'Federal Bureaucrats Grapple with Decision to Stay or Go as Trump Election Looms: "We Know What Is Coming"'
Key agencies are preparing for a surge of departures in the upcoming months, as concerns grow among civil servants that they and their work may be targeted by the Trump White House.
TroibNews 
Thousands of federal bureaucrats have experienced one Donald Trump administration and many are uncertain they can endure a second.
PMG spoke with more than a dozen civil servants, political appointees under President Joe Biden, and recently departed Biden administration staffers who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussion and potential risks to their positions. Many are anticipating a wave of departures from crucial federal agencies in the near future, fueled by concerns that the next president will slash budgets, reverse policy agendas, and personally target those who do not demonstrate adequate loyalty. This could lead to a significant brain drain within the federal workforce — a scenario that Trump might welcome.
“Last time Trump was in office, we were all in survival mode with a hope for an end date,” said one State Department official. “Now there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”
The former president and his supporters harbor deep distrust toward the executive branch bureaucracy and its more than 2 million civil servants, believing a federal “deep state” attempted to undermine him during his first term and fueled impeachment efforts against him. During his presidency, Trump appointed political allies across various agencies in an effort to shake things up, and he will have the opportunity to nominate individuals for approximately 4,000 political positions throughout his administration once again. In 2021, his White House initiated a campaign to facilitate the firing of civil servants to replace them with political appointees, a strategy he is expected to revive upon his return in January. Additionally, he has threatened to relocate thousands of federal jobs outside of Washington, D.C.
Responding to a question about the future of the federal workforce, Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stated, “President-Elect Trump will begin making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration soon. Those decisions will be announced when they are made."
Trump’s policy priorities sharply contrast with the core missions of several agencies under Biden.
Several Biden political appointees at Department of Transportation headquarters expressed dismay over the potential for a Trump administration to roll back much of their work from the past four years, including airline consumer protections and extensive infrastructure investments.
“There’s a lot of anxiety among Biden appointees, like myself, who need to find new jobs — and also among career staff who are worried about Trump trying to remove career civil servants who had a policymaking role,” a DOT official told PMG.
“I am glad that I am retiring soon. … EPA is toast,” remarked a staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency, whose efforts to combat climate change are in direct conflict with Trump’s "drill, baby, drill" energy policy.
Many officials, however, are grappling with the conflicting desires to remain in government and uphold the mission of their agencies.
“We do our best to make sure either administration does what's legal,” a Department of Homeland Security staffer in a legal office commented. “If I leave, I’d be replaced with an enabler.”
The apprehension concerning Trump’s return is particularly strong among national security officials, environmental agencies, and federal health agencies, who worry the president-elect will follow through on his promise to allow noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to "go wild on health."
In his victory speech early Wednesday morning, Trump reiterated that promise. “He’s going to help make America healthy again. … He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him get to it,” Trump said.
On Wednesday, Kennedy made media appearances stating he would not seek to halt vaccinations.
Despite this, a current staffer at the National Institutes of Health shared that concerns regarding the future of vaccine research are growing within the agency as the new administration approaches.
NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli seemed to resonate with those fears in an email sent to agency staff on Wednesday. “With the 2024 election day now behind us, I want to acknowledge that change can leave us feeling uncertain,” she wrote.
“I do not want to dismiss those feelings, but I do want to remind everyone that throughout our 137-year history, the NIH mission has remained steadfast, and our staff committed to the important work of biomedical research in the service of public health.”
A former Food and Drug Administration official told PMG that Kennedy's claims of significant influence over health agencies during Trump's second term could significantly increase the risk of career staff leaving the agency responsible for drug oversight and food safety.
“The agency personnel are concerned, especially in light of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements and his potential role at the agency,” said the former official. “The reality of that is something the agency has to grapple with.”
"They're worried, they've been through transitions before so they clearly understand how to do that, but they read the news, the same as you and me," said a separate former senior FDA official. "I think it's a lot of RFK-driven stuff."
Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention express concern that under Trump, the public health agency — which played a crucial role in the Covid-19 response — faces “a target on its back,” according to one individual familiar with the agency.
Republicans have laid out explicit plans for changes to the CDC — including the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which proposes to split the agency into two. Many conservatives, including Trump’s former FDA commissioner, advocate for narrowing the CDC's focus primarily to disease control.
“What is very clear is that in 2016, Trump was completely unprepared, and now he has a plan, and public health is right smack in the middle of it,” the individual stated.
A national security analyst who recently departed the Biden administration conveyed similar concerns, noting that many civil servants are more apprehensive about serving in a second Trump administration after their previous experiences.
“People are sad and frightened. And what makes it worse is this time we know what is coming. It isn't theoretical. It is real,” the analyst said.
“At State in particular, it is going hard to overstate how targeted people, career officers will be," they added. "There will be no grace.”
However, not everyone shares that grim outlook. “I actually don’t see the freak-out yet, maybe it will come when the transition begins in earnest, but the folks I’ve talked to seem to have a pretty sober take that Trump’s victory means we carry out his policies,” another State Department official observed. “If people disagree with those policies, nobody will hold anything against anyone that opts to leave.”
A Health and Human Services official who has served under both Republican and Democratic administrations noted that while many employees are unsettled by the election results, the overall atmosphere in her office this week is, “Business as usual. Keep on working. It is what it is.”
She is attempting to find a silver lining in the Trump administration’s mixed record on health care.
“There are sometimes weird synergies,” she remarked. “Like under the first Trump administration, Scott Gottlieb was a very strong tobacco control advocate, and the Center for Tobacco Products was actually able to do more than they could under the Obama administration.”
