The October before an election is supposed to bring a few unexpected surprises, and federal employees got one of their own last week in the form of a new executive order.
The order creates a brand new class of career “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating” positions called Schedule F. Under this new schedule, agency heads will have the flexibility to hire and fire individuals to those positions at will — a condition most current political appointees operate under today.