The oath of allegiance taken by George Washington while encamped at Valley Forge, due to a Congressional Resolve of Feb. 3, 1778, that directed ‘every officer who holds or shall hereafter hold a commission or office from Congress’ to take such oath. (National Archives 12043370)
In his first administration (2017-2021), Donald Trump vowed to ‘drain the swamp,’ which, in retrospect, appeared to be a euphemism for “replace as many qualified career government employees as possible with individuals loyal to Donald Trump.’ New to the Washington bureaucracy, though, he was late getting started. In 2020, near the end of his first term, he issued Executive Order 13957, establishing a new federal employee category, Schedule F, which reclassified thousands of civil servants as political appointees, which allowed him (or any other president) to fire them without cause, and without notice or right to appeal. He would then have been able to replace them with loyalists who might not meet the qualifications for the job, despite being required to do so under federal law. He didn’t get the chance to implement the order and it was rescinded by Joe Biden (2021-2025) when he took office in January 2025.
On the first day of his second term, January 21, 2025, Trump issued Executive Order 14171, reinstating Schedule F. This time, the excuse of needing the ability to ‘remove poorly performing employees quickly’ was not even used. Trump described Schedule F as ‘restoring the President’s authority to remove rogue bureaucrats.’ In other words, the 1883 Pendleton Act, which ended the spoils system, has been effectively nullified. And, in the first year of his second term, he has implemented the new order with a vengeance. Instead of ‘draining the swamp,’ he has elevated his war on ‘the deep state’ to a massive development project, creating his own swamp, populated by creatures loyal only to him.
The lack of transparency and the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation in the current administration make it difficult to track its progress in implementing the new policy. For one thing, according to reporting, the plan involves firing as many as 50,000 federal workers and replacing them with people who are ideologically aligned with Trump. During the first three months of the new administration, some 14,000 federal jobs were lost due to various cuts. Some of those have been replaced, but information on who and how many is difficult to obtain.
There have, though, been some hires that are publicly known, and they are a warning sign of the chaos that lies ahead for the next three years.
In addition to eliminating the legislative protections for career government employees, the administration also seems to be ignoring the qualification standards required by law to ensure the country has a competent, apolitical workforce that serves the American people.
The following are some of the first-year ‘career’ hires that illustrate a lack of regard for qualifications or suitability.
Tom Homan. Thomas Douglas Homan, a member of a family of police officers, served as a police officer in West Carthage, New York. He joined the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (USINS), now Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in 1984. In 2013, he was appointed Executive Associate Director of ICE during the Obama administration. During the first Trump administration, Homan served as acting director of ICE from 2017 to 2018. After his election to a second term in 2024, Donald Trump designated Homan as his border czar, in charge of ‘policing and controlling the nation’s borders.’
One would think that, after campaigning on the ‘drain the swamp’ issue and selecting people who were politically loyal, he would’ve been sensitive to the optics of anyone selected for such a high-profile position on one of his key campaign issues. In Homan’s case, you would be off the mark. Homan’s background is rife with potential land mines. During Trump’s first administration, when he appointed Homan to be director of ICE, he ignited controversy with his harsh views on undocumented parents of American citizen children and his statement on Fox News that the DOJ should consider prosecuting city officials who limit local cooperation with ICE. When his nomination to head ICE stalled in the Senate, he retired. From 2018 to 2024, he was a Fox News commentator, actively participated in right-wing political events, launched a border project in collaboration with an anti-Muslim hate group, and repeatedly espoused deportation operations of the type that are currently being conducted. But the thing that should’ve disqualified Homan from his current job was a report that he accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents in a public corruption investigation that the DOJ later closed without official explanation. According to The New York Times, Homan was recorded on audiotape meeting with the agents, posing as businessmen interested in securing future government contracts related to border security. The investigation was shut down when Trump took office, reportedly because it could not prove to a jury that Homan, not in government at the time, had promised specific acts in exchange for the money. At no time has Homan denied receiving the money, only saying in a Fox News interview that he ‘did nothing criminal.’
Paul Ingrassia. Another New Yorker, a far-right lawyer and radical-right podcaster, Paul Ingrassia, was tapped to lead the Office of Special Counsel at DHS in the second Trump administration. That nomination failed amid Republican opposition in the Senate after reports that he’d sent a series of racist text messages. After a situation that would likely have ended any chance of a government job for the average person, Ingrassia, who has voiced unwavering support for Trump, has been appointed Acting General Counsel at the General Services Administration (GSA), overseeing 100 GSA lawyers. His co-workers at GSA are less than thrilled at the presence of this 30-year-old with little legal experience in their midst. An unidentified GSA official said to Politico on December 30, 2025, “What are we? A halfway house for bigots who can’t find jobs anywhere else in this administration?” Another person familiar with GSA said that Ingrassia “basically won’t be given anything meaningful because leadership doesn’t really want him.’
Madhu Gottumukkala. Formerly commissioner of the South Dakota Bureau of Information and Telecommunication and state chief information officer, under then-Governor Kristi Noem, now Secretary of Homeland Security, Madhu Gottumukkala was named deputy director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) on April 24, 2025, and assumed duties on May 16. He was later appointed acting director of CISA, pending Senate confirmation of Trump’s nominee to head CISA, Sean Plankey. Although he did not require access to classified material in his capacity as acting director, he took a polygraph in July and reportedly failed it. He then accused six CISA employees involved in organizing and approving the polygraph of ‘misleading’ him and placed them on administrative leave pending an investigation. Other unnamed officials told Politico Gottumukkala repeatedly requested the polygraph. No details have been provided on what element(s) of the test he failed, and DHS leadership, including Noem, continues to support him.
Jared Wise. A former FBI agent, Jared Wise, was shown on bodycam video urging rioters to kill police during the January 6, 2021, riots at the US Capitol. He was pardoned by Trump on January 21, 2021, along with nearly every other rioter charged in connection with the assault on the Capitol. On July 1, 2025, The New York Times reported that Wise was named as an adviser to the Justice Department task force that Trump established to seek retribution against his political enemies. He is serving as a counselor to Ed Martin, director of the Weaponization Working Group. Martin, a supporter of the Jan. 6 defendants, was put in charge of the group in May after his nomination for a Senate-confirmed position as US attorney was withdrawn, primarily because of his work as an advocate and defense lawyer for people charged in connection with the Capitol attack.
Next Up: The above-mentioned individuals likely represent only the tip of the iceberg of government employees who have not been adequately vetted and could pose serious security risks. More to come!
Charles A. Ray served 20 years in the U.S. Army, including two tours in Vietnam. He retired as a senior US diplomat, serving 30 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, with assignments as ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Republic of Zimbabwe, and was the first American consul general in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He also served in senior positions with the Department of Defense and is a member of The Steady State.
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 360 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.
Spot-on. The American people should be outraged —- Jan. 6 protestors are placed in key positions in the Justice Department, while honorable Justice Department prosecutors who upheld the rule of law have been fired. Every Republican member of Congress who has kept his- or her mouth shut should be voted out of office, come November.
Read Guest Opinion NYT yesterday by Thomas Edsall