DHS Secretary nominee advances out of committee to Senate floor

Federal Newscast

DHS Secretary nominee advances out of committee to Senate floor

The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 13 to 2 on Monday night to advance Noem’s nomination to the Senate floor.

Michele Sandiford

January 22, 2025 3:51 pm

< a min read

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s nomination for homeland security secretary is moving forward in the Senate. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 13 to 2 on Monday night to advance Noem’s nomination to the Senate floor. Noem will play a key role in overseeing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and border security policies. She has also pledged to rein in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s work on mis- and dis-information. The director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers Benjamine Huffman is currently leading DHS as acting secretary.
(Nomination for DHS secretary Kristi Noem - Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee )

The Trump administration is giving agencies until the end of the week to deliver lists of all their employees who are still within their one-year probationary periods. A new memo from the Office of Personnel Management also reminds agency leaders that newly hired feds are the easiest to fire. The standard one-year probationary period is meant to give agencies flexibility in deciding if a new hire is the right fit for a job. If an employee is determined not to be a good fit, they can be “swiftly terminated” with limited ability to appeal their termination to the Merit Systems Protection Board. OPM's latest memo could pave the way for agencies to potentially remove newly hired workers, while skirting the civil service protections most career feds have once they reach a year in federal service.
(Trump administration asks agencies for lists of newly hired federal employees - Federal News Network)

President Donald Trump has brought back a familiar executive order aiming to remove civil service protections for a large portion of the federal workforce. Under the revived Schedule F executive order, tens of thousands of career federal employees could be made at-will and easier to fire. The new executive order reinstates the original 2020 executive order on the Schedule F classification, but changes the name to a “policy/career” classification of federal employees. Trump said his action will “restore accountability” to the federal workforce. Federal unions and some lawmakers, however, pushed back against Trump’s renewed executive order. The National Treasury Employees Union has filed a lawsuit against Trump officials. The lawsuit argues that converting career federal jobs into political positions is unlawful.
(Trump revives executive order aiming to strip some federal employees of civil service protections - Federal News Network)

By late Spring, agencies will get a new plan to improve their hiring process with an ultimate goal of bringing down the time to hire to 80 days. President Donald Trump’s executive order signed Monday charges the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy James Sherk, OMB, OPM and the Department of Government Efficiency to come up with the plan in 120 days to improve the federal hiring process. The order detailed nine areas the plan should focus on ranging from fully implementing the Chance to Compete Act to using modern technology to support the recruitment and selection processes.
(Hiring reform, SES accountability to get more scrutiny - Federal News Network)

The Trump administration has dismissed two top Homeland Security officials. Acting Homeland Security Carry Huffman relieved Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan of her duties on Monday night. Fagan was just two and a half years into what is typically a four-year term. David Pekoske, the head of the Transportation Security Administration, was also let go on Monday morning ahead of the transition of power. Pekoske was originally appointed TSA administrator during the first Trump administration. He was halfway through his second five-year term.
(Trump administration forces out leaders at Coast Guard, TSA - Federal News Network)

Members of the Senior Executive Service will be getting new performance plans in the coming month. Under President Donald Trump's memo issued Monday, OMB and OPM will develop and issue new SES performance plans in the next 30 days for all agencies to adopt. Additionally, Trump called for agencies to terminate its existing Executive Resources Board and existing Performance Review Board. Agency leaders should reconstitute both with individuals committed to full enforcement of SES performance evaluations that promote and assure an SES of the highest caliber. The goal of this order, the president said, is to reinvigorate the SES system and prioritize accountability.
(Hiring reform, SES accountability to get more scrutiny - Federal News Network)

Trump’s pick to run the Department of Veterans Affairs defends a hiring freeze amid staffing concerns. Trump’s VA pick defends hiring freeze amid staffing concerns. The VA exempted its health care workforce from the first Trump administration’s hiring freeze in 2017. But VA Secretary nominee Doug Collins didn’t make an explicit assurance to lawmakers the department would grant those same carveouts this time around. “President Trump, in this executive order, is to get an assessment on where we are with our employees. It is not to take away from anything that is currently there,” Collins said. “We may not, at this point, bring in a new person tomorrow, unless we need it, but this is where we’re at.” Collins said he supports expanding veterans’ options for health care outside the VA.
(Trump’s VA pick defends hiring freeze amid staffing concerns - Federal News Network)

President Donald Trump’s new executive order reverses former President Joe Biden’s directive that allowed transgender people to serve in the military. Biden’s 2021 executive order revoked Trump’s previous directive that disqualified most transgender people from serving in the military. While Trump didn’t issue a new ban, reversing the Biden-era executive order clears the way for this administration to bar transgender people from serving in the military. In anticipation of another ban, California Representative Sara Jacobs and Illinois Representative Eric Sorensen reintroduced legislation that would prohibit the use of any criteria relating to the race, color, national origin, religion, or sex of an individual when determining a potential recruit’s eligibility to serve.
(Trump revokes Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve - Federal News Network )

President Donald Trump’s first confirmed Cabinet pick starts his first day on the job. Vice President JD Vance swore Secretary of State Marco Rubio sworn into office. Rubio told State Department employees his mission is to get the department moving “at the speed of relevance.” “There's no other agency in the world. There's no other agency in our government than I'd rather lead, because of the talent that's collected here in this room and those watching around the world, that will be our mission, and I hope we'll be able to do it together. There will be changes, but the changes are not meant to be destructive. They're not meant to be punitive," Rubio said.
(Secretary Marco Rubio remarks at his swearing-in - State Department)

The Pentagon is out with a list of officials who will run the Defense Department. While President Donald Trump’s top nominees to run the Pentagon are still awaiting Senate confirmation, a slate of new officials sworn in on Tuesday will help guide the department during the leadership vacuum. The list of officials who will help run the Pentagon includes Joe Kasper, the defense secretary’s chief of staff who previously served as the Department of Homeland Security deputy assistant secretary. Michael Duffey, who was tapped to be the Pentagon’s under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment will serve as his deputy. Unlike top positions, these roles do not require Senate confirmation.
(New officials sworn in to run the Pentagon - Defense Department)