The federal hiring controls -- in place since January 20 -- have been lifted thanks to a Feb. 9 memorandum issued by the new Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.

The Rumsfeld memo, issued to senior defense managers, stated they could "appoint, promote or reassign individuals to positions after determining that doing so is consistent … with the president’s initiative."

Carol McQuinn, recruitment chief for West Point’s civilian personnel advisory center, said the academy will resume regular hiring practices.

"We are conducting business as usual as a result of this latest guidance," McQuinn said.

The memo is not without requirements for the agencies, however. It directs defense managers to "establish procedures to review and approving hiring decisions," especially the ones pertaining to managerial positions.

"Army activities will be providing information to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs during the upcoming weeks," McQuinn said. "DA will then develop a plan to implement the president’s initiative."

Certain positions, the memo states, are exempt from any review. These include firefighters, police officers, teachers and people hired under the Priority Placement Program.

The almost month-long restraint on federal hiring started Jan. 20 after Andrew H. Card Jr., President George W. Bush’s chief of staff, issued a memo stating, "The president proposed, among other things, to flatten the federal hierarchy by redistributing positions and resources from high-level managerial positions to front-line, service-delivery jobs."

To achieve that goal, "no decision relating to hiring shall be made unless, and until, such decisions are reviewed and approved by a department or agency head appointed by the president after noon on Jan. 20, 2001."

The new directive on reviewing hiring practices is an extension of Bush’s plan to eliminate approximately 40,000 federal manager positions, said Michael Styles, national president of the Federal Managers Association.