For the first time, we’re getting a peek behind the curtain at a Fortune 500 federal government contractor. The CEO says hiring former senior-level employees from federal agencies has been a common practice for years – but that could all be changing. News4’s Drew Wilder reports on why.
Hiring former senior-level government agency employees has been a common practice for one Fortune 500 federal contractor for years.
But that practice could be changing, according to the CEO of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Toni Townes-Whitley. She said companies like hers are wondering if hiring certain people fired by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could hurt business.
It's one more way President Donald Trump's attack on the federal government workforce could send ripple effects into the private sector, as contractors try to navigate the fallout.
"I think it's much more of a question now than it's ever been previously," Townes-Whitley told News4.
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SAIC is a federal government contractor with billions of dollars worth of national security contracts. Townes-Whitley said it's always been common practice to hire senior-level agency officials after they leave their government posts.
Those people understand their former agency's mission, they have the connections and they can steer a business in the right direction to win big contracts.
But in the current political climate, Townes-Whitley said some companies are asking if the Trump administration would hold a grudge against companies making those once-reliable hires.
"Because of possibly the speed with which transitions occurred, the language that we hear around people who were exiting and people who were entering, there is a question as to whether those senior officials will be well-received in the new administration when they're coming from the private sector," Townes-Whitley said.
Those concerns could – though it's not guaranteed – exacerbate the flood of jobless former federal employees.
That includes the many probationary employees abruptly fired two weeks ago. Probationary is not a term reserved exclusively for new hires; it can also mean someone was recently promoted to a management position.
"They are firing NIH researchers through a loophole of people who were recently promoted or making routine annual renewals," Emilea Vantriglea, a researcher with the National Institutes of Health, said after the agency let hundreds of employees go.
"Many of us have been through multiple administrations," Gretchen De Silva, a former USAID employee, said.
Townes-Whitley says the concern about hiring Biden administration agency officials hasn't stopped their hiring, but said it's a reason to press pause.
"So we're just testing, we're pressure testing," she said. "I think every company is, and we want to make sure – because that would be a real shift than what we've seen in prior years."
It could mean a harder job search for former senior-level government workers and a way for Trump to steer the private sector, by choosing who to work with based on politics.
We’ve been hearing from many of you about how the Trump administration is affecting federal workers and their families. If you would like to share your story, contact the News4 I-Team at tips@news4iteam.com or 202-885-4444. We will not use your name without your permission.
Correction (Thursday, Feb. 27 at 6:56 a.m.): This article initially misspelled the name of Toni Townes-Whitley. It has been updated.
