President Donald Trump has ordered the elimination of the Presidential Management Fellows program, ending a governmentwide effort that has ushered specialized early-career talent into the federal workforce for nearly 50 years.
An executive order signed Wednesday evening directs the Office of Personnel Management to “promptly terminate” the Presidential Management Fellows program.
“It is the policy of my administration to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government, while increasing its accountability to the American people. This order commences a reduction in the elements of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined are unnecessary,” the executive order states. “Reducing the size of the federal government will minimize government waste and abuse, reduce inflation and promote American freedom and innovation.”
Advocates of the PMF program, which was established in 1977 during the Carter administration, view the program as a critical pipeline to bringing early-career talent into the federal workforce. A spokesperson for the Presidential Management Alumni Association said the PMF program benefits not only individuals looking to jumpstart a career in public service, but also as an opportunity for agencies to onboard highly needed and specialized skills.
“There are a lot of feelings — definitely disappointment, condemnation, frustration,” said the PMAA spokesperson, who agreed to an interview on background for fear of professional retribution. “We certainly view the program as a crucial way to bring new talent into the government, and a way to develop that talent to make the next generation of government leaders. We can’t imagine why that’s something you wouldn’t want to do.”
Although ending the Presidential Management Fellows program, the executive order retains the two other sections of the Pathways Program — interns and recent graduates. The Pathways Program is the federal government’s main program for recruiting early-career workers.
Trump’s executive order Wednesday also called for the elimination of Federal Executive Boards, a longtime network of federal executives across the country who help to locally manage and support federal employees — more than 80% of whom live across the country and outside the Washington, D.C. region.
The executive order also mandated the elimination of several independent federal agencies: the Presidio Trust, the Inter-American Foundation, the African Development Foundation and the Institute of Peace.
Trump’s executive order described the agencies as “unnecessary governmental entities.” The leaders of each of the agencies have two weeks to confirm to the Office of Management and Budget that they are in compliance with the order.
Wednesday’s order also comes after Trump directed the elimination of the Federal Executive Institute last week, as well as several efforts to majorly overhaul the federal workforce. Most recently, agencies have been terminating thousands of probationary federal employees at the encouragement of the Trump administration.
Many fellows already removed from their jobs
Through the highly competitive Presidential Management Fellows program, selected finalists take on two-year paid positions at agencies, generally focused on federal leadership development. The positions are reserved for those with graduate degrees or other similar types of advanced degrees.
But many Presidential Management Fellows across agencies have been fired from their jobs over the last week, as part of the sweeping terminations of thousands of probationary federal employees governmentwide.
Bianca Nelson had been employed as a fellow at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She was six months away from completing the PMF program at her agency, where she had been working directly with New York and New Jersey residents who were dealing with complex housing issues. Her job was to help local residents avoid eviction and homelessness, figure out how to get out of a shelter or learn how to buy a home.
Nelson had planned to convert into a permanent federal position and spend her career in public service. But on Feb. 14, she received a three-sentence email from her agency informing her that she was terminated, effective immediately.
“I had wanted to retire out of this job. I did not have a plan B,” Nelson said in an interview. “I didn’t think I was going to have to job search again anytime soon. I’ve been spending the last week trying to get myself together and figure out where I want to go next.”
Nelson said the PMF program gave her broad opportunities and network connections, which created not only professional prospects for herself, but also ways to connect with other agencies’ PMFs and collaborate on work governmentwide.
“There was a huge emphasis on creativity and innovation, bringing in fresh ideas, trying really hard to improve processes, and take all of the passion and inspiration that we have to make government better,” she said. “That’s really what the program stood for.”
Despite being fired, Nelson plans to return to public service as soon as possible.
“I absolutely refuse to be bullied out of public service,” she said. “I will do whatever it is that I have to do to try and help people and help the public.”
Similar to Nelson, and in the wake of the mass terminations, the PMAA spokesperson said many current fellows are now “at a loss.”
“They’re distraught, they’ve planned whole lives around the next step in their career,” the spokesperson said. “So you can imagine the kind of response that they’re having — anywhere from anger to fear to frustration, and that’s spreading even further into the alumni community.”
“But I would never count PMFs out — ever,” the spokesperson added. “They will always find a way to solve problems. They will always find a way to fix what’s broken. And they’ll always find a way to serve others.”
Presidential Management Fellows’ elimination a ‘huge loss’
The Presidential Management Fellows program is a common way for agencies to connect with young individuals who have difficult-to-hire or specialized skills. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, for instance, often hire PMFs to support efforts in public health and scientific research.
For the 2024 class of PMFs, the program selected 825 finalists out of a total of 7,193 applications. The finalists represent a range of more than 100 academic degree programs, across 264 institutions around the globe, according to the PMF program’s website. About 14% of the 2024 finalists are veterans.
“PMFs have gone on to be some of the most remarkable and accomplished public servants,” Peter Morrissey, senior director of talent and strategy at the Volcker Alliance, said in an interview. “Names folks know — Sean O’Keefe, the NASA administrator, Shalanda Young, the most recent OMB director — and thousands of names people don’t know, who are keeping the government going.”
Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, called the termination of the PMF program a “huge loss.”
“Taking away a highly competitive, merit-based program that has developed exceptional government leaders for over 40 years not only sends the wrong message to the next generation about public service, but also contradicts efforts to build a more effective and innovative government,” Stier said in a statement. “With just over 7% of the federal workforce under 30, this decision risks widening the talent and critical skills gaps even further, and the holes will be felt in our government for years to come.”
Trump’s executive order eliminating the program is also a sharp reversal of the Biden administration’s efforts in 2024 to expand the PMF program, as well as other programs available to early-career workers interested in joining the federal workforce.
Jim Thompson, director of government capacity at the Federation of American Scientists, said the contributions of PMFs aren’t only limited to roles within the federal government. Many fellows end up returning to universities or the private sector, but still continue to support federal government work through the program’s large alumni network.
“They have uniformly been incredibly bright, talented people — they went on to reach amazing accomplishments and bring forward programs in the federal government,” Thompson said in an interview. “Even though we may not hold onto all of the PMFs through their careers, they have created this network of amazing colleagues that we’re able to call upon through our partnerships with them outside of their government tenure.”
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