Federal Personnel Management Reform

Abstract

In what ways are current civil service reform efforts similar to and different from the qualities that characterize the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA)? These issues are explored by examining the new personnel authorities granted to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and to the Department of Defense (DoD) in the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). In many respects, current reforms preserve some of the ideas behind CSRA or they derive from the authorities included in the CSRA. In other respects, current reform departs from the CSRA model and new ideas related to enactment, design, and implementation of civil service reform have emerged. Furthermore, a new argument emerged in DHS and NSPS that had never before appeared in any public discourse on personnel management reform: the link between federal personnel management policy and national security.