Research & Writing
My work spans peer-reviewed academic research and policy analysis on presidential personnel, executive branch performance, and governance reform—examining both why presidents make the choices they do and what those choices cost.
Across both, a consistent finding: the tools presidents use to maximize control over agencies often undermine the very capacity they need to govern. Understanding that tension is at the center of my research.
Selected Work
"Quiet Chaos: Record Turnover in the Second Trump Administration." Partnership for Public Service, July 2026.
Documents record departures of Senate-confirmed officials paired with a historically slow pace of nominations, leaving more of the government in the hands of acting officials who never face Senate confirmation. Twenty-seven confirmed officials within Cabinet departments—more than one in nine—have departed in the first 18 months, nearly two and a half times Trump's first-term pace and over six times the Bush–Obama–Biden average. Those who left served an average of just eight months, barely longer than the five they waited to be confirmed. Meanwhile Trump has made fewer nominations than any president since Reagan, feeding a widening set of vacancies he can fill without the Senate's advice and consent—a dynamic the piece argues demands reform of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
"Schedule Policy/Career Extends Beyond Policy Roles, Stripping Job Protections from Legal, Budget, Human Resources and Independent-Agency Personnel." Partnership for Public Service, June 2026.
Documents how the administration's June 3 executive order strips civil service protections from more than 4,800 positions, making the employees who occupy them fireable at-will, and uses the order's appendix to show the new Schedule Policy/Career reaching well beyond policymaking. More than 1,100 of the converted positions are attorneys, human resources specialists and budget officers—the legal, personnel and financial control functions agencies depend on to operate lawfully—alongside 452 positions across 13 independent boards and commissions Congress structured to be insulated from presidential control. Concentrated in bureaus already thinned by career Senior Executive Service losses, the conversions operate less as a tool for policy responsiveness than as a mechanism for extending political control over the management of federal agencies, with consequences that will be felt far beyond this administration.
“Dismantling Independence: Legal, Compositional and Normative Erosion across Federal Boards and Commissions.” Partnership for Public Service, April 2026.
Documents how the Trump administration has simultaneously attacked the legal, compositional, and normative foundations of independent federal boards and commissions. Trump has fired or attempted to fire 20 members with statutory for-cause protections and 16 Democratic members across partisan-balanced bodies — leaving nearly 40% without any opposition-party representation. Pending Supreme Court decisions could eliminate for-cause protections for most independent bodies, but even a favorable ruling would not reverse the broader damage: the refusal to nominate replacements, the collapse of bipartisan confirmation norms, and the consolidation of these institutions under single-party control are already producing consequences that will outlast any court ruling.
“The Politicization of Federal Leadership: Record Non-Senate Confirmed Presidential Appointments and the Hollowing Out of Career Leadership.” Partnership for Public Service, March 2026.
Documents a simultaneous and unprecedented shift in federal leadership: a record level of non-Senate confirmed political appointees—the most in 40 years—alongside a nearly 30% collapse in career Senior Executive Service leadership, the lowest level since at least 1998. Together, these trends are hollowing out the expertise and institutional memory agencies need to function, and new appointment categories like Schedule Policy/Career and Schedule G threaten to push them further.
“Assessing President Trump’s Second-Term Staffing Record.” Brookings Institution, January 2026. With Kathryn Dunn Tenpas.
Finds that Trump’s second term reflects deliberate lessons from his first: faster staffing through better transition planning, greater staff stability driven by a loyalty-above-all approach to vetting, and aggressive use of removal power—firing inspectors general, independent board members, and career officials—to dismantle the institutional guardrails designed to constrain presidential overreach.
“Measuring the Impact of Appointee Vacancies on U.S. Federal Agency Performance.” Journal of Politics, 2025. With Mark Richardson and David E. Lewis.
Uses an original survey-based measure of agency performance to show that persistent leadership vacancies are systematically associated with lower agency effectiveness—with agencies lacking confirmed leadership scoring roughly one standard deviation below those with consistent confirmed leadership, even after accounting for partisan differences in how performance is defined.
