Rep. Connolly demands OPM rescind guidance opening CIOs to possible politicization

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., a top federal IT advocate on Capitol Hill, has called for the Office of Personnel Management to rescind its recent guidance pushing for federal agencies to redesignate chief information officer roles in a way that could make them more political.

In a letter sent to acting OPM Director Charles Ezell on Tuesday, Connolly requested that the federal HR agency rescind its Feb. 4 memo “Guidance Regarding Redesignating SES CIO Positions,” which recommends that federal agencies with senior executive service CIO positions designated as “career reserved” should redesignate those roles to be “general.”

While some federal CIO roles carry classifications allowing for political appointments — currently including those at the departments of Defense, Energy, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and a few others — most fall under the career designation, which protects them from political turnover during administration changes and establishes them as nonpartisan functions of government.

In asking agencies to change those IT chief roles to general SES positions, “CIO leadership is the latest victim of the Administration’s anti-Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility crusade and broader effort to replace career civil servants with individuals who are, first and foremost, loyal to the President and his political agenda,” writes Connolly, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

“The job of the CIO requires long-term planning as many IT modernization projects serve as long term investments that lead to billions in cost avoidance, sometimes crossing congresses and administrations,” he said. “CIOs should not consider political winds, but rather focus solely on robust engineering principles and effective technology choices. Congress has worked with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to ensure that CIOs have the budget authority to
manage multi-year projects through working capital funds so that IT projects need not contend
with inconsistent appropriations and continuing resolutions.”

Coupled with other reforms the Trump administration is pursuing regarding the senior executive service, Connolly fears these actions are “politicizing the cadre of advanced professionals who run some of the most technical and important missions in our government.”

In the initial guidance, Ezell argues that IT and the role of the federal CIO have become more vital to government missions in recent years. An “agency CIO therefore plays a critical role in developing policies (particularly in the digital realm) that have pervasive and significant effects on the American public,” the guidance reads.

Essentially, the Trump administration wants the CIO position to be more aligned with and “on the front lines articulating” its policies, the memo explains, whether that be for cybersecurity or denouncing DEI initiatives, which it explicitly references.

Connolly calls the memo “an attack on the civil service,” urges OPM to revoke the guidance immediately and asks for Ezell to brief him on the plans to reclassify the position by March 11.

Meanwhile, OPM on Monday issued additional guidance requiring agencies to submit two lists by March 24: one comprising career-reserved SES positions at the agency and another “of
requested redesignations of career-reserved SES positions.”