Federal hiring freeze brings local confusion as to who’s in and who’s out.

Jan. 23, the first frenzied day of signings by President Donald Trump, included a memorandum ordering an immediate 90-day hiring freeze of all vacant civilian and contract positions within the executive branch of the federal government. Within three days, the Defense Language Institute in Monterey learned from the Army Civilian Human Resources Agency it was not allowed to renew any faculty employment contracts. The impact of that ruling was potentially severe, because about two-thirds of DLI's 1,700 faculty members are on short-term contracts.

U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, sent a letter Feb. 1 to U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, urging him to exempt DLI from the hiring freeze.

Pointing out the memo’s exception for “military personnel,” Panetta made the case for exempting DLI faculty, because DLI is an Army training facility and funded through the U.S. Army.

Panetta’s argument worked. While DLI is not exempt from the freeze, they’re allowed to renew existing hires.

The story is an example of how confusing Trump’s seven-paragraph memorandum has been for federal agencies. The reference to “military personnel” is subject to interpretation – a problem in Monterey County, where multiple defense agencies rely heavily on civilian positions to carry out their missions.

The Office of Management and Budget issued a memo on Jan. 31 detailing exemptions, including seasonal employees, and positions deemed necessary to meet “national security (including foreign relations) responsibilities or meet public safety responsibilities,” among others.

As seasonal employees considered crucial to public safety, U.S. Forest Service firefighters – who worked overtime last summer battling the Soberanes Fire – are exempt. Hiring is currently underway for firefighter positions from May-November.

At Naval Support Activity Monterey, which houses several federal agencies including the Naval Postgraduate School, Capt. Rich Wiley reports three areas – security, family advocacy and child care – are exempt from the freeze. Security is a public safety function, and providing child care to military personnel is considered “critical to the mission.”

It’s unclear how the freeze is impacting the Naval Postgraduate School, the second-largest defense-related employer in the county after DLI. NPS officials did not return calls by theWeekly’s deadline. But Sara Stolt, NPS’s rep on the National Federation of Union Employees Local 1690, told the Weekly in February that all hiring came to a halt, leaving numerous positions unfilled. “We’re already understaffed as it is,” she says.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the following corrections.

NPS's union rep Sara Stolt's name was originally misspelled; it is Sara Stolt, not Sarah Stoldt.

About two-thirds of DLI's faculty are employed short-term, from less than one year and up to four years; not all of them employed for one year.

The DLI is funded by the U.S. Army, not the NSA.