The SES is the place where orders from the top can get "slow walked", "forgot to tell the division offices", and all manner of other crap.
The SES itself is not a bad concept, but the fact that so many people there were put in by Hussein is concerning.
Thing they should do is completely scramble the SES. Send the people in the Agriculture Department to the Small Business Administration or something. Areas where they have no knowledge and no connections. Also, move some of them. Make them work out of regional offices in Alaska or even, idk, American Samoa. These are ways to get them to quit/retire early.
The problem with them being difficult to fire needs to be addressed by Congress. Our personnel laws need to be revised.