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White House Chief Usher Gary Walters retired from government this month with some bling in hand: an inscribed gold medal on a blue and white ribbon.

The medal is the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, the highest honor for a career federal employee. President Bush bestowed the award upon Walters at a ceremony in the White House's East Room with 400 guests.

It was a nice touch for Walters, who had overseen the White House since 1986, under four different presidents.

Do you need to oversee the president's meals and laundry to earn highest distinction? No, but you do have to make a name for yourself.

President Eisenhower established the award by executive order in 1957. He made it exclusive from the start: No more than five awards can be given each year. The president selects recipients based on suggestions from the Office of Personnel Management.

"The importance of the achievements to the government and to the public interest shall be so outstanding that the officer or employee is deserving of greater public recognition than that which can be accorded by the head of the department or agency in which he is employed," Eisenhower's order stated.

From 1985 to 2005, only 23 employees received the president's award, according to OPM. This translates to an average of about one a year. With 1.8 million federal employees, the odds aren't good.

Who beat them? In 2005, Steven Cohen, senior adviser at OPM and architect of the Homeland Security Department's new personnel system got one upon retiring after 42 years in government.

In 1998, David "Doc" Cooke, former director of administration and management at the Defense Department who was known as the "Mayor of the Pentagon," got the award. Cooke died four years later in a automobile accident, after 44 years of government service.

One recipient is still in government: Paul Schneider, the new undersecretary for management at DHS. He won the medal in 2000, when he was in charge of Navy acquisitions to the tune of $30 billion and served as acting assistant secretary for eight months. Before that, Schneider headed the Naval Sea Systems Command after beginning his career in 1965 as an engineer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Among former recipients, there are some famous names, including Lawrence Eagleburger, the former secretary of State under the first President Bush. Some more controversial names are on the list, too, such as former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

The medal itself is just a token; it doesn't come with the tens of thousands of dollars that the more common Distinguished and Meritorious Executive awards bring. But it's an exclusive token.

COMMENTS

• After joining the government, to do what I thought would benefit the country, I find that most employees do not care about the country, only themselves. This particularly is true in military areas. We have all kinds of award that represent recognition of individuals. While recognition is meaningful, the government has made it meaningless and a joke as the Wise Old Owl points out. We have awards that use a large amount of personnel's time and effort and are designed to reward ourselves. The military units with too much time and money end up writing the best fiction to win the awards. Likewise, we have a lot of frequent awards that we can award ourselves! I think the government, and in particular the military, would find that awards would be more meaningful if they were eliminated. The people today think of the awards as a joke and waste of time. Therefore, there is an overall negative impact on performance for each award presented, particularly for the self developed awards that recognize service when we all know that the people that get them did nothing special. If you are well-liked, have created no controversy and bow low to those in power - you get an award. taxpayer Posted February 23, 2007 8:16 AM
• Steve Cohen got this award in 2005 for designing DHS' new personnel system? No wonder the federal government is so messed up -- it rewards failure! GovExec.com reader Posted February 22, 2007 12:20 PM
• All, repeat all awards are a joke. They go to the club members and office pets. They are a complete waste of time and money. Stop all of them. No body takes them seriously. Besides, 99% are given in secret because they are all a scandal. GovExec.com reader Posted February 22, 2007 7:58 AM