The General Accounting Office (GAO) surveyed current Senior Executive Service (SES) (highly placed government civil service) employees to obtain their views regarding their federal employment, including career plans, characteristics, and opinions. The results of the survey were obtained from 348 usable responses from a sample of 430 SES members selected randomly from 6,180 total career SES members. The survey showed that responding SES members were quite satisfied with some aspects of their jobs, such as personal fulfillment; the match between their jobs and their aptitudes, interests, and expectations; and the people with whom they worked. At the same time, however, the respondents expressed a high degree of dissatisfaction with the public's negative opinions of federal workers and various compensation-related issues. The survey showed that many respondents are interested in leaving SES. About 24 percent had sought, or planned to seek within the coming year, full-time employment outside the federal government. Half said they would accept an outside position if one were offered. About half of the respondents will be eligible for retirement in the next five years, and most intend to retire at that time or earlier if given the option. (The survey instrument is appended.) (KC)