“So I'm asking myself: Are there pathways to work with people that you disagree with and despise?”
Michael Doyle, Kevin Bogardus, and Hannah Northey contributed to this report.
Debra A Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
PMG spoke with more than a dozen civil servants, political appointees under President Joe Biden, and recently departed Biden administration staffers who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussion and potential risks to their positions. Many are anticipating a wave of departures from crucial federal agencies in the near future, fueled by concerns that the next president will slash budgets, reverse policy agendas, and personally target those who do not demonstrate adequate loyalty. This could lead to a significant brain drain within the federal workforce — a scenario that Trump might welcome.
“Last time Trump was in office, we were all in survival mode with a hope for an end date,” said one State Department official. “Now there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”
The former president and his supporters harbor deep distrust toward the executive branch bureaucracy and its more than 2 million civil servants, believing a federal “deep state” attempted to undermine him during his first term and fueled impeachment efforts against him. During his presidency, Trump appointed political allies across various agencies in an effort to shake things up, and he will have the opportunity to nominate individuals for approximately 4,000 political positions throughout his administration once again. In 2021, his White House initiated a campaign to facilitate the firing of civil servants to replace them with political appointees, a strategy he is expected to revive upon his return in January. Additionally, he has threatened to relocate thousands of federal jobs outside of Washington, D.C.
Responding to a question about the future of the federal workforce, Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stated, “President-Elect Trump will begin making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration soon. Those decisions will be announced when they are made."
Trump’s policy priorities sharply contrast with the core missions of several agencies under Biden.
Several Biden political appointees at Department of Transportation headquarters expressed dismay over the potential for a Trump administration to roll back much of their work from the past four years, including airline consumer protections and extensive infrastructure investments.
“There’s a lot of anxiety among Biden appointees, like myself, who need to find new jobs — and also among career staff who are worried about Trump trying to remove career civil servants who had a policymaking role,” a DOT official told PMG.
“I am glad that I am retiring soon. … EPA is toast,” remarked a staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency, whose efforts to combat climate change are in direct conflict with Trump’s "drill, baby, drill" energy policy.
Many officials, however, are grappling with the conflicting desires to remain in government and uphold the mission of their agencies.
“We do our best to make sure either administration does what's legal,” a Department of Homeland Security staffer in a legal office commented. “If I leave, I’d be replaced with an enabler.”
The apprehension concerning Trump’s return is particularly strong among national security officials, environmental agencies, and federal health agencies, who worry the president-elect will follow through on his promise to allow noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to "go wild on health."
In his victory speech early Wednesday morning, Trump reiterated that promise. “He’s going to help make America healthy again. … He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him get to it,” Trump said.
On Wednesday, Kennedy made media appearances stating he would not seek to halt vaccinations.
Despite this, a current staffer at the National Institutes of Health shared that concerns regarding the future of vaccine research are growing within the agency as the new administration approaches.
NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli seemed to resonate with those fears in an email sent to agency staff on Wednesday. “With the 2024 election day now behind us, I want to acknowledge that change can leave us feeling uncertain,” she wrote.
“I do not want to dismiss those feelings, but I do want to remind everyone that throughout our 137-year history, the NIH mission has remained steadfast, and our staff committed to the important work of biomedical research in the service of public health.”
A former Food and Drug Administration official told PMG that Kennedy's claims of significant influence over health agencies during Trump's second term could significantly increase the risk of career staff leaving the agency responsible for drug oversight and food safety.
“The agency personnel are concerned, especially in light of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements and his potential role at the agency,” said the former official. “The reality of that is something the agency has to grapple with.”
"They're worried, they've been through transitions before so they clearly understand how to do that, but they read the news, the same as you and me," said a separate former senior FDA official. "I think it's a lot of RFK-driven stuff."
Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention express concern that under Trump, the public health agency — which played a crucial role in the Covid-19 response — faces “a target on its back,” according to one individual familiar with the agency.
Republicans have laid out explicit plans for changes to the CDC — including the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which proposes to split the agency into two. Many conservatives, including Trump’s former FDA commissioner, advocate for narrowing the CDC's focus primarily to disease control.
“What is very clear is that in 2016, Trump was completely unprepared, and now he has a plan, and public health is right smack in the middle of it,” the individual stated.
A national security analyst who recently departed the Biden administration conveyed similar concerns, noting that many civil servants are more apprehensive about serving in a second Trump administration after their previous experiences.
“People are sad and frightened. And what makes it worse is this time we know what is coming. It isn't theoretical. It is real,” the analyst said.
“At State in particular, it is going hard to overstate how targeted people, career officers will be," they added. "There will be no grace.”
However, not everyone shares that grim outlook. “I actually don’t see the freak-out yet, maybe it will come when the transition begins in earnest, but the folks I’ve talked to seem to have a pretty sober take that Trump’s victory means we carry out his policies,” another State Department official observed. “If people disagree with those policies, nobody will hold anything against anyone that opts to leave.”
A Health and Human Services official who has served under both Republican and Democratic administrations noted that while many employees are unsettled by the election results, the overall atmosphere in her office this week is, “Business as usual. Keep on working. It is what it is.”
She is attempting to find a silver lining in the Trump administration’s mixed record on health care.
“There are sometimes weird synergies,” she remarked. “Like under the first Trump administration, Scott Gottlieb was a very strong tobacco control advocate, and the Center for Tobacco Products was actually able to do more than they could under the Obama administration.”
“So I'm asking myself: Are there pathways to work with people that you disagree with and despise?”
Michael Doyle, Kevin Bogardus, and Hannah Northey contributed to this report.
Debra A Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
