Department personnel carry out the mission to uphold the rule of law, keep our country safe, and protect our civil rights. Department employees work in a variety of components, including law enforcement agencies, litigating divisions and United States Attorneys’ Offices, grantmaking offices, and management divisions. Although its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., nearly 80 percent of the Department’s employees are located elsewhere throughout the country and internationally. The Department has a long tradition of hiring the best and the brightest, whether as prosecutors, investigators, or the myriad other disciplines represented in the workforce. These dedicated employees are the Department’s greatest asset.
Facing a range of management challenges driven by fiscal constraints, changing demographics, a wave of federal retirements, and the evolving role of the public sector, human capital management remains a challenge for the Department. Areas of key concern include maintaining the capability to continue important work in the face of significant reductions in staffing levels, recruiting and retaining highly qualified and high performing personnel to effectively perform the Department’s broad and varied mission, and preserving the knowledge base to enable effective continuity of operations.
On May 29, 2025, as directed by EO 14170, Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published a memo outlining the process, available technology, and policy tools to improve federal recruitment and hiring. The memo reemphasizes that hiring, promotion, and advancement decisions are based solely on merit, qualifications, and job-related criteria. The compelling nature of the Department’s mission has long been a key element in its ability to recruit and retain highly capable personnel. However, the market for such employees traditionally has been extremely competitive. The Department should carefully track hiring and retention metrics to assess regularly its ability to attract and retain talented professionals to carry out the DOJ’s essential mission and functions.
For example, concerns about the Department’s ability to recruit and retain highly qualified personnel are especially critical for the Department’s information technology (IT) professionals. Among other reasons, IT personnel are important to maintaining the security of IT systems, which process sensitive law enforcement and national security information. These systems are constantly subject to attack by adversaries. According to the Department’s IT Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2025-2027, the Department has current staff openings, and IT staffing levels are below the desired threshold. The strategic plan states that various factors contribute to the Department’s challenge in recruiting and retaining IT staff.
While there are limits to the Department’s ability to compete with private sector salaries for IT and various other professional disciplines, the Department should periodically assess what competitive advantages it can leverage to recruit the talent it needs, including appropriate workplace flexibilities and mission-related professional development opportunities.
Workplace harassment, a significant issue the Department has faced over the past decade, persists as a challenge for the Department. The OIG continues to receive complaints from DOJ employees of sexual harassment in the workplace. Department leadership has continued to pledge its commitment to providing a workplace free from sexual harassment and misconduct. Most recently, on June 27, 2025, the Deputy Attorney General issued DOJ Order 1207, Reporting and Responding to Sexual Misconduct. The order defines sexual misconduct, outlines ongoing measures to actively promote a respectful, safe workplace, and establishes a uniform framework for reporting and responding to complaints of sexual misconduct in the workplace.