Overview
Office of Personnel Management official whose January 2025 message clarified the DHS hiring-freeze exemption. The specific role described here is grounded in a federal court's September 11, 2026 ruling; inclusion does not suggest individual misconduct.
January 21, 2025 — OPM's written clarification
In a January 21, 2025 email later cited by Judge Susan Illston, Amanda D. Scales of OPM informed DHS chief human capital officer Roland Edwards and deputy Mischell Navarro that DHS was exempt from the federal civilian hiring freeze. The message said DHS did not need to remove job listings or cancel pending offers on account of the freeze. The court cited this email as evidence that DHS's later restrictive FEMA policy was not compelled by the presidential government-wide freeze. [1]
What this role does not establish
The court documents Scales's communication to DHS personnel officials in January 2025. It does not establish that she received, reviewed or approved FEMA's separate December 2025 proposed 50% staffing reduction, or that she devised the later DHS restriction. Those are separate questions requiring records. [1]
Primary source
Evidence limit: This ruling does not identify the individual OMB/OPM recipient or approver of FEMA's December 2025 11,383-position proposal. Nor does it link this official to any unproven private command network.