Friday, January 28, 2011

The Senior Executive Service and the Secret Government

Senior Executive Service Flag

Unknown to many of us "little people" (According to the former CEO of BP, Tony Hayward.) in the world, there is a very large network of seemingly professional individuals that appear to be able to effectively control the United States government from behind-the-scenes, some people can even point out the control of this network over affairs globally. So many of us have heard people say there is a "secret government" before, but do we really think that we've heard everything and have we convinced ourselves that we have our fingers pointed at the correct groups that make it all happen in this "New World Order" we're told we live in now?

It seems that a lot of people have given the seemingly prestigious title of being a "Secret" or "Shadow Government" to groups such as FEMA (DHS) or round-table groups like the Bilderberg group, but when we take a step back to look at it, we're still missing something. A powerful network like this, or a big conspiracy like 9/11 does need a lot of people in key power positions, across the whole span of the US government, with high-level security clearances and plenty of decision making power with oversight capabilities in order to really make things happen in this day and age. But do we have it all figured out?

The same "Reorganization Plan" that brought you FEMA in 1979, also brought you the Office of Personnel Management in 1979, and under that office is the group I am referring to, it's known as the Senior Executive Service, and without it, some of us believe that the September 11th attacks may have never happened the way that they did.

For those without much time to read, here is a brief overview of what the Senior Executive Service is on the surface.

 
Office of Personnel Management Logo

Overview of the Senior Executive Service

Source - Wikipedia 
The Senior Executive Service (SES) is a paygrade in the civil service of the United States federal government, somewhat analogous to the ranks of general or admiral in the U.S. armed forces. It was created in 1979 when the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 went into effect under President Jimmy Carter.

From the Office of Personnel Management:The Senior Executive Service consists of the men and women charged with leading the continuing transformation of government. These leaders possess well-honed executive skills and share a broad perspective of government and a public service commitment which is grounded in the Constitution. The keystone of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the SES was designed to be a corps of executives selected for their leadership qualifications.

Members of the SES serve in the key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. For protocol purposes, SES positions correspond to flag officers (e.g., generals, admirals) in the military. In general, SES members are the major link between the Presidential appointees and the rest of the Federal (civil service) work force. At the executive level, they operate and oversee nearly every government activity in approximately 75 Federal agencies.


Detailed Information on the Senior Executive Service


How were the Office of Personnel Management and Senior Executive Service created?

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Senior Executive Service (SES) were created because of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, but also because of...

Source
Executive Order 12107--Relating to the Civil Service Commission and labor-management in the Federal Service
1-101. Establishment of Office of Personnel Management. The establishment of the Office of Personnel Management and of the positions of Director, Deputy Director, and Associate Directors of that Office, as provided in Sections 101 and 103 of Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1978, shall be effective on January 1, 1979.

Under the "rank-in-the-person" provision of the act, agency heads can move career senior executives into any position for which they are qualified. One provision of the act was the abolishment of the United States Civil Service Commission and the creation of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) and the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). OPM primarily provides management guidance to the various agencies of the executive branch and issues regulations that control federal human resources. FLRA oversees the rights of federal employees to form collective bargaining units (unions) and to engage in collective bargaining with agencies. MSPB conducts studies of the federal civil service and mainly hears the appeals of federal employees who are disciplined or otherwise separated from their positions. This act was an effort to replace incompetent officials.


Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, OPM and SES.

Source
The Civil Service Reform Act of l978 (CSRA) was passed amid much publicity as one of the major domestic accomplishments of the Carter administration. It encompassed a wide variety of management reforms, including creation of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). These new agencies replaced the former U.S. Civil Service Commission. In addition, the CSRA accomplished the following (5) goals:
    1 Established the Senior Executive Service, composed of 8,000 top civil servants having less tenure but greater opportunity for productivity bonuses than under previous classification arrangements. This was seen as a step toward the widely-advocated reform of creating a senior management system in the United States, allowing top managers to be recruited and paid on a basis comparable to and competitive with the private sector.

    2 Established the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) as a federal analogue to the National Labor Relations Board in the private sector, including formalization in law of employees' rights to join unions and engage in collective bargaining on certain subjects.

    3 Established a system of productivity-related merit pay for GS-13 to GS-15 federal employees (those just below the SES levels), financing this through a reduction in previous comparability (cost of living) increases.

    4 Provided explicit protection for "whistle-blowers" and employees calling attention to government malpractices.

    5 Set up experiments giving line managers more control over personnel decisions.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) The OPM was created as an executive agency headed by a presidentially appointed director serving a four-year term, removable by the president. OPM functions may also be delegated to the heads of executive agencies. The OPM is charged with administration of civil service laws, including the conducting of competitive examinations (a function the OPM cannot delegate). The OPM was also given supervision over the Senior Executive Service. Finally, it was given a major research and demonstration role in personnel work.

The Senior Executive Service (SES) was composed of non-presidentially appointed officials above the GS - 15 level of the general personnel schedule and below Level III of the executive schedule. The FBI, CIA, DIA, NSA, GAO, Foreign Service and government corporations' employees are exempt from the SES. For other agencies, the OPM determines the number of SES positions every two years. SES positions need not be staffed by normal career civil service procedures, though the OPM is required to set criteria for judging SES candidates for career positions. Also,no more than l0 percent of all SES positions may be staffed by noncareer appointees and at least 70 percent of SES positions must be filled by individuals having five or more continuous years of civil service experience just before their SES appointment.

A key feature of the SES is the requirement that each agency set up an annual performance review system for each SES employee, in accord with OPM regulations. These performance reviews were to be the basis for either incentive bonuses or possible removal from the SES. Annually up to 5 percent of SES employees were to be named "meritorious executives" and given incentive bonuses of up to $l0,000. Up to l percent were to be designated "distinguished executives" and receive $20,000 bonuses. Other SES employees were to receive up to 20 percent of their base pay for performance awards, though no more than 50 percent of an agency's SES employees could receive such an award in a given year.

