A review of a Presidential executive order signed on September 15, 1986, mandating drug testing for Federal employees in sensitive positions, incorporates an assessment of the programs developed by Federal departments pursuant to the executive order. It finds that the executive order was too broad in scope and gave too much authority to Federal agency officials to conduct drug testing. As a result, the privacy of Federal employees was threatened by Federal drug-testing programs. Additionally, because the executive order fails to balance the interests of the Government against the rights of the individual Federal employee, it is unconstitutional. A scheme is proposed for testing Federal employees for drugs in which Federal employees would be classified into three groups based on the relationship between an employee's regular employment duties and the Government's vital interests. Most Federal employees would be asked to submit to drug testing only if there was a strong suspicion of the use and influence of illegal drugs. A small minority of Federal employees in extremely sensitive jobs would be subject to random testing. The model proposal contains safeguards to make the testing as unintrusive as possible, and it also guarantees the confidentiality of medical data. 350 footnotes.