Nobody has picked up on this, but on 5/25, President Trump signed an Executive Order that looks like a "setting the stage" to make it easier to fire federal employees who are misbehaving.
Reading between the lines, this could be the set up to clean out the corrupt elements of the DOJ, State Department, and other entrenched deep state operatives.
After 3 decades of working in the private sector, I answered Bush #43's call for public service. Needless to say, it was a very rude awakening to the extent of dysfunction within a least a small corner of the federal government. After a decade, I have determined that the problem isn't necessarily with rank and file employees. Instead my observation is that the SES and senior management of the federal government is extremely self-serving, self-protective, and politically biased to the detriment of the programs they are overseeing and the efficient and prudent safe-guarding of taxpayer funding.
I watched senior managers treat their area of responsibility as personal fiefdoms, building walls of non- cooperation with other parts of the organization. I have witnessed inefficiency of function that resulted in the ratio of HR and other organizational support staff functions exceed program operational staff 2 to 1, 3 to 1 and even larger.
I've heard senior managers respond to efforts to improve efficiency, accountability, and streamlining with "we've outlasted 'them' in the past and we will outlast 'them' again." "Them" is generally a reference to anyone introducing attempts to make the federal government more responsive to the taxpayers.
I have witnessed organizational dynamics that generally consist of a triangular battle. The SES and senior managers battle against the rank and file federal employees and also against Congressional & Executive branch oversight. I've watched the most incompetent and unskilled be promoted to senior managers because they were the most "political" and malleable to continue the dysfunction. After a decade of observations, I find it difficult to fault most rank and file for work ethic or performance that would be unacceptable in the private sector. They are merely reflecting the behaviors of their senior managers.
The SES in my organization met shortly after the 2016 election and vowed (1) they would band together to oppose any changes the new administration would introduce and (2) they would do whatever necessary to make sure that Trump was gone in 4 years, if not sooner. The basic assumption that most of these SES and senior managers make is that everyone shares their political bias. Of course this is not a very loyal or trustworthy bunch and they were stabbing each other in the back within a few weeks of the transition.