The federal government is currently in the process of hiring as many as 1,200 employees to work on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) — employees who would be embedded into the permanent federal workforce headed into the Trump administration, according to a Daily Wire analysis of federal job opportunities.
The jobs have annual salaries of up to $310,000, and could add up to total salary payouts of $160 million a year. Thirty-three DEI jobs were posted in the 10 days immediately following the election of Donald Trump, and the hiring window closes before he takes office.
The bureaucracy is scrambling to fill even high-level jobs, just underneath the ranks of “political appointees,” before the Trump administration takes over. On November 15, for example, the Department of Health and Human Services advertised for a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, to “promote health equity” at a salary of up to $221,900.
The candidate will “exercise[] leadership to ensure that all programs under their direction reflect the principles of workforce diversity.” The application window for the position closed on November 29, and the Biden HHS is currently reviewing applications before the Trump HHS. If hired, the agency’s likely head, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., will be saddled with the senior executive, who “serves as the principal advisor to the Secretary … on minority health issues.”
The jobs are all advertised on USAJobs.gov, the official application portal for would-be federal employees, and were listed with a status of “applications under review” or “accepting applications” when The Daily Wire obtained the jobs data late last month.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC) is preparing to extend job offers for two separate $310,000 positions, both of which can work from home three days a week. Its new Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion “leads the development, implementation, and ongoing review and renewal of the FDIC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan. Contributes to the development and implementation of FDIC-wide operations as a DEIA advocate. Develops, coordinates, and implements DEIA policies, programs, operations, and procedures throughout the FDIC.” The person will be expected to “defend [the Office Of Minority and Women Inclusion’s] formal budget program requests.”
FDIC also has an Office of Equal Employment, which, according to USAJobs, is currently evaluating contenders for a $310,000 director who “develops Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA), employee development, employee performance, and other personnel plans, processes, programs.”
If the hires are completed, taxpayers will be paying people who the Trump administration had no say in selecting, to advocate for DEI policies the Trump administration does not support. From October 24 through 28, the Federal Aviation Administration fielded applications for a specialist in its “affirmative employment” unit, at a salary of $192,000.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion on September 25 began seeking a “supplier diversity officer” at a salary of up to $251,258. Applications are currently under review.
On October 8, the Department of Homeland Security advertised a permanent position: Deputy Director, Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity. The new hire’s job will include influencing policy. His “primary responsibility is to promote respect for civil rights and civil liberties in policy creation and implementation.”
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is currently deciding who to hire for a similar, and identically-paid job, who will “Conceive, develop, plan and implement policies, procedures and guidelines for the roost [sic] efficient management.”
The Secret Service has an Office of Equity that says it’s looking for a “Writer-Editer” [sic]. NIH is looking for multiple Scientific Diversity Officers and Mental Health Scientific Diversity Officers, at salaries of around $191,900.
The Pentagon’s Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI) is seeking a social media specialist to telework for $113,800 a year. The unit’s social media activity consists of about one post a day, such as one asking, “Did you know National American Indian Heritage Month Traces Its Roots to 1916?” Another asks about the importance of “affirming Native voices.”
DEOMI is an entire organization dedicated to things such as creating posters that say things like, “Diversity: ‘I want to celebrate the richness and diversity of our faith experience in this country.’ -Senator Barack Obama 08’ [sic].” Its staff spend their time on work such as creating a heavily-produced video showing how to use its website, with tips like “you can return to the home page at any time … select the Home tab.”
(DEOMI’s website is actually broken and clicking the main logo leads to an error).
The positions pay far more than the median household income in America. A “diversity data analyst” role at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that is earmarked for a “recent graduate” will pay $88,926.
In October, the State Department sought to hire a “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Advisor” for $191,900, “located in the Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretaries in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs” — but recently canceled the job posting. The Internal Revenue Service advertised for, and then canceled seven “Senior Diversity and Inclusion Specialists” at up to $191,000 each.
Seemingly, every subagency in the government is littered with “equal employment opportunity specialists” whose jobs are to field complaints from colleagues about how their working conditions are racist.
The Department of Interior last month posted a job for an equal employment opportunity director to ensure there is no racial discrimination in the National Indian Gaming Commission. The day after the election, the Department of Education advertised a “supervisory equal opportunity specialist” who will work remotely for $191,900. The Department of Defense’s National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency announced that it wanted to hire “many” EEO officers on October 28.
The Biden administration has been criticized for actions it is taking to hamstring Trump before he takes office. Last week The Daily Wire reported that the Biden administration was selling off unused border wall materials, even though Trump has said he intends to use them to continue construction of the wall.
The full database of jobs is below.
The Daily Wire looked at federal job ads posted this year with a job title, category, or unit including words like diversity, DEI, equity, minority, inclusion, or equal opportunity. Then it limited those listed as “applications under review” or “accepting applications.” There were about 800 job ads, and some said there were multiple positions to be filled. A handful described the number as “few” or “many,” which we estimated as 3 and 15. Some are from earlier in the year and may have already been filled, with the government neglecting to update the status.
