New Report Slams Chaotic Staffing Changes At The Interior Department

The Interior Department’s controversial decision last year to move 27 senior career executives to new positions, often cross-country, is being described as chaotic and hasty by the agency’s internal watchdog. In a report released Wednesday, the Office of Inspector General said that it could not determine if the agency followed federal law when it reassigned 27 members of the Senior Executive Service between June and October last year, because the staffers and review board that made the reassignments had kept no documentation. The investigators determined that the leaders convened to make selections “did not gather the information needed to make informed decisions,” and that those selected for reassignment had no prior warning that they were being moved. The Interior Department did not follow guidance issued by the Office of Personnel Management, the report found. For example, members of the agency’s Executive Resources Board, the group that made the reassignments, could not provide meeting minutes, notes, or records of their decisions to the office. Some told IG reviewers that they had not considered the cost of moving senior executives across the country, according to the report. And, although the OPM recommends a mix of career and political staff, as of May 2017, six of the seven members of the  board were political appointees...MORE