McLEAN, Va. — Federal worker Greg Guthrie had held out hope after Donald Trump’s election to president that his professed advocacy for the American worker would extend to the federal work force, too.

That hope diminished after Trump on Monday issued an executive order implementing a hiring freeze across the federal government, with exceptions only for military, national security or public safety personnel.

“I guess there’s a presumption that a lot of people in government are not needed,” Guthrie, an information specialist with the Department of Commerce’s National Technical Information Service in Alexandria, said in a phone interview. “But we’re pretty lean right now, anyway. ”

Trump had raised the possibility of a hiring freeze during the campaign. At a news conference Monday, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the freeze ensures taxpayers get effective and efficient government and said it “counters the dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years.”