United States Office of Personnel Management

The United States Civil Service Commission was created by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. The commission was renamed as the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and most of commission's former functions - with the exception of the Federal employees appellate function - were assigned to new agencies, with most being assigned to the newly created U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on January 1, 1979, following the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1978 (43 FR 36037, 92 Stat. 3783).[7]

In 1996 the investigation branch of the OPM was privatized, and USIS was formed.[8]

According to its website, the mission of the OPM is "recruiting, retaining and honoring a world-class force to serve the American people."[9] The OPM is partially responsible for maintaining the appearance of independence and neutrality in the Administrative Law System. While technically employees of the agencies they work for, Administrative Law Judges (or ALJs) are hired exclusively by the OPM, effectively removing any discretionary employment procedures from the other agencies. The OPM uses a rigorous selection process which ranks the top three candidates for each ALJ vacancy, and then makes a selection from those candidates, generally giving preference to veterans.

The OPM is also responsible for a large part of the management of security clearances (National Background Investigations Bureau conducts these investigations) for the United States Government. With the exception of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which maintains its own system, separate programs for each executive department have gradually been merged into a single, Government-wide clearance system. The OPM is responsible for investigating individuals to give them Secret and Top Secret clearances.[10] SCI compartments, however, are still managed by the particular agency that uses that compartment.

OPM is also responsible for federal employee retirement applications for FERS and CSRS employees.[11] OPM makes decisions on federal employee regular[12] and disability retirement cases.[13] OPM also oversees FEHB and FEGLI, the health insurance and life insurance programs for Federal employees. However, it does not oversee TSP, which is handled by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB), a separate independent agency.

In June 2018, President Donald Trump proposed merging many of OPM‘s functions into the General Services Administration (GSA), as part of a larger initiative to restructure the executive branch.[14][15] The plan was submitted in May 2019 by Margaret Weichert, who was at the time Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget as well as acting OPM Director, and would have placed federal personnel policy under the responsibility within the White House Office of Management and Budget, in a presidential appointee position not subject to Senate confirmation.[16][17]

The proposal was criticized in Congress and was expressly limited in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, signed into law in December 2019, that barred any mergers by the President until the creation and submission of a report by the National Academy of Public Administration.[17][18][19][20][21] Despite the ban on implementation, OPM has transferred Chief Human Capital Officers Council staff to GSA and was accused on multiple occasions of trying to subvert the ban. In April 2020, lawmakers found that the administration continued to pursue efforts to transfer operations to GSA; and in August, a union representing OPM employees accused OPM of reorganizing employees to get around the ban. In October 2020, the merger proposal was formally abandoned.[17]

OPM provides a range of human resources management services to other federal agencies on a reimbursable basis and the payments for those services are paid into OPM’s revolving fund. In the period 2002-2012, the dollar amount of the fund has tripled,[22] and totals $2 billion, equivalent to almost all (90 percent) the OPM budget.[23]

In July 2013, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) introduced the Office of Personnel Management Inspector General Act.[24] The bill would increase oversight of the fund. Farenthold introduced the bill as a response to accusations of fraud and concerns about security clearance background investigations.[25] The bill would fund the expenses for investigations, oversight activities and audits from the revolving fund.[26] In February 2014, President Obama signed the bill into law.[27]

The fund's history goes back to the early 1980s, where it was used for two main activities: training and background investigations for government personnel.[28]

In June 2015, the Office of Personnel Management announced that it had discovered in April 2015 that it had been hacked more than a year earlier in a data breach, resulting in the theft of approximately 4 million personnel records handled by the office.[29] The Washington Post has reported that the attack originated in China, citing unnamed government officials.[30] By July 9, 2015 the estimate of stolen records had increased to 21.5 million, including those of current government personnel and people who had undergone background checks.[31]

New updates regarding this security breach came to light on September 24, 2015. The agency then indicated that additional evidence showed that 5.6 million people's fingerprints were stolen as part of the hacks, more than five times the 1.1 million originally estimated. The total number of individuals whose records were disclosed in whole or part, including Social Security numbers and addresses, remained at 21.5 million.[32]

Source: OPM's Agency Leadership Through Time[33]

• Alan K. Campbell (January 2, 1979 – January 20, 1981)
  • Campbell was the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission at its dissolution
• Donald J. Devine (March 23, 1981 – March 25, 1985)
• Loretta Cornelius (acting; 1985)
• Constance Horner (August 22, 1985 – May 10, 1989)[34]
• Constance Berry Newman (June 8, 1989 – June 30, 1992)
• James B. King[35] (April 7, 1993 – September 1, 1997)
• Janice R. Lachance (November 12, 1997 – January 20, 2001)
• Steven R. Cohen (acting; January 20, 2001 – July 11, 2001)
• Kay Coles James (July 11, 2001 – January 31, 2005)
• Dan Gregory Blair (acting; February 1, 2005 – June 27, 2005)
• Linda M. Springer (June 28, 2005 – August 13, 2008)[36][37]
• Michael Hager (acting; 2008–2009)[36]
• Kathie Ann Whipple (acting; 2009)[38]
• John Berry (April 13, 2009 – April 13, 2013)[39]
• Elaine Kaplan (acting; April 15, 2013 – October 31, 2013)
• Katherine Archuleta (November 4, 2013 – July 10, 2015)
• Beth Cobert (acting; July 10, 2015 to January 19, 2017)
• Kathleen McGettigan (acting; January 19, 2017 – March 9, 2018)[40]
• Jeff Tien Han Pon (March 9, 2018 – October 5, 2018)[41]
• Margaret Weichert (acting; October 5, 2018 – September 16, 2019)
• Dale Cabaniss (September 16, 2019 – March 17, 2020)[42][43]
• Michael Rigas (acting; March 18, 2020 – January 20, 2021)[44]
• Kathleen McGettigan (acting; January 20, 2021 – present)[45][46][47][48]

• Civil service
• Combined Federal Campaign
• Federal Labor Relations Authority
• Hatch Act
• Human Resources University
• Presidential Management Fellows Program
• SHPS
• Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations
• United States Merit Systems Protection Board

• Office of Personnel Management
• Office of Personnel Management on USAspending.gov
• Office of Personnel Management in the Federal Register