A bureaucracy in which personnel operate in a merit system under the jurisdiction of a civil service agency.In the national government, nearly 3 million individuals are employed in the federal classified service. Those not in the classified service include persons employed in agencies that operate their own personnel systems (for example, the Foreign Service and the Secret Service), elected officials and those appointed by the elected officials, and all employees of the judicial branch and the Congress. See also CAREER SERVICE, page 233 ; GENERAL SCHEDULE (GS), page 255 ; MERIT SYSTEM, page 263.