Policy Analysis and Reports
The policy analysis below spans more than 25 publications across four interconnected areas. Together they form a sustained research agenda on how executive branch leadership is structured, contested, and reformed.
Presidential Staffing & Nominations
Tracking how presidents build their teams, with regular analysis of nomination pace, confirmation rates, and staffing patterns across administrations.
“Quiet Chaos: Record Turnover in the Second Trump Administration.” Partnership for Public Service. July 2026.
“Trump’s revolving door returns.” University of Virginia Miller Center. With Kathryn Dunn Tenpas. April 2026.
“Fewer Nominees, Easier Confirmations: Trump’s Personnel Landscape at 400 Days.” Partnership for Public Service. February 2026.
“Assessing President Trump’s Second-Term Staffing Record.” Brookings Institution. With Kathryn Dunn Tenpas. January 2026.
“Momentum Lost: Taking Stock of Trump’s Nominations at the 300-Day Mark.” Brookings Institution. November 2025.
“Nominees on the Run: An Early Outlier in Trump’s Second Term.” Brookings Institution. November 2025.
“All the President’s Nominations: Taking Stock at the 200-Day Mark.” Brookings Institution. August 2025.
“Evaluating Presidential Personnel and the Senate Confirmation Process in the First 100 Days.” Partnership for Public Service. May 2025.
“Personnel Opportunities and Challenges for Trump’s Second Term.” Partnership for Public Service. January 2025.
“Presidential Appointments Are Hard to Track — and Growing.” Partnership for Public Service. With Paul Hitlin. September 2024.
“Layered Leadership: Examining How Political Appointments Stack Up at Federal Agencies.” Partnership for Public Service. February 2024.
Senate Confirmation
Research and reform recommendations on a process that has become slower, more contested, and more consequential for government performance.
“Will the New Senate Rule Make It Easier for Presidents to Confirm Their Teams?” Brookings Institution. With Kathryn Dunn Tenpas. October 2025.
“Ready, Set…Wait: Nominee Experiences through the Senate Confirmation Process.” Partnership for Public Service. With Husam AlZubaidy and Mary Monti. April 2025.
“Confirming the Cabinet: Historical Trends of Cabinet Secretary Confirmations Across the Last Five Presidential Administrations.” Partnership for Public Service. January 2025.
“Ripe for Reform: Recommendations for a More Effective Senate Confirmation Process.” Partnership for Public Service. August 2024.
“Empty Seats: Slow Senate Confirmation Process Leaves Many Part-Time Boards and Commissions with Vacancies.” Partnership for Public Service. December 2023.
“The Broken Senate Confirmation Process Is Eating Up Precious Floor Time.” Partnership for Public Service. September 2023.
Vacancies & Acting Officials
Examining the costs of leaving federal leadership positions unfilled—and how presidents, Congress, and the public respond.
“Recent Academic Research Confirms Detrimental Effects of Leadership Vacancies on Federal Agency Performance.” Partnership for Public Service. December 2024.
“The Basics of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act for New Administrations.” Partnership for Public Service. December 2024.
“Federal Vacancies Guide.” Partnership for Public Service. August 2024.
“Persistently Vacant: Critical Federal Leadership Positions Go Unfilled for Years.” Partnership for Public Service. With Dylan Torres. July 2024.
“Taking Stock of the Vacancy Crisis Across Cabinet Departments.” Partnership for Public Service. April 2024.
Federal Workforce & Politicization
Analysis of how political control is expanding across the executive branch — reshaping the civil service, undermining independent oversight, and eroding institutional guardrails over policymaking, adjudication, and capacity.
“Oversight diminished: Federal watchdogs are conducting less oversight as their staffs shrink.” Partnership for Public Service. With Jaron León. July 2026.
“Schedule Policy/Career extends beyond policy roles, stripping job protections from legal, budget, human resources and independent-agency personnel.” Partnership for Public Service. June 2026.
