'Gutted' Interior agency moves out West with top posts unfilled

The Interior Department is struggling to fill top positions at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) despite assurances from officials that the agency's relocation from Washington to Colorado is helping recruit top talent, according to an analysis by The Hill. Interior Department leaders have told Congress that moving the public lands bureau to new headquarters out West has helped recruit more and better qualified candidates than ever before. But a review of more than 100 job postings finds the agency has failed to fill several top posts just a month before it plans to finish the relocation. BLM has yet to hire four of the agency’s seven division directors. Each of the positions has been reposted after failing to hire a candidate. Other top postings, like a division chief to manage the wild horse and burro program in Reno, Nev., have been reposted twice. The relocation plans initially aimed to move some 220 D.C.-based positions to Grand Junction, Colo., while scattering the rest across existing offices and leaving just 61 employees in the agency’s Washington office. But figures provided to The Hill show that just 68 employees have agreed to make the move. The agency must now replace more than 100 BLM employees who have chosen to leave the agency rather than relocate. The upcoming presidential election may also give some employees pause, unsure if a change in administration would mean abandoning the relocation plans. Congressional Democrats have been opposed to BLM’s plans. But critics say the flight of longtime BLM employees combined with the more than 100 new jobs posted will allow the Trump administration to completely overhaul the agency regardless of November’s outcome...MORE

The article says 10,000 employees are already stationed in the West, and they have to fill 100 positions of folks who declined the move.  Only DC Deep Thinkers would think 1 percent fewer employees is "gutting" an agency.