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Civil Service Accountability Act

Establishing Professional Standards and Accountability in the Federal Civil Service

Published February 2026

Based on Rev 1.3 of the Civil Service Accountability Act

Overview

The Civil Service Accountability Act (CSAA) transforms the federal civil service from a politicized patronage system into a professional meritocracy modeled on the United States military officer corps. The United States currently authorizes approximately 4,000 political appointments scattered throughout the executive branch -- though no modern administration has ever functionally staffed more than approximately 2,000-2,100 of those positions. Even at operational levels, this represents dramatically more political appointments than peer democracies such as the United Kingdom (100), Germany (50), and Canada (150). This over-politicization creates institutional amnesia with each administration change, enables revolving-door corruption, and produces the dysfunction that fuels "deep state" concerns.

The CSAA addresses these problems by applying the same principles that make America's military the most effective in the world: professional expertise under civilian control, merit-based advancement, fixed terms spanning administrations, transparent accountability, and non-partisan service to the Constitution. Just as Americans trust career military officers to defend the nation while executing civilian directives, the CSAA establishes trust in career civil servants to serve the nation under democratic leadership.

Key Components

  • Three-Tier Professional Structure -- Establishes a civil service organized like the military: Senior Professional Service (CS-1 to CS-3) for strategic leadership, Professional Civil Service Officer Corps (CS-4 to CS-10) for operational management, and Career Civil Service (CS-11 to CS-15) for foundational workforce.

  • Senior Professional Service -- Creates fixed-term positions at Deputy Secretary (6 years), Undersecretary (5 years), and Assistant Secretary (career) levels with tiered confirmation -- full Senate confirmation for CS-1, committee confirmation with 60-day default approval for CS-2, and professional merit panel selection for CS-3 -- providing institutional continuity across administrations.

  • Political Appointment Limits -- Right-sizes political appointments from approximately 4,000 authorized positions to approximately 1,000 (1.25% of the senior policy and management workforce) through an evidence-based formula with a floor of 1.0% (~800) and ceiling of 1.5% (~1,200), grounded in what administrations actually staff rather than aspirational targets.

  • Professional Recommendation and Political Override Framework -- Establishes a structured process where professional merit panels recommend candidates for SPS positions, with documented political override authority requiring written justification and triggering automatic escalation to strengthened Inspectors General and congressional oversight committees.

  • Enhanced Revolving Door Restrictions -- Implements 5-year bans on lobbying, employment with regulated entities, and employment with contractors for senior officers, with meaningful enforcement including civil penalties, criminal prosecution, and pension forfeiture.

  • Accountability Mechanisms -- Requires public performance reviews for senior officers, strengthens Inspector General oversight with merit-based selection, fixed terms, and for-cause removal protections, mandates Congressional testimony, and establishes comprehensive whistleblower protections.

  • Merit-Based Systems -- Replaces political loyalty tests with competitive examination, performance evaluation, and career advancement based on excellence rather than patronage.

  • For-Cause Removal -- Preserves presidential removal authority while requiring documented cause and due process, preventing arbitrary political purges while enabling removal of incompetent or unethical officers.

  • Structured Severability -- Drafts each SPS tier's protections as self-contained units with explicit fallback provisions, ensuring that if any provision is held unconstitutional, remaining provisions continue to operate independently.

Documentation

The full legislative text provides complete statutory language. Supporting documents include Policy Rationale, International Comparative Analysis, Constitutional and Legal Analysis, and Economic Analysis.

📄 Download this document (opens on GitHub -- click the ⬇ download button)

Prepared by Albert Ramos for The American Policy Architecture Institute