United States Office of Personnel Management
Official seal
Agency overview
Formed	January 1, 1979
Preceding Agency	Civil Service Commission
Jurisdiction	Federal government of the United States
Headquarters	1900 E Street NW, Washington, D.C.
Employees	6,205 (2011)
Agency executive	Elaine Kaplan, Acting Director
Website
opm.gov

The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is an independent agency of the United States government that manages the civil service of the federal government.

History [edit]

OPM was originally founded as the United States Civil Service Commission by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. The commission was abolished and replaced by OPM on January 1, 1979 following the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1978 (43 F.R. 36037, 92 Stat. 3783).^[1]

Function [edit]

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According to their website, the mission of the OPM is "recruiting, retaining and honoring a world-class force to serve the American people."^[2] OPM is partially responsible for maintaining the appearance of independence and neutrality in the Administrative Law System. While technically the employees of the agencies they work for, Administrative Law Judges (or ALJs) are hired exclusively by the Office of Personnel Management, effectively removing any discretional employment procedures from the other agencies. The Office of Personnel Management 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 (Federal Investigative Services a/k/a FIS 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. SCI compartments, however, are still managed by the particular agency that uses that compartment.

Past directors [edit]

• John Berry (April 13, 2009 – April 13, 2013)^[3]
• (Acting) Kathie Ann Whipple 2009^[4]
• (Acting) Michael Hager 2008–2009^[5]
• Linda M. Springer (June 28, 2005 - August 13, 2008)^[5][6]
• Kay Coles James (July 11, 2001 - January 31, 2005)
• Janice R. Lachance (November 12, 1997 - January 20, 2001)
• James B. King (April 7, 1993 - September 1, 1997)
• Constance Berry Newman (June 8, 1989 - June 30, 1992)
• Constance Horner (August 22, 1985 - May 10, 1989)
• (Acting) Loretta Cornelius 1985
• Donald J. Devine (March 23, 1981 - March 25, 1985)
• Alan K. Campbell (January 2, 1979 - January 20, 1981)

Source: OPM's Agency Leadership Through Time

See also [edit]

• Civil service
• Federal Labor Relations Authority
• Hatch Act
• Presidential Management Fellows Program
• SHPS

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Office of Personnel Management
• Office Of Personnel Management Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register *RSS Feed