United States Office of Personnel Management - wikipedia United States Office of Personnel Management This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia 's quality standards. The specific problem is : Article lead is outdated. Please help improve this article if you can. ( December 2017 ) United States Office of Personnel Management Official seal Agency overview Formed January 1, 1979 Preceding agency Civil Service Commission Jurisdiction Federal government of the United States Headquarters 1900 E Street NW, Washington, D.C. Employees 6,205 ( 2011 ) Agency executive Kathleen McGettigan, Director ( acting ) Website opm.gov The United States Office of Personnel Management ( OPM ) is an independent agency of the United States government that manages the civil service of the federal government. On November 10, 2015 President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Beth Cobert to be the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. Cobert had been Acting Director since July 2015. Contents 1 History 2 Function 3 Revolving fund 4 2015 data breach 5 Past directors 6 See also 7 References 8 External links History The United States Civil Service Commission was created by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. The commission was abolished and replaced by OPM on January 1, 1979, following the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1978 ( 43 FR 36037, 92 Stat. 3783 ). In 1996 the investigation branch of the OPM was privatized, and USIS was formed. Function According to their website, the mission of the OPM is `` recruiting, retaining and honoring a world - class force to serve the American people. '' The OPM is partially responsible for maintaining the appearance of independence and neutrality in the Administrative Law System. While technically employees of the agencies they work for, Administrative Law Judges ( or ALJs ) are hired exclusively by the OPM, effectively removing any discretional employment procedures from the other agencies. The OPM uses a rigorous selection process which ranks the top three candidates for each ALJ vacancy, and then makes a selection from those candidates, generally giving preference to veterans. The OPM is also responsible for a large part of the management of security clearances ( National Background Investigations Bureau a / k / a NBIB conducts these investigations ) for the United States Government. With the exception of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which maintains its own system, separate programs for each executive department have gradually been merged into a single, Government - wide clearance system. The OPM is responsible for investigating individuals to give them Secret and Top Secret clearances. SCI compartments, however, are still managed by the particular agency that uses that compartment. OPM is also responsible for federal employee retirement applications for FERS and CSRS employees. OPM makes decisions on federal employee regular and disability retirement cases. Revolving fund The OPM revolving fund is described as the OPM 's `` fee for service '' business that moves federal budget money from various federal agencies to the OPM for human resources ( HR ) services. During the decade from 2002 -- 12, the dollar amount of the fund has tripled. The fund is worth $2 billion, equivalent to almost all ( 90 percent ) of the OPM budget. In July 2013, Rep. Blake Farenthold ( R - Texas ) introduced the Office of Personnel Management Inspector General Act. The bill would increase oversight of the fund. Farenthold introduced the bill as a response to accusations of fraud and concerns about security clearance background investigations. The bill would fund the expenses for investigations, oversight activities and audits from the revolving fund. In February 2014, President Obama signed the bill into law. The fund 's history goes back to the early 1980s, where it was used for two main activities : training and background investigations for government personnel. 2015 data breach Main article : Office of Personnel Management data breach In June 2015, the Office of Personnel Management announced that it had discovered in April 2015 that it had been hacked more than a year earlier in a data breach, resulting in the theft of approximately 4 million personnel records handled by the office. The Washington Post has reported that the attack originated in China, citing unnamed government officials. By July 9, 2015 the estimate of stolen records had increased to 21.5 million, including those of current government personnel and people who had undergone background checks. New updates regarding this security breach came to light on September 24, 2015. The agency then indicated that additional evidence showed that 5.6 million people 's fingerprints were stolen as part of the hacks, more than five times the 1.1 million originally estimated. The total number of individuals whose records were disclosed in whole or part, including Social Security numbers and addresses, remained at 21.5 million. Past directors Source : OPM 's Agency Leadership Through Time Alan K. Campbell ( January 2, 1979 -- January 20, 1981 ) Campbell was the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission at its dissolution Donald J. Devine ( March 23, 1981 -- March 25, 1985 ) Loretta Cornelius ( acting ; 1985 ) Constance Horner ( August 22, 1985 -- May 10, 1989 ) Constance Berry Newman ( June 8, 1989 -- June 30, 1992 ) James B. King ( April 7, 1993 -- September 1, 1997 ) Janice R. Lachance ( November 12, 1997 -- January 20, 2001 ) Kay Coles James ( July 11, 2001 -- January 31, 2005 ) Linda M. Springer ( June 28, 2005 -- August 13, 2008 ) Michael Hager ( acting ; 2008 -- 2009 ) Kathie Ann Whipple ( acting ; 2009 ) John Berry ( April 13, 2009 -- April 13, 2013 ) Elaine Kaplan ( acting ; April 15, 2013 -- October 31, 2013 ) Katherine Archuleta ( November 4, 2013 -- July 10, 2015 ) Beth Cobert ( acting ; July 10, 2015 to January 20, 2017 ) See also Government of the United States portal Civil service Combined Federal Campaign Federal Labor Relations Authority Hatch Act Human Resources University Presidential Management Fellows Program SHPS Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations United States Merit Systems Protection Board References Jump up ^ `` President Obama Announces His Intent to Nominate Beth Cobert as Director of the Office of Personnel Management '' White House, November 10, 2015 Jump up ^ `` Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate '' White House, November 10, 2015 Jump up ^ `` Glossary of Terms ''. Retrieved 5 January 2016. Jump up ^ Gayathri, Amrutha. `` USIS That Vetted Snowden Under Investigation ; Booz Allen Hamilton Overlooked Snowden Resume Discrepancies. '' International Business Times. June 21, 2013. Retrieved on July 1, 2013. Jump up ^ `` Biography of an Ideal ''. Retrieved 5 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Audit of the Federal Investigations Servies ' Case Review Process Over Background Investigations '' ( PDF ). opm.gov. page 2. Retrieved 6 June 2014. Jump up ^ https://www.opm.gov/Blogs/Retire/ Jump up ^ https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/publications-forms/pamphlets/sf3113.pdf Jump up ^ https://federalemployeelawblog.com/2016/12/10/opm-disability-retirement/ Jump up ^ Fact Sheet : OPM Revolving Fund, Products and Services. Avue Technologies Corporation. 2013 - 09 - 24 ( Retrieved 2014 - 02 - 17 ) Jump up ^ Reilly, Sean. `` OPM inspector general getting more money for revolving fund oversight ''. Federal Times. 2014 - 02 - 13 ( Retrieved 2014 - 02 - 17 ) Jump up ^ `` OPM IG Act ( H.R. 2860 ) ''. GovTrack.us. ( 2014 ) ( Retrieved 2014 - 02 - 17 ) Jump up ^ `` OPM Inspector General Act signed into law ''. Ripon Advance. 2014 - 02 - 17 ( Retrieved 2014 - 02 - 17 ) Jump up ^ `` H.R. 2860 OPM IG Act '' The Week in Congress ; Volume 10 Number 3. 2014 - 01 - 17 ( Retrieved 2014 - 02 - 17 ) Jump up ^ Carney, Jay ( White House Press Secretary ). `` Statement by the Press Secretary on H.R. 2860, S. 1901 ''. The White House, Office of the Press Secretary. 2014 - 02 - 12 ( Retrieved 2014 - 02 - 17 ) Jump up ^ U.S. Government Accountability Office. `` OPM 's Revolving Fund Policy Should Be Clarified and Management Controls Strengthened ''. GGD - 84 - 23 : Published : Oct 13, 1983. Publicly Released : Oct 13, 1983 ( Retrieved 2014 - 02 - 17 ) Jump up ^ `` Millions of US government workers hit by data breach ''. BBC News. 5 June 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2015. Jump up ^ Sanders, Sam ( 4 June 2015 ). `` Massive Data Breach Puts 4 Million Federal Employees ' Records At Risk ''. NPR. Jump up ^ Zengerle, Patricia ; Cassella, Megan ( 2015 - 07 - 09 ). `` Estimate of Americans hit by government personnel data hack skyrockets ''. Reuters. Retrieved 2015 - 07 - 09. Jump up ^ Peterson, Andrea ( 2015 - 09 - 24 ). `` OPM says 5.6 million fingerprints stolen in biggest cyber attack in US history. America does n't have anything together this is why this happened ''. Independent. Retrieved 2015 - 09 - 24. Jump up ^ `` Agency Leadership ''. U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved 5 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Our Mission : Constance Horner ''. opm.gov. Retrieved August 1, 2014. Jump up ^ http://www.opm.gov/about-us/our-mission-role-history/agency-leadership/james-king/ ^ Jump up to : Rosenberg, Alyssa ( 2008 - 08 - 01 ). `` Bush taps new OPM director ''. National Journal. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 04. Jump up ^ `` Linda M. Springer Sworn In as New OPM Director '' ( Press release ). United States Office of Personnel Management. 2005 - 06 - 29. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 04. Jump up ^ `` White House Names Acting Director of OPM '' ( Press release ). United States Office of Personnel Management. 2009 - 01 - 23. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 04. Jump up ^ `` OPM Director John Berry ''. United States Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved 24 April 2013. External links Office of Personnel Management Office of Personnel Management in the Federal Register Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Office_of_Personnel_Management&oldid=814508017 '' Categories : Independent agencies of the United States government Civil service in the United States Government agencies established in 1979 National civil service commissions United States Office of Personnel Management Hidden categories : Articles needing cleanup from December 2017 All pages needing cleanup Cleanup tagged articles with a reason field from December 2017 Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from December 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Français Norsk Русский Edit links This page was last edited on 9 December 2017, at 06 : 25. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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Question: what was the precursor to the office of personnel management
Answer: The United States Civil Service Commission