accountable to the American people.

The Order reclassifies about 8,000 senior policy-influencing positions into Schedule Policy/Career.

While this rule allows for heightened accountability, these remain “career” positions and the non-partisan hiring processes, competitive status, and other aspects of these roles will not change. Removal decisions will also be made without respect to political affiliation.

Roles listed on Schedule Policy/Career are at-will positions. Agencies can remove employees in Schedule Policy/Career for poor performance, misconduct, corruption, or subversion of Presidential directives without lengthy procedural hurdles that often prevent accountability, consistent with the ability to remove appointees responsible for implementing the President’s agenda.

97% of reclassified positions are GS-15 or Senior Level positions (or the equivalent in agencies with different pay plans). These are the highest-ranking career positions outside of the Senior Executive Service.

These roles include agency positions such as directors, deputy directors, chiefs of staff, senior advisors and policy analysts, employees with significant involvement in drafting regulations and guidance, public affairs and legislative affairs leaders, and employees with significant involvement in determining who gets Federal grants.

That last phrase carries weight. For years, federal workers who openly worked against an elected President’s agenda could hide behind layers of process.

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This order strips away that shield for the senior people who can do the most damage.

The move builds directly on what President Trump started in his first term. The fact sheet says the order builds on Executive Order 13957, his first-term action on policy-influencing positions.

It also reverses Biden-era moves that shielded these positions from accountability.

This order revives the first-term Schedule F fight under the new Schedule Policy/Career label. Biden-era protections stalled that accountability push, and President Trump is moving it back into force.

The logic is simple. Voters elect a President to set direction, and the people carrying out that direction should not be free to quietly undermine it with no consequences.

If a senior official performs well and does the job, nothing changes. If that same official is corrupt, incompetent, or actively sabotaging the agenda, they can now be shown the door.

That is the standard most Americans already assume their government runs on. With this order, the senior ranks of the federal workforce finally face it.

 

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