President Donald Trump’s order this week for federal employees to return to in-person work covers tens of thousands of personnel at Redstone Arsenal, though its daily impact might be relatively minimal.
Trump’s order on remote work, signed the day he was inaugurated into his second term, stated, “Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.”
A U.S. Office of Personnel Management memo dated Wednesday ordered all federal department and agency heads to revise their telework policies by 5 p.m. Friday and set a target date of 30 days later for full compliance with Trump’s order.
Redstone Arsenal is home to about 65 tenant organizations, including the FBI, the Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Army Materiel Command and the Marshall Space Flight Center. Amelia Hice, spokesperson for the Redstone Garrison, said many of those organizations are awaiting guidance on how to implement the order.
“Each tenant organization sets its remote and telework policies in accordance with [ Office of Personnel Management] and agency guidance, and all relevant rules, regulations and law, as well as union agreements where applicable,” Hice said.
Employees of Executive Branch departments and agencies on Redstone would fall directly under Trump’s executive order. It is unclear yet whether the order applies equally to contract and grant-funded personnel.
In either case, tens of thousands of workers at Redstone and throughout the region could be affected.
Speaking at a Redstone Update event in December at the Von Braun Center, Deputy commander Martin Traylor said a typical day sees about 45,500 people pass through the gates – about 900 active duty and reserve military, along with over 27,000 civilians and 17,000 contractors, he said. That represents about half of the estimated 93,000 Department of Defense military, government and contractor positions in the Tennessee Valley, according to Traylor.
In a September interview with The Huntsville Times about the commutes of arsenal personnel, Traylor said Redstone has always drawn workers from a wide swathe of valley – people drive in, “from distances almost hard to believe,” he said.
The OPM memo directed department and agency heads to take long-distance commutes into account in their policy revisions.
“If an employee’s official duty station is more than 50 miles from any existing agency office, the agency should take steps to move the employee’s duty station to the most appropriate agency office based on the employee’s duties and job function,” the memo stated.
For Redstone Garrison personnel, though, remote or telework is rare, he said, as the garrison operates citylike services such as public works, and police and fire protection that demand in-person work. Even federal contracts related to the garrison, Traylor told The Huntsville Times in September, often require on-the-ground oversight.
Outside the garrison, remote work has also become less common. Traylor said the arsenal as a whole is “almost back to full capacity” from the COVID-era push toward remote and telework.
Hice noted any increase in gate traffic due to the order “would be minimal … because most tenant organizations returned to office work back in June/July of 2024.”
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