MEMORANDUM FOR THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
SUBJECT: Approving Critical Position Pay Authority for National Security Investment Workforce
Under the authority granted by 5 U.S.C. 5377(d)(2) and 5 C.F.R. 535.103(a)(3) and 535.104(c), I authorize critical position pay for up to 400 roles supporting national security investment programs. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is empowered to distribute these roles to executive departments and agencies and approve agency requests within this framework, with basic pay rates of up to $400,000, aligning with market standards and national security needs.
This initiative facilitates the swift hiring of highly skilled investment, engineering, financial, and legal professionals essential for enhancing the Nation’s capabilities in critical minerals, advanced materials, and other pivotal components of our strategic supply chains. These capacities are vital to America’s economic strength and national security.
Aligned with my Administration’s aim to boost American mineral production and secure key technologies, it is imperative that the United States has a workforce capable of implementing significant investment programs efficiently to decrease reliance on foreign sources, bolster industrial resilience, and safeguard the Nation’s long-term strategic interests. Today’s approval of the critical position pay authority enables agencies to attract the expert talent necessary to reinforce U.S. supply chain resilience, secure access to critical minerals and advanced technologies, and promote priority investment programs vital to our national defense and economic security.
I instruct OPM to oversee the application of this authority by agencies and to establish conditions ensuring that critical position pay is used solely when necessary to recruit or retain exceptionally qualified individuals, in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 5377.
This memorandum does not limit or otherwise affect any legal authority granted to an executive department or agency, or its head, nor the functions of the Director of OMB regarding budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. It will be implemented following applicable law and subject to available appropriations. This memorandum does not intend to, and does not, create any rights or benefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees, agents, or any other individual.
DONALD J. TRUMP
