Killing the Presidential Management Fellows program threatens the future of federal labor

After nearly 50 years and eight different executive administrations, including an even split of Democratic and Republican Presidents, the Presidential Management Fellows program is dead. 

Created by executive order in 1977, the federal career leadership pathway has ended with a Trump administration order signed on Feb. 19 to “promptly terminate” the program. Though not surprising given recent federal cullings, the order still shocks considering the program’s historical success and critical import to the nation’s labor force. Its termination is a disservice to the public and a strategic mistake. 

In concept and practice, the two-year fellowship fields recent advanced degree graduates for leadership careers in civil service. The fellowship is highly competitive: the selection rate for the 2024 class was just 11%. The PMF Class of 2022, selected during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, saw a record number of more than 8,000 applicants.

As one of the 8% of military veterans selected in the 2022 class, I traveled to Washington, D.C., in early 2023 to attend the Leadership Development Program, the first in-person PMF training held after lockdowns. I met dozens of fellow selectees over three days of networking, interactive study, and group exercises focused on equipping some of the nation’s top talent for future service. 

I encountered a talented, bright, and selfless group of nonpartisans, excited to launch a career committed to ideals bigger than themselves, a common thread of patriotism I recognized in the men and women I served with in the military. While some PMFs were veterans with years of career experience, the vast majority were ambitious young Master’s and PhD graduates entering the workforce for the first time. With student loan debt in most cases, these PMFs willingly chose federal positions with salaries far below their peers in the private sector with the hope of long-term stability as civil servants. Most Fellows enter at the GS-9 pay rate, which in 2022 equaled $61,946.68 annually for the D.C. locale. That same year, the median salary for 25- to 34-year-old advanced degree holders was $80,200. 

At a time when the health of the federal workforce is worsening, a student pathway program like the PMF is crucial to the U.S. long-term succession plan. The federal workforce has shifted progressively older in recent years. More civil servants are retirement-eligible, and fewer young Americans are entering. A recent study showed less than 9% of federal employees are under 30, though that age group makes up 22.7% of all workers. Last year, a McChrystal Group insight piece warned that not strengthening the future federal workforce could pose national security threats. 

PMF participants join with highly specialized degrees across broad discipline areas like public health, infrastructure, STEM, and the humanities. Several Fellows I met were involved directly in national security work. One of the most popular and competitive PMF assignments is as a foreign affairs officer at the State Department. 

Many PMF positions, including mine, required security clearances due to the sensitive nature of work. During my time at the PMF leadership training in D.C., a specialized PhD fellow in my cohort of a dozen PMFs had to leave early to brief a senior official, a former PMF themselves, in the Defense secretary’s office at the Pentagon. 

Terminating the PMF program jeopardizes the government’s ability to retain and field talent for the federal workforce. The U.S. continues to face a general decline in propensity toward national service and eliminating a feeder program for high-achieving and intrinsically motivated citizens will only exacerbate the situation, giving young Americans even more reason to seek careers outside of public service.  

Cutting the PMF program is a vital error. The program’s termination will present harmful effects that will only become known with time. Whether Fellows remain in federal careers or transition to the private sector, their contributions to the American people are of great value. And once impressed with the ideals of public service, even those who transition to the private sector often maintain connections with and affinity for those in public service. The PMF program is a national asset and blue chip investment for the future. For the sake of hard-working Americans looking for ways to use their skills for the public good, to strengthen our country, reopen the door.  

Jon Hemler is a former Presidential Management Fellow and naval officer. Following 10 years of combined military and civil service, he currently works in private industry as a defense market analyst at Forecast International, a GovExec subsidiary.