> I'm not mixing it up. It's a civil role.

You said you looked it up. Should be an easy cite.

> Peter Marks was the prior head of CBER. He was a civil servant.

Those aren't mutually exclusive statuses. Some State Department ambassadors are long-term civil servants; others are political appointees.

https://www.newsweek.com/who-vinay-prasad-rfk-jr-taps-pharma...

"Prasad's new role has traditionally been held by an FDA career scientist"

> By your standards of "appointment", every job in my life has been a political appointment by my boss.

If you were appointed by Federal agency heads, sure. They're the encyclopedia's standards, not mine.