The White House has installed two loyalists of President Donald Trump at the federal HR agency, Office of Personnel Management, OPM.
Senior advisors at OPM confirmed to Reuters that Billy Long, Trump’s nominee to run the Internal Revenue Service, and Douglas Hoelscher, a former aide to Trump during his 2017-2021 presidential term, are now serving at agency.
The development comes after allies of tech billionaire Elon Musk blindsided top Trump officials with a surprise government-wide email last month demanding workers summarize five things they achieved at work in the previous week.
Two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the men had started earlier this month.
According to the report, a third source also stated that Long and Hoelscher were brought in to ensure better policy coordination between the White House and the agency.
One of the sources said the arrival of the two men was due in part to an OPM email sent on February 22 titled “What did you do last week?”, that demanded all civilian government employees account for what they had done the previous week.
The email had caused consternation among civil servants and tensions within Trump’s cabinet.
It also frustrated White House officials, who had not signed off on the email.
OPM said in a statement that it was “continuing to bring in top talent to support President Trump’s mission and the federal workforce” and ensure “strong leadership” at the agency.
