ARLINGTON, Va. — If you are a military spouse facing a permanent change-of-station move, it just got easier for you to land a job with the federal government.

President Bush has signed an executive order that makes certain military spouses eligible for noncompetitive appointments to civil service jobs, said Patricia Bradshaw, deputy undersecretary of Defense for civilian personnel policy.

One goal is to provide greater employment opportunities for military spouses, whose careers are often disrupted by PCS moves, Bradshaw said Tuesday.

Details of when military spouses would become eligible for such appointments have not yet been worked out, she said.

Also eligible are spouses of servicemembers with a 100 percent disability rating and the unremarried widow or widower of a servicemember killed on active duty, Bradshaw said Tuesday.

The move, which applies to the entire federal government, is separate from an existing program that helps military spouses who work for the Defense Department find new jobs in the department, Bradshaw said.

"It is not a hiring preference, OK? It is intended to be another authority available to line managers to be able to quickly and expeditiously hire our military spouses," she said.

Bradshaw could not say how much quicker the move makes the hiring process.

"But it clearly, without a doubt, will make hiring faster," she said.

The executive order is also not meant to replace existing hiring authorities for military spouses overseas, Bradshaw said.

"This may in fact just be one other alternative for them," she said.

The federal government hires about 20,000 people per month, Bradshaw said. Most civil service jobs available to military spouses are in the United States.

Those jobs include nursing, public affairs and human resources, she said.

"You still have to be qualified for the job and there still has to be a vacancy available," Bradshaw said.