“Precedent abandoned: The spread of political appointments into federal functions historically led by career officials.” Partnership for Public Service. May 2026.
“Mission at risk: The politicization of leadership at national security and law enforcement agencies.” Partnership for Public Service. May 2026.
“Expertise replaced: The politicization of environmental, health and science agencies.” Partnership for Public Service. May 2026.
“Dismantling Independence: Legal, Compositional and Normative Erosion across Federal Boards and Commissions.” Partnership for Public Service. April 2026.
“Weakening the Watchdogs: The Trump Administration’s Unprecedented Efforts to Undermine Inspector General Capacity.” Partnership for Public Service. April 2026.
“The Politicization of Federal Leadership: Record Non-Senate Confirmed Presidential Appointments and the Hollowing Out of Career Leadership.” Partnership for Public Service. March 2026.
“What Schedule Policy/Career Means for the Federal Workforce.” Partnership for Public Service. February 2026.
“At-Will Employment: What the Federal Government Can Learn from States.” Partnership for Public Service. January 2026.
“President Trump’s Firing of Inspectors General Threatens Government Accountability and Efficiency.” Partnership for Public Service. October 2025.
Additional Writing
“LGBTQ+ Service in the Executive Branch.” Partnership for Public Service. June 2024.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
These five papers form a connected body of work examining presidential appointment strategy, its consequences for agency performance, and the limits of public accountability in the modern administrative state.
Piper, Christopher, Mark Richardson, and David E. Lewis. 2025. “Measuring the Impact of Appointee Vacancies on U.S. Federal Agency Performance.” Journal of Politics, 87(2): 680–95.
Uses an original survey-based measure of agency performance to show that leadership vacancies are robustly associated with lower agency effectiveness, even controlling for partisan differences in how performance is defined.
Piper, Christopher and David R. Miller. 2024. “Acting(s) without Consequence: The (Lack of) Public Costs for Vacancies and Acting Officials.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, 54(2): 144–61.
Three survey experiments show that the public imposes little cost on presidents for relying on acting officials—raising concerns about the limits of democratic accountability in the administrative state.
Piper, Christopher. 2022. “Presidential Strategy Amidst the ‘Broken’ Appointments Process.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, 52(4): 843–74.
Analyzes how presidents strategically deploy acting officials and nominations, finding that presidents concentrate non-default acting officials in ideologically opposed agencies and campaign-priority positions—using acting appointments as a deliberate instrument of control rather than a temporary fix.
Piper, Christopher and David E. Lewis. 2022. “Do Vacancies Hurt Federal Agency Performance?” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 33(2): 313–28.
Provides some of the first large-N evidence that persistent leadership vacancies are correlated with lower agency performance, reduced long-term planning, lower morale, and diminished stakeholder investment—with agencies experiencing persistent vacancies scoring roughly one standard deviation lower than those with consistent confirmed leadership.
Piper, Christopher. 2022. “Going for Goals: Presidential Appointments and Agency Goal Change.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, 52(1): 140–67.
Examines how presidential appointees shape agency priority-setting, finding that agencies with a higher share of filled leadership positions experienced significantly greater long-term goal change—suggesting that getting appointee teams in place quickly is essential to redirecting agency policy.
Talks & Media
I regularly present and comment on presidential staffing, Senate confirmations, and civil service reform across academic, policy, and media venues.
Panels & Presentations
“Who has the Power? The Constitution and Our Role in Securing Democracy.” University of Maryland College of Education and Maryland Democracy Initiative. 2026.
“Staffing the government: An analysis of Trump’s personnel strategy across his two terms.” Brookings Institution. 2026.
“Inspectors General: Government Watchdogs Left Out in the Cold.” Virginia Tech School of Public & International Affairs. 2025.
“The Law of Presidential Transitions.” American Bar Association Administrative Law Conference. 2024.
“From Research to Reform: The Senate Confirmation Process.” University of Chicago Center for Effective Government. 2024.
