No NPS Director, No FWS Director, No Budget Chief, No Head Of Legal - Interior A Shambles

Last edited Tue Dec 18, 2018, 09:34 AM - Edit history (1)

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's imminent departure aggravates the department's already vexing leadership vacancy problem. Stymied by a slow White House personnel shop, Senate impediments and competing constituencies, among other issues, Interior has lacked confirmed appointees for myriad top positions throughout Zinke's tenure.

A deputy is serving as Interior's senior legal officer. Acting directors have filled in at agencies including the Fish and Wildlife Service. The unconfirmed nominee for top budget officer has been shuffled from one responsibility to another, with no sign that she's nearing a Senate vote. Taken together, Interior's leadership vacancy rate exceeds that of 12 other Cabinet-level departments, according to data compiled by the Partnership for Public Service. Only three other departments have fared worse at filling positions (Greenwire, Nov. 15).

One vacant position, notably, is the director of the National Park Service, for which David Vela has been nominated. Vela's future with Zinke's departure is far from certain. "That is a question that has many twists and depends on whether someone is nominated soon for secretary or they just let Deputy Secretary [David] Bernhardt run the place for a while," former NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis said in an email exchange today.

EDIT

Some positions, such as the director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, have seen nominees named only to be withdrawn later. Other positions, including the assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, have seen no nominee at all. The forced reliance on acting leaders has led some critics to question the legitimacy of certain Interior decisions (Greenwire, Feb. 12). The Federal Vacancies Reform Act states that a person may serve as acting director "for no longer than 210 days beginning on the date the vacancy occurs." This period can be extended an additional 90 days after a "transitional inauguration day," so the maximum tenure of an acting director is 300 days.

EDIT/END

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060109869