Janet Petro Update on Executive Orders

Keith’s note: this was sent to NASA employees at 4:30 pm EST today: “As part of my message to you on Monday evening, I committed to transparent communication and sharing what I know. We have received several executive orders that apply to our agency. Specifically, we are tracking directives related to return to in-person work, a federal hiring freeze, reforming the federal hiring process, aligning agency programs with the policy of equal dignity and respect, Senior Executive Service (SES) performance plans, and others.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing guidance for several of these directives, and we expect to receive additional guidance in the coming days and weeks. A full list of executive actions may be found at whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions, and OPM guidance on directives related to human resources can be found on the website for the Chief Human Capital Officers Council at chcoc.gov/transmittals.

President Trump recently issued a Presidential Memorandum (PM) titled “Return to In-Person Work,” the text of which is included below. NASA intends to fully comply.

“Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.

This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law.”

American citizens deserve an excellent and efficient federal workforce that attracts the highest caliber of civil servants. I know the NASA workforce already exceeds those expectations. As we work to fulfill these directives, NASA’s Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer will communicate a process to officials in charge.

As I said in my previous message, our commitment to NASA’s mission remains the same. We all share the aim of ensuring the government of the United States is responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the nation.

Please continue to remain focused on the mission. Right now, we have dozens of spacecraft studying different aspects of our solar system and the distant universe. We have four American astronauts living and working in space, with several crew members on Earth training for upcoming missions. And we have engineers and researchers working on technology development that will advance the future of flight and space exploration.

Thank you for the work you do. I am proud to be part of the NASA team. I know we are capable of doing hard things, and we are ready to lean into the opportunity to grow.

Embrace the Challenge.

Janet Petro”