Media Coverage
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service analysis of inspector general oversight activity and staffing:
“Inspectors general are conducting fewer oversight reports after 18 months of upheaval.” Government Executive. July 29, 2026.
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service analysis of Senate-confirmed official turnover in the second Trump administration:
“Turnover Spike: 27 Senate‑Confirmed Officials Depart Trump Administration.” Our Community Now. August 3, 2026.
“Unfilled Senate Confirmed Posts Highest Since Regan Admin; Report Cites Vacancies, Turnover.” FEDweek. July 28, 2026.
“National Guard in Washington, D.C. are moving to long-term housing.” Federal News Network. July 27, 2026.
“Staff turnover is rampant under Trump 2.0 – with insidious results.” The Guardian. July 25, 2026.
“Trump administration faces record turnover in second term.” CNN. July 23, 2026.
“Trump admin turnover includes 27 officials compared to Biden's 1: report.” USA Today. July 23, 2026.
“Trump appointees confirmed by the Senate are exiting their jobs in record numbers, report finds.” Government Executive. July 23, 2026.
“Trump’s second administration experiences highest turnover in recent history: Report.” Washington Examiner. July 23, 2026.
“Trump’s staff turnover is more than double his first term — and it’s only two years in.” The Independent. July 23, 2026.
“Trump Administration Sees Record Leadership Turnover, Report Finds.” American Urban Radio Networks. July 23, 2026.
“Unprecedented Turnover In Trump Administration Comes With Steep Cost, Analysis Finds.” Huffpost. July 23, 2026.
“Trump Humiliated by Record Exodus of Top Officials.” The Daily Beast. July 23, 2026.
“BREAKING: Officials Flee Trump at Record Pace, Venezuela Oil Money Goes Missing, Ossoff Has the White House Panicking, and more...” Adam Kinzinger. July 23, 2026.
“Departures of Senate-confirmed Trump officials are surpassing his first term, new report finds.” NBC News. July 22, 2026.
“Turnover during second Trump term surpasses first: Analysis.” The Hill. July 22, 2026.
“Axios AM- Charted: Trump's exit rate.” Axios. July 22, 2026.
“Principals Daily Brief.” Semafor. July 22, 2026.
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service analysis of positions converted to Schedule Policy/Career:
“'Now I Can't Say Anything': Federal Employees Fear Retaliation After Trump Strips Civil Service Protections.” International Business Times UK. July 9, 2026.
“Federal employees face reality of Schedule Policy/Career.” Federal News Network. July 6, 2026.
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service report on independent boards and commissions:
“MSPB Quorum: History, Impact, and Legal Stakes.” LegalClarity. June 29, 2026.
“President can fire independent agency heads without cause, Supreme Court rules.” Government Executive. June 29, 2026.
Quoted on presidential use of acting officials in vacant Senate-confirmed positions:
“Blanche Drama Forces Trump to Double Down on Acting Leaders Bet.” Bloomberg Government. June 11, 2026.
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service analysis of the growth in appointed positions under the Trump administration:
“Trump Order Removes Job Protections From Federal Workers.” New York Times. June 3, 2026.
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service series on agency-level trends in appointments and career leadership under the Trump administration:
“Project 2025 contributor nominated for government watchdog position.” Government Executive. August 10, 2026.
“Calls for IG probe of Reflecting Pool renovation come amid questions over watchdog's independence.” Government Executive. August 6, 2026.
“A year after sounding the alarm, NIH dissenters say political influence is entrenched at research agency.” Government Executive. June 10, 2026.
“Political Appointees Taking Over Management Roles from Career Staff, Study Shows.” FEDweek. June 9, 2026.
“Weakening career staff while boosting political appointees at science agencies is causing ‘generational damage,’ nonprofit warns.” Government Executive. June 2, 2026.
“Federal oversight faces ‘structural conflict’ as political appointees enter IG offices.” Government Executive. June 1, 2026.