Details from the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.

Source
(6) a Senior Executive Service should be established to provide the flexibility needed by agencies
to recruit and retain the highly competent and qualified executives needed to provide more
effective management of agencies and their functions, and the more expeditious administration of
the public business

with respect to an employee in, or applicant for, a covered position in an agency
"(B) 'covered position' means any position in the competitive service, a career appointee position
in the Senior Executive Service, or a position in the excepted service, but does not include --,21
"(i) a position which is excepted from the competitive service because of its confidential, policydetermining, policy-making or policy-advocating character; or
"(ii) any position excluded from the coverage of this section by the President based on a
determination by the President that it is necessary and warranted by conditions of good
administration.
"(iii) the General Accounting Office;
"(2) 'employee' means an individual employed in or under an agency, but does not include --,
"(E) an individual in the Senior Executive Service

" The Senior Executive Service' consists of Senior Executive Service positions (as defined in
section 3132(a)(2) of this title)."

" Section 3131. The Senior Executive Service
"It is the purpose of this subchapter to establish a Senior Executive Service to ensure that the
executive management of the Government of the United States is responsive to the needs,
policies, and goals of the Nation and otherwise is of the highest quality. Th e Senior Executive
Service shall be administered so as to--,
"(1) provide for a compensation system, including salaries, benefits, and incentives, and for other
conditions of employment, designed to attract and retain highly competent senior executives;
"(2) ensure that compensation, retention, and tenure are contingent on executive success which
is measured on the basis of individual and organizational performance (including such factors as
improvements in efficiency, productivity, quality of work or servi ce, cost efficiency, and timeliness
of performance and success in meeting equal employment opportunity goals);
"(3) assure that senior executives are accountable and responsible for the effectiveness and
productivity of employees under78
them;
"(4) recognize exceptional accomplishment;
"(5) enable the head of an agency to reassign senior executives to best accomplish the agency's
mission;
"(6) provide for severance pay, early retirement, and placement assistance for senior executives
who are removed from the Senior Executive Service for nondisciplinary reasons;
"(7) protect senior executives from arbitrary or capricious actions;
"(8) provide for program continuity and policy advocacy in the management of public programs;
"(9) maintain a merit personnel system free of prohibited personnel practices;
"(10) ensure accountability for honest, economical, and efficent Government;
"(11) ensure compliance with all applicable civil service laws, rules, and regulations, including
those related to equal employment opportunity, political activity, and conflicts of interest;
"(12) provide for the initial and continuing systematic development of highly competent senior
executives;
"(13) provide for an executive system which is guided by the public interest and free from
improper political interference; and
"(14) appoint career executives to fill Senior Executive Service positions to the extent practicable,
consistent with the effective and efficient implementation of agency policies and responsibilities

"(2) ' Senior Executive Service position' means any position in an agency which is in GS-16, 17,
or 18 of the General Schedule or in level IV or V of the Executive Schedule
or an equivalent position, which is not required to be filled by an appointment by the President by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and in which an employee--,
"(A) directs the work of an organizational unit;
"(B) is held accountable for the success of one or more specific programs or projects;
"(C) monitors progress toward organizational goals and periodically evaluates and makes
appropriate adjustments to such goals;
"(D) supervises the work of employees other than personal assistants; or
"(E) otherwise exercises important policy-making, policy-determining, or other executive
functions; but does not include--,
"(i) any position in the Foreign Service of the United States;
"(ii) an administrative law judge position under section 3105 of this title; or
"(iii) any position in the Drug Enforcement Administration which is excluded from the competitive
service under section 201 of the Crime Control Act of 1976 (5 U.S.C. 5108 note; 90 Stat. 2425);



Charter Members and other information



Source
L.Vaughn Blankenship, Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Management (1962)
Cornell University
He was appointed as a charter member of the U.S. Senior Executive Service by President Jimmy Carter in 1976 (TYPO?) and served in executive level managerial positions at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and the National Science Foundation.

Source
July 1979-Present
Dr. Jay Paul Boris

Source
Mary Dixon

Source
E. Quinton Gordon

Source
Joseph Fuller, Jr.

Source
Dr. Fred Saalfeld Ph.D.

Source
Philip Schaenman

Source
Kristine Marcy (Is she married? Why the name change?)

Source
Lawrence Paul Dube (Deceased)

Source
Richard Staufenberger Ph.D.
In 1988, Staufenberger was one of six senior federal executives chosen as charter members in the Senior Executive Service fellowship program. The program was created to recognize and reward top-level federal career employees who have made significant contributions to the development of employees in their agencies.

Source
Article: `Burrowing In' to GovernmentArticle
from:The Washington Post Article
date:November 23, 1992
Political appointees are "burrowing in" to government, "converting" to career status in unprecedented numbers, according to reports in the press. This is a vastly overstated story and one that is always overblown when political administrations change {Federal Page, Nov. 20}. The fact is that between July 1979 and September 1992, only 118 non-career (political) senior executives were approved for entry into the Career Senior Executive Service. In addition, as I recently reported to a congressional subcommittee, only a handful of recent political appointees have moved to career civil service positions. From April 1, 1991, to Aug. 31, 1992, only three political appointees out of …

Source
Philip L. Verveer
In 1979, Ambassador Verveer became a charter member of the Senior Executive Service and in 1980 received the Distinguished Presidential Rank award.

Source
John (Ed) Poppell

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There will be more to come on the Senior Executive Service and the possible exploitation of the SES for criminal purposes, including the September 11th attacks.


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