The Defense Department announced Friday that it will lay off 5,400 probationary civilian employees next week and impose a hiring freeze. The cuts follow a visit from staffers at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who reviewed personnel lists earlier this week.
“We anticipate reducing the Department’s civilian workforce by 5-8% to produce efficiencies and refocus the Department on the President’s priorities,” said acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Darin Selnick. The reductions do not apply to uniformed military personnel, who are exempt from the layoffs.
The Pentagon is the latest agency affected by the Trump administration’s sweeping workforce reductions, which have already resulted in 2,000 cuts at the U.S. Forest Service and an expected 7,000 at the Internal Revenue Service. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended the cuts, arguing that the Pentagon must “cut the fat (HQ) and grow the muscle (warfighters).”
Hegseth has also directed military services to identify $50 billion in additional cuts next year, amounting to roughly 8% of the defense budget.
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