Chief human capital officers have become the latest group of federal executives to fall under the Trump administration’s microscope, as it presses forward with major, rapid overhauls of the federal workforce.
A memo last week from the Office of Personnel Management recommended that all agencies redesignate their CHCO roles as “general” rather than “career reserved,” a move that would open up many human capital leadership positions to becoming political appointments.
In the guidance, OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell argued that HR policy has become “intensely politicized” in recent years. In particular, Ezell pointed to the implementation of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) directives during the Biden administration as a key reason to recategorize the CHCO position.
“It is hard to imagine a more vivid example of advocacy of the ‘major controversial policies of the administration’ than an HR leader and policymaker implementing and embedding DEIA policies throughout their agency and the government more broadly,” Ezell wrote in the March 6 memo.
Ezell also argued that CHCOs’ roles go beyond the “impartial” and “technical” nature of career-reserved federal positions.
“To be sure, like many policy-determining and policy-advocating jobs throughout the federal government, CHCO positions require a baseline of specialized knowledge necessary to understand broader issues and make decisions for the agency,” Ezell wrote. “But the CHCO’s authority goes beyond mere technical matters. Instead, the modern CHCO makes, implements and advocates for some of the most controversial policies in modern American politics on behalf of their agency head and the administration.”
OPM’s latest memo on CHCOs aligns with the Trump administration’s broader efforts to hold federal employees in policymaking roles more “accountable.” The guidance follows other similar actions from the Trump administration to redesignate key career federal positions as “general,” including chief information officers (CIOs) and members of the Senior Executive Service.
But specifically for the human capital role, a majority of agency CHCO positions are already designated as “general.” And while most CHCOs are career executives, it’s also not necessarily unusual to have politically appointed individuals serving as agency CHCOs. For example, over the last several presidential administrations, CHCO roles at the departments of Defense, Transportation, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs have at times been held by politically appointed individuals.
But one current career CHCO, who spoke to Federal News Network on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional retribution, viewed the reservation of the CHCO position for career leaders as a way to ensure executives have deep subject matter expertise of federal human capital, and know how to properly implement workforce policies across presidential administrations.
“We are the conduit,” the CHCO said in an interview. “We take an oath that we will act impartially and serve employees.”
Depth of HR knowledge crucial for agency CHCOs
Jeff Neal, a former CHCO of DHS, previously served in the human capital leadership position in a politically appointed capacity. Neal said he believed OPM’s intention with the new guidance is to make the CHCO position “much more political.” But he added that what will matter more is seeing how the OPM guidance is actually implemented.
“The reality is that whether the CHCO is political or career, the administration does get to make policy — as long as their policy is consistent with the law,” Neal said in an interview. “It’s not going to blow things up unless they start appointing a bunch of people who don’t know anything, who are then giving them advice to do things that are not legal.”
In a recent blog post discussing the new OPM memo, Neal said the arguments can go both ways for political versus career CHCOs. One the one hand, politically appointed CHCOs have greater access to agency leaders, since they are viewed as a trusted part of the leadership team from Day One, Neal explained. But on the other hand, he argued that having career CHCOs means the leaders have deeper and more extensive knowledge of federal HR.
At the end of the day, Neal said he believes the best type of CHCO is one that has a depth of knowledge of federal HR law and regulations — as well as one who can work with an administration’s leadership from either political party.
“I have worked with CHCOs who knew nothing about federal HR. They tend to create problems because they want to try to approach things the way the private sector might do it,” Neal said. “Where I’ve seen political appointee CHCOs be successful, they’ve almost always been people who actually understand the federal HR practices and who have experience in them, either as consultants or in the government.”
And right now, the government’s need for deep human capital expertise is critical, according to the Government Accountability Office. GAO once again highlighted strategic human capital management on its 2025 high-risk list — a challenge that has remained on GAO’s list for over 20 years, and contributes to a majority of other risk areas.
Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, the head of GAO, recently told Congress that while there is a need for change in the federal workforce, the Trump administration’s blanket approach is “not a best practice.”
CHCO guidance creates uncertainty, feels ‘personal’
Regardless of how the new OPM guidance may be implemented, the Trump administration’s changes create more uncertainty for current career CHCOs. One agency CHCO, speaking anonymously, said they were “absolutely worried” about the new memo from OPM.
“This was the first guidance from OPM that felt like a personal attack,” the CHCO said. “Not two weeks ago, we sat in a meeting where Ezell spoke to us as a CHCO community, praising our work, saying positive things about our abilities. But now this guidance is a slap in the face. It doesn’t put a lot of faith in the communications we are hearing.”
Already, some career CHCOs have been leaving their positions — either by choice or because the Trump administration has pushed them out.
For instance, National Science Foundation CHCO Wonzie Gardner retired at the end of February. But Traci DiMartini, human capital officer at the IRS, was recently placed on administrative leave, reportedly for not requiring staff to come into work over a weekend to onboard a new employee for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The anonymous agency CHCO expressed concerns that the new OPM guidance will lead to further departures of career human capital leadership across government.
“We will continue to lose seasoned professionals. It’s like they’re just waiting for someone to slip up,” the CHCO said. “But the CHCO community is one in particular that’s very tight-knit. We work together and support each other. We will not go down without fighting for what we know is right.”
DEIA rationale from OPM a ‘bizarre argument’
While OPM’s guidance described the CHCO role as one that has become “intensely politicized,” the anonymous agency CHCO said that rationale runs “counterintuitive” to a CHCO’s purpose. The intention of the human capital leadership role, the CHCO said, is to be impartial and lawfully carry out the policies of whatever administration happens to be in power, while providing HR expertise on how to implement those policies effectively.
“Our entire goal is never to be a roadblock, never to act against any party’s orders,” the CHCO said. “We have served in every party’s administration in the same fashion.”
Neal similarly said that since each presidential administration will push forward its own versions of “politicized” federal HR policy, OPM’s rationale in the new memo, based on DEIA policies from the Biden administration, is a “circular argument.”
“I seem to remember Schedule F. I seem to remember going after unions. I seem to remember all kinds of stuff in the previous Trump administration that was highly political,” Neal said. “It’s a bizarre argument because what you’re saying is, ‘we want people who will try to undermine the administration when it’s not us. But when it’s us, we want them to support us.’”
“A good CHCO is going to be implementing Republican policies in a Republican administration, and Democratic policies in a Democratic administration,” Neal added. “That’s what the job is.”
Ron Sanders, a former career human capital leader in government, said that generally, CHCOs’ roles are not to “salute smartly” or simply execute policies. Rather, he said the human capital leadership role is meant to help set policy and figure out the best implementation of whatever presidential directives come through. He argued that being a CHCO should come down to merit and not be based on personal or political views.
“So long as you have the qualifications, you should be able to sit on the CHCO Council. You can have different backgrounds and still meet the merit-based qualifications of being on the council,” Sanders said in an interview. “I would set aside the term ‘politicization,’ and focus on, do they have the qualifications, and will they ensure policy alignment?”
Sanders also pointed out that the CHCO Council is already led by two political appointments: the OPM director, and the Office of Management and Budget’s deputy director for management.
Typically, the CHCO Council executive director is also a political appointee — although the most recent executive director, Colleen Heller-Stein, was the first-ever career executive to lead the council.
“I think CHCO Council members should have a stronger voice, but it needs to be the right kind of voice. They need to be going back to the acting OPM director, or whoever it is, and saying, we want to help do it right,” Sanders added. “While the Trump administration has a vision that’s a much smaller version of government, it’s up to the CHCOs to help them. And if CHCOs want a seat at the table, they’re going to have to make the offer. If their offer is rebuffed, they have to keep trying.”
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