White House Presidential Personnel Office

White House Office of Presidential Personnel
Agency overview
HeadquartersEisenhower Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C., U.S.
38°53′51.24″N 77°2′20.93″W / 38.8975667°N 77.0391472°W / 38.8975667; -77.0391472
Agency executives
Parent departmentWhite House Office

The White House Presidential Personnel Office (PPO), sometimes written as Office of Presidential Personnel, is the part of the White House Office tasked with vetting new appointees.[1][2] Its offices are on the first floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C.[2] The PPO is one of the offices most responsible for assessing candidates to work at or for the White House.[3]

The Office is responsible for approximately 4,000 political appointment positions, of which 1,600 require Senate confirmation.[4] The White House Presidential Office recruits candidates to serve in departments and agencies throughout the Executive Branch. It presents candidates for presidential appointments with Senate confirmation (PAS) to the Senate after they have been approved by the President of the United States.[5] The mission of the office is to provide the president with the best applicants possible for presidency-appointed positions. Lastly, it also provides policy guidance for federal department and agency heads on conduct for political activities.[6]

In 2018, the PPO was made up of about 30 members, about one-third of its usual staff. The professionalism of the PPO under President Trump was challenged, with The Washington Post reporting that the office was staffed with largely-inexperienced personnel.[2][7] As of July 2021, the PPO under President Biden has returned to its usual staffing numbers, with about 80 people in the office.[8]

  1. ^ "White House Offices". National Archives and Records Administration. Archived from the original on January 6, 2010. Retrieved July 30, 2018. The Presidential Personnel Office recruits, screens, and recommends qualified candidates for Presidential appointments to Federal departments and agencies.
  2. ^ a b c O'Harrow Jr., Robert; Boburg, Shawn (March 30, 2018). "Behind the chaos: Office that vets Trump appointees plagued by inexperience". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 30, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  3. ^ Shirley Anne Warshaw. Powersharing: White House-Cabinet Relations in the Modern Presidency. SUNY Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-4384-2331-9. Archived from the original on 2021-10-27. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  4. ^ Bowden, John (2018-03-30). "Office that vets Trump appointees faces staff shortage, inexperience: report". The Hill. Archived from the original on 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
  5. ^ "Presidential Departments | The White House". The White House. Archived from the original on 2020-11-24. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Bowden, John (March 30, 2018). "Office that vets Trump appointees faces staff shortage, inexperience: report". The Hill. Archived from the original on March 30, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  8. ^ "Joe Biden's head of personnel is eyeing the exits". Politico. 2021-07-26. Archived from the original on 2021-07-26. Retrieved 2021-07-27.