‘If you don't serve today, you can serve tomorrow’: Former feds remain hopeful about public service despite challenges under Trump

James-Christian Blockwood, the president and CEO of the National Academy of Public Administration, began a Tuesday panel featuring several former federal officials at the congressionally-chartered nonprofit’s national conference by talking about his father, who recently notched 45 years of public service.

Blockwood said that he just returned from visiting his father in the hospital. After asking his son to take care of their family and thanking him for visiting, Blockwood’s father requested that he make two phone calls.

“I need you to call a good colleague and good friend. He's been someone I've worked with for a long time, and I feel bad that I’m leaving him to do work that I was supposed to be there with him. [And] I need you to call my boss and tell him I'm going to get better so that I can come back and work with the team,” Blockwood recalled his father saying. “He has dedicated his entire life to making sure government works well and works well for all. And his story, although in my heart means a lot and is incredible, is not unique for public servants.” 

Newly former federal employees, some of whom were forced out by the Trump administration, who spoke at Tuesday’s panel reflected on the continued importance of public service despite current headwinds, in particular urging young people not to be dissuaded from entering the field. 

Former IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, who resigned before the end of his term after President Donald Trump announced that he would replace him, said that the two favorite moments from his federal service both involve hugs. 

In the first anecdote, he met an IRS employee who happened to be the coach of a little league team who was playing against his son’s team at a tournament. 

“It's time for the game to start, so I say, ‘Well, thank you for your service,’ and I go for the handshake,” Werfel said. “He goes for the hug. And he’s hugging me tightly. And all the parents were probably looking at us like ‘What is happening?’” 

Similarly, he said that an elderly woman asked for a hug after meeting him in a church basement where she received volunteer tax service for the first time. 

“These are the two favorite moments of my career because they demonstrate a moment where I was able to have impact on someone who serves as well as impact on someone we serve,” Werfel said. “Purpose is not about spreadsheets or analytics, and in public service it is definitely not about profits. It's about people.” 

Basil Gooden, who was undersecretary for Rural Development at the Agriculture Department during the Biden administration, said that his earliest memory of public administration was in the  late 1960s and early 1970s when his home state of Virginia was integrating schools. Specifically, he remembers how state and local leaders wanted to keep him apart from his white friends while federal officials were working to end segregation. 

“What really struck me was that there was a group that wanted to include me and a group that wanted to exclude me,” he said. “As a young kid, I felt the difference in what I think was good public service and bad public service. And I just want us to remember, as public administrators, that people will always remember how you make them feel. So let's be inclusive…and make people feel that we're here to serve all of them.” 

The Trump administration has sought to remove diversity, equity and inclusion programs from federal agencies, contending they undermine merit principles. 

Katie Malague, the chief operating officer and chief financial officer in Maryland’s Department of Budget and Management, acknowledged that the past year has felt like driving without a GPS. 

Previously, she served as the chief management officer at the Office of Personnel Management and as the agency’s presidential transition director, which she said were “dream roles” for her. She bemoaned the loss of expertise leaving government due to the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program and widespread reductions in force. 

“These were the [people] who taught me the ropes, how to innovate while navigating the rules. The ones who would occasionally whisper something like ‘Well maybe not that way, but what if we tried this?’ They had seen it all across numerous administrations, and they had truly transformed and improved government,” she said. “They knew what to do when the siren goes off, and yet they left without a celebration, without a gift, without a speech and with them we lost centuries of knowledge and talent.” 

David Lebryk was the highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department before he retired following a clash with the Department of Government Efficiency over access to a sensitive payment system, according to The Washington Post. On Tuesday, he said that he was motivated to work for the federal government partly because of government assistance that he had received growing up, including food stamps and financial aid. 

“I was an enormous beneficiary of the federal safety net as well as a beneficiary of a really wonderful education system,” he said. “It can't always be the government, nor should it always be the government in terms of helping people, but it can make a big difference.” 

Lebryk urged attendees who teach at schools of public administration to continue advocating for students to go into public service, emphasizing the potential for impact. 

“There's a lot of different ways you can serve,” he said. “If you don't serve today, you can serve tomorrow, and that's really the important thing that you should all keep in mind with respect to public service.”