Originally introduced by executive order in 2020 during the final months of the Trump administration, Schedule F was designed to convert many policy-related civil service roles into at-will positions, effectively ending decades of merit-based protections. Though revoked by President Biden in 2021, the return of Schedule F would mark a significant shift in how the federal government operates — converting neutral, professional bureaucracies into politically filtered institutions.
This move would allow incoming administrations to rapidly purge large numbers of civil servants and replace them with ideologically aligned personnel, undermining the nonpartisan character of federal governance. Comparable tactics have been used in other regimes to ensure bureaucratic compliance and suppress internal resistance to executive directives. In particular, Hungary, Russia, and the Philippines have all restructured their civil services to prioritize political loyalty over institutional stability.
The result is a hollowing out of state capacity: policy is no longer implemented with professional continuity but reshaped to reflect the ideology of the executive. Legal norms may remain on paper, but the institutions meant to uphold them become tools of enforcement, not balance.
What to Watch For
- Executive orders reauthorizing or referencing Schedule F or similar authority
- Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directives reclassifying civil service roles
- Announcements of “policy-determining” position lists across federal agencies
- Large waves of terminations or resignations from senior nonpolitical staff
- Public rhetoric framing civil servants as “saboteurs” or “deep state” actors
- New hiring initiatives emphasizing loyalty or ideological compatibility