[albumen]

What you’re seeing is the result of the USA voting in a party and president that made it clear beforehand that they were going to install puppet civil servants to do their will. Most other developed countries have avoided this scenario.

[kergonath]

It’s important that most of the civil service is staffed by permanent employees hired through a fair and well-defined process and not appointed for political reasons.

[mikeyouse]

It's equally important to note that the current administration is absolutely gutting those formerly non-political permanent hires and replacing them with apparatchiks. It's going to be very difficult to remove them all from office if this nightmare ever ends.