On September 25, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke reportedly questioned the patriotism of almost one third of the Interior Department’s employees, stating, “I got 30 percent of the crew that’s not loyal to the flag.” As former Interior political appointees who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, we strongly disagree. The Interior Department employs approximately 70,000 scientists, resourcemanagement professionals, economists, engineers, and administrative personnel. The Department’s career employees swear to defend the Constitution; they do not swear personal allegiance to individual Secretaries or to anyone else. In our collective experience, the overwhelming majority of these civil servants are ethical, law-abiding, hard-working, and deeply committed to the Department’s multifaceted mission—to protect, manage, and provide access to the Nation’s public lands, natural resources, and cultural heritage; to provide scientific and other information about those resources; and to honor the United States’ trust responsibilities and special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated island communities. These employees are dedicated to public service and to advancing the public good, and many work for salaries considerably lower than they could earn in the private sector. In our experience, these employees fully grasp that elections have consequences, and that with new administrations, priorities and policies may shift. But they, and we, also believe that robust internal discussions of proposed changes are vital to ensuring that new policies are wise, scientifically sound, and legally defensible. Certainly, our own work at the Department benefited from such discussions. Our nation experienced government run by loyalty oath during the days when the infamous Boss Tweed doled out jobs in New York City government to his friends in Tammany Hall. Public reaction to that corruption eventually led to the institution of the civil service system. Indeed, the President whom Secretary Zinke claims as his political hero, Theodore Roosevelt, was a leader of this movement in both New York and Washington, serving as U.S. Civil Service Commissioner from 1889 to 1895. The civil service reforms instituted over the last century and a half have worked to ensure that honest, dedicated public servants can do their jobs without fear of retaliation on political grounds. In short, Departmental employees who raise questions about proposed policy changes are not being disloyal but fulfilling their essential role as civil servants who are not beholden to a political party or to a particular agenda. To criticize these employees impugns their integrity and undermines both morale and the important work of the Department. Signed, Bret Birdsong, Former Deputy Solicitor (Obama) Michael Brennan, Former Executive Assistant to the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (George H.W. Bush) James L. Caswell, Former Director of the Bureau of Land Management (George W. Bush) Jamie Rappaport Clark, Former Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Clinton) Bonnie R. Cohen, Former Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget (Clinton) Dylan Fuge, Former Counselor to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (Obama) Jonathan Jarvis, Former Director of the National Park Service (Obama) Amanda C. Leiter, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management (Obama) John Leshy, Former Solicitor (Clinton) Justin Pidot, Former Deputy Solicitor (Obama) Nathaniel Reed, Former Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks (Nixon and Ford) Lynn Scarlett, Former Deputy Secretary (George W. Bush) Anne Shields, Former Chief of Staff (Clinton) B.J. Thornberry, Former Deputy Chief of Staff (Clinton) Hilary Tompkins, Former Solicitor (Obama)