OPM’s Merit Hiring Plan emphasizes improving recruitment, strengthening assessments, reducing time-to-hire, and hiring the most capable applicants at scale. OPM explains that veterans’ preference gives eligible veterans preference in appointment over many other applicants, applies to all new appointments in the competitive service and many in the excepted service, but does not guarantee selection. One common failure is reducing veterans’ preference to a mechanical point system without understanding the legal effect of disabled-veteran preference. Regardless of administration, agency, ideology or policy agenda, the rule of law requires federal hiring officials to apply veterans’ preference correctly. In conclusion, veterans’ preference is not a loophole in merit hiring.