“Partnership Maps Increasing Politicization of Leadership in Law Enforcement, Health/Science.” FEDweek. June 1, 2026.
Quoted on the confirmation process and provided data from the Partnership for Public Service research on confirmation delays:
“Senate confirms former New Mexico GOP Chair Steve Pearce as BLM director.” Santa Fe New Mexican. May 18, 2026.
Coverage of Brookings Institution analysis on the Senate confirmation process rules change:
“Las Cruces BLM employees have a new boss. Steve Pearce approved by US Senate.” USA Today. May 18, 2026.
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service analysis of Trump administration proposed budget and staffing reductions to Offices of Inspectors General:
“WV Congress members quiet on Trump payout fund that could benefit insurrectionists.” Charleston Gazette-Mail. May 23, 2026.
“Inspectors general targeted for funding cuts in Trump’s FY27 budget.” Government Executive. April 16, 2026.
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service report on record levels of appointees and decline in career leadership:
“Despite criticism of Trump’s SES reforms, senior executives group backs recent updates to training program.” Government Executive. June 30, 2026.
“Trump Moves 8,000 Feds into Schedule Policy/Career Roles.” American Institute of Physics. June 9, 2026.
“HHS to start Schedule P/C conversions while withholding details on new RIFs.” Government Executive. May 18, 2026.
“Trump has taken the ‘public’ out of public servant.” The Hill. April 26, 2026.
“Political appointments surging, career SES workforce shrinking under Trump 2.0.” The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton. April 9, 2026.
“Report Finds Surge in Political Appointees as Career SES Ranks Drop 30% Under Trump.” MeriTalk. April 6, 2026.
“Political appointments surging, career SES workforce shrinking under Trump 2.0.” Federal News Network. April 2, 2026.
“As the number of political appointees surge and career SES ranks shrink, one nonprofit warns of ‘institutional consequences’.” Government Executive. March 30, 2026.
Quoted on the confirmation process and provided data from the Partnership for Public Service research on confirmation delays:
“Means’ surgeon general nomination is stalled as senators question her experience and vaccine stance.” Associated Press. March 25, 2026.
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service report on at-will employment and civil service reform:
“Schedule P/C: Study Cites Negative Impacts of At-Will Employment in Government.” FEDweek. February 5, 2026.
“Schedule F Won’t Fix Government’s Performance Management Problems, Report Finds.” Government Executive. January 30, 2026.
Coverage of Brookings Institution analysis on presidential nomination withdrawals by chief White House correspondent Peter Baker:
“Trump Takes ‘Imperial Presidency’ to a New Level.” New York Times. December 21, 2025.
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service report on persistent vacancies in Senate-confirmed leadership positions:
“Amid political leadership vacancies, calls for SES reform continue to rise.” Federal News Network. July 23, 2024.
“Presidential Appointees Go Unconfirmed for Longer. Blame the Senate.” Federal Times. July 10, 2024.
Quoted on the time limits of acting service for Senate-confirmed officials imposed by the Federal Vacancies Act:
“Manchin’s choice: Who will be the No. 2 at Interior?” E&E News. May 10, 2024.
Coverage of Partnership for Public Service report on layering of presidential appointments and the Senate confirmation process:
“Too Many Positions Require Senate Confirmation, Reform Needed: Report.” FEDmanager. February 27, 2024.
“The Senate has too many appointees to confirm, and it’s hurting agencies.” Government Executive. February 23, 2024.
“Some Biden Nominees Languished in Senate Limbo for Hundreds of Days.” Semafor. February 22, 2024.
“Playbook PM: MAGA’s Big Weekend.” Politico Playbook. February 22, 2024.
“Finding the Israel-Palestine Sweet Spot.” Politico West Wing Playbook. February 22, 2024.
Coverage Partnership for Public Service analysis on Senate floor votes and the confirmation process:
“New data shows why it's taking the Senate longer to confirm presidential appointees.” Government Executive. December 4, 2024.
“Tears in the House.” Semafor. November 3, 2023.