For the purpose of this chapter—

“agency” means an Executive agency and the Government Publishing Office, but does not include—

(A) a Government corporation;

(B) the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and, as determined by the President, any Executive agency or unit thereof which is designated by the President and which has as its principal function the conduct of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence activities; or

(C) the Government Accountability Office;

(2) “employee” means an individual employed in or under an agency;

(3) “eligible” means an individual who has qualified for appointment in an agency and whose name has been entered on the appropriate register or list of eligibles;

(4) “demonstration project” means a proj­ect conducted by the Office of Personnel Management, or under its supervision, to determine whether a specified change in personnel management policies or procedures would result in improved Federal personnel management; and

(5) “research program” means a planned study of the manner in which public management policies and systems are operating, the effects of those policies and systems, the possibilities for change, and comparisons among policies and systems.

This chapter shall not apply to any position in the Drug Enforcement Administration which is excluded from the competitive service under section 201 of the Crime Control Act of 1976 (28 U.S.C. 509 note; 90 Stat. 2425).

(Added Pub. L. 95–454, title VI, § 601(a), Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1185; amended Pub. L. 96–54, § 2(a)(21), Aug. 14, 1979, 93 Stat. 382; Pub. L. 101–474, § 5(g), Oct. 30, 1990, 104 Stat. 1100; Pub. L. 103–359, title V, § 501(f), Oct. 14, 1994, 108 Stat. 3429; Pub. L. 104–201, div. A, title XI, § 1122(a)(1), Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2687; Pub. L. 108–271, § 8(b), July 7, 2004, 118 Stat. 814; Pub. L. 110–417, [div. A], title IX, § 931(a)(1), Oct. 14, 2008, 122 Stat. 4575; Pub. L. 113–235, div. H, title I, § 1301(b), Dec. 16, 2014, 128 Stat. 2537.)