Despite its having been moved indoors, Monday’s inauguration was a typically impressive event. Presidential inaugurations carry the accoutrements of coronations — choruses, bells, motorcades of splendid vehicles, the elite of politics and entertainment and, in President Donald Trump’s case, business. Witness the Apple guy, Facebook guy and the Tesla guy all standing close by.

Even people, like Americans, who decisively reject the notion of royalty, nevertheless retain the instinct of investing momentous change with pageantry.

Then things got down to business. Watching the something like 200 executive orders and actions Trump signed since the swearing-in, I felt like should have invested in Sharpie futures. No dainty Cross rollerball for 47.

People come and go at these times. It’s a phenomenon that normally has little effect on the day-to-day work of the average civil servant.

Some comings and goings have landed right in our Federal News Network studios. Andy Fois was the director of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS). He hosted an interesting show on our airwaves. But as a political appointee, he’s now out. One of my Federal Drive regulars, sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen, has headed into the government. He’ll be running the Office of Governmentwide Policy at the General Services Administration.

It’s what happens in Washington.

Nonpartisan activities can also freeze up. AFCEA’s Bethesda, Maryland chapter had to indefinitely postpone a big federal health information technology conference that was to occur next week. I was looking forward to moderating one of the panels. The topic was cybersecurity, and I assure you nothing related to RFK Jr.’s opinions on vaccines or gain-of-function research was on the question list. But the administration put a clamp on public communications by health-related agencies. So the dozens of federal participants had to express regrets at the last minute.

I just hope AFCEA can get out of the Washington Hilton catering order.

For career feds, the environment seems to have changed more drastically than usual for a change in administration. Many federal employees must feel like freshwater fish when the water has turned saline. It feels like a whole different environment. Outside of the predictable changes that go with new administrations, the Trump team is following through on some out-of-band changes.

No one should be surprised, though. For months, Trump has clearly signaled what he planned to do.

I spent some time at the radically made-over White House website. That’s a story in and of itself. All information about past administrations is gone. Visitors have only three menu choices: news, the administration and issues. There’s a brief history of the White House itself, the building. Also of Camp David and the presidential 747. That’s the only evidence you can find that the nation has had presidents before President Trump.

Prior whitehouse.govs have had nonpolitical thumbnail pictures and brief accounts of prior administrations. You could find links to White House agencies such as the Office of Management and Budget. I expect the Trump public affairs people to add all that back in. The site now looks like something prepared in advance and slipped in quickly under the URL at 12:00:00:59 on Monday.

Still, you can find fast-loading links to all of the executive orders and actions. If you’re a senior executive, one document tells agencies to rethink this important element of the workforce. It states, “Because SES officials wield significant governmental authority, they must serve at the pleasure of the President.” SES members will get new performance plans. Appointees will chair executive resource boards. A little perspective: Then-new President Obama in 2009 instructed agencies to have appointees make up half of an agency’s ERB.

And, of course, Schedule F has returned. It has a new name: Schedule Policy/Career. It will encompass many more people than SESers. Recall that Schedule F was launched just a few weeks before the end of the first Trump administration.

That executive order, although reinstated, now includes (among numerous updates) this language: “Employees in or applicants for Schedule Policy/Career positions are not required to personally or politically support the current President or the policies of the current administration. They are required to faithfully implement administration policies to the best of their ability, consistent with their constitutional oath and the vesting of executive authority solely in the President. Failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.”

This is what career civil servants are supposed to do anyway. Coupled with the DOGE efforts and rhetoric, though, you’ve got cause for unease about what’s really going on.

Also as expected, Trump signed a return-to-office EO. Only a single paragraph, it includes the proviso that it “shall be implemented consistent with applicable law.” One law already on the books: the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act. Flexible scheduling goes back to the 1970s with the advent of the 4-day X 10-hour plan.

People ought to collaborate more in person, but I don’t even think Russ Vought expects everyone to trudge to the office Monday through Friday. If telework returns to pre-pandemic levels, well that didn’t drive thousands of federal employees to quit.

Trump’s gambits, like those of his predecessors, will end up burnished by statute and regulation. The rhetoric has been threatening, perhaps. Yet it’s a time for calm minds and deep breathing. And consider this: I spoke to one retired senior executive who served several administrations at high levels. She advised maybe asking your new political precisely what the agenda is and what do they want to do? Then realize you and your career colleagues are the ones who can actually make it happen. If it’s not illegal and immoral, is that so bad?

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