The chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Joseph Lieberman, ID-Conn., has sent a letter to OPM acting director Michael Hager seeking information on the potential late transfer of political appointees to career government positions, referring to the practice as "burrowing in."
The letter follows up on an OPM briefing on the matter and requests details for each agency about conversions of non-career employees to career employees "to ensure that every request to burrow in is transparent, fair and equitable, and free from political influence."
A March 2008 memo from OPM required agencies to submit documentation for each conversion including the appointee’s agency, current position, and proposed position.
Lieberman has asked OPM for all related data from April 2008 through the present for the committee’s review.
