The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is an independent agency of the United States government that manages the civil service of the federal government. OPM works in several broad categories to recruit, retain and honor a world-class workforce for the American people. We manage Federal job announcement postings at USAJOBS.gov, and set policy on governmentwide hiring procedures. We conduct background investigations for prospective employees and security clearances across government, with hundreds of thousands of cases each year. We uphold and defend the merit systems in Federal civil service, making sure that the Federal workforce uses fair practices in all aspects of personnel management. We manage pension benefits for retired Federal employees and their families. We also administer health and other insurance programs for Federal employees and retirees. We provide training and development programs and other management tools for Federal employees and agencies. In many cases, we take the lead in developing, testing and implementing new governmentwide policies that relate to personnel issues. Altogether, we work to make the Federal government America’s model employer for the 21st century.