Senior Executive Service.
These are the political appointees that are at the top of the federal agencies and are supposed to serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States.
In most cases, when a Democrat becomes President, a vast majority of SES are let go and replaced with people the new President wants. Over the years I have seen that Republican Presidents keep a vast majority of them because the Press has a conniption fit when they get fired, even though the President has every legal right to let them go.
When Clinton took office I saw several SES hired on as GS15 Federal employees so they could keep jobs withing the government. The ones I saw stayed in the DoD and kept working on the programs they once headed, just at lower pay and reduced responsibilities.
Wow, GS-15. That would be some good cash for me.
A close friend has turned down the promotion to a 15 and has stayed a 14 for that very reason. Once a 15 (SES), they own you - she says.
Not all of them. We have plenty of SES in Homeland Security who are not political appointees.