The Senior Executive Service (SES) was established by Title IV of the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) of 1978 [P.L. 95-454, October 13, 1978] and became effective on July 13, 1979. The CSRA envisioned a Senior Executive Service whose members shared values, a broad perspective of Government, and solid executive skills. Members of a “corporate SES” respected and embraced the dynamics of American democracy - an approach to governance that provided a continuing vehicle for change.
The CSRA’s stated purpose was to “ensure that the executive management of the Government of the United States is responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the nation and otherwise is of the highest quality.” To achieve this purpose, CSRA gave greater authority to agencies to manage their executive resources and stated the SES was to be administered to:
- attract and retain highly competent executives;
- assign executives where they will be most effective in accomplishing the agency’s mission and where best use will be made of their talents;
- provide for the systematic development of managers and executives;
- hold executives accountable for individual and organizational performance;
- reward the outstanding performers and remove the poor performers; and
- provide an executive personnel system free of prohibited personnel practices and arbitrary actions.
Additional SES information can be found on the SES website which is located on the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) website.