The National Park Service is made up of civil service employees, and though they will continue to be called civil service employees, things have changed. Today, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility issued a directive which requires all mid-level and above managers to be approved by a Bush administration political appointee.
Managers must be screened by Park Service headquarters and by the Assistant Secretary for Fish, and Wildlife, and Parks. They must be willing to lead their employees in Bush’s Management Agenda, which includes outsourcing to replace civil servants, the use of faith-based initiatives, and rollbacks of civil service rights.
They must also be able to lead employees in Interior Secretary Gale Norton’s 4 C’s: “communication, consultation, cooperation, all in the name of conservation.” Presumably, they will provide milk and cookies at 3 p.m. every afternoon.
