Advancing Economic Security for Military and Veteran Spouses, Military Caregivers, and Survivors

The order directs the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget to develop, within 180 days, a government-wide strategic plan for hiring and retaining military and veteran spouses, military caregivers, and survivors. It requires annual training for federal HR staff and hiring managers on applicable special hiring authorities, mandates that USAJOBS job postings list the Military Spouse Noncompetitive Appointment Authority beginning in FY 2025, and directs OPM to issue guidance encouraging telework flexibility and up to five days of administrative leave during relocations. The Department of Defense must establish flexible spending accounts for the care of military dependents by January 1, 2024 and expand pathways for military spouses to provide licensed home-based child care on installations.

The order also directs the Departments of State and Defense to enter a Memorandum of Understanding improving the Domestic Employees Teleworking Overseas program, so military spouses can continue federal jobs when stationed abroad with their service members. The Small Business Administration must expand resources for military spouse entrepreneurs and evaluate capital access gaps. Several directives instruct agencies to study and reduce barriers rather than eliminate them directly, meaning some impacts depend on future agency decisions and rulemaking.

Military and veteran spouses, military caregivers, and survivors seeking federal employment or small-business support; active-duty and veteran families navigating child care costs and frequent relocations; federal agencies and their HR staff responsible for recruiting and retaining this workforce population.

Military spouses face a 21 percent unemployment rate and persistent career disruption from frequent moves. This order creates concrete new pathways — broader hiring notices, a formal strategic plan, improved telework rules, and a new child care spending account — that could make it materially easier for military families to maintain careers and financial stability.

Implementation runs in overlapping tracks: OPM and OMB must issue the strategic plan within 180 days, setting the framework for agency hiring goals and data reporting. Annual training requirements for HR staff activate immediately. The DOD child care flexible spending account has the hardest deadline — January 1, 2024. The State-Defense MOU on overseas telework and agency-level DETO standards have no fixed deadlines, leaving timing at agency discretion. Enforcement depends largely on OPM guidance and interagency coordination rather than binding sanctions; the order explicitly does not create enforceable individual rights.