After President Obama leaves the White House on Jan. 20, 2017, over 4,000 of his political appointees also vacate their government offices as well. Federal employees prepare for new administrations by converting some of the outgoing White House’s political appointees to permanent career civil servants.
According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had the most unapproved political to career conversions with six, followed by Health and Human Services (HHS) with three, and the Department of Energy (DOE) with two.
All of these agencies made seven of these conversions in 2010, when OPM’s previous approval policy was first established, and made two conversions in 2015 (through October 1).