EO 14,356: Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring

Executive Order 14,356 (EO) mandated that agencies comply with the Merit Hiring Plan issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on May 29, 2025. The order directed each agency head to establish a Strategic Hiring Committee to approve the creation or filling of any vacancy. The order put hiring decisions in the hands of political appointees by requiring that the committee include the "deputy agency head and the chief of staff to the agency head, along with such other senior officials as the agency head may designate." It also required the committee to notify OPM of each new hire in the government. The order excluded political appointees, military personnel and "positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety" and officials serving in "temporary organizations" under 5 U.S.C. § 3161. The EO required agencies to create staffing plans and submit them to OPM on an ongoing basis. The order also reiterated the Trump administration's limitation of agencies to one new hire per four "departures" of staff, with certain exceptions. The EO provided that these requirements would not apply to hiring by presidential appointees.