Approximately 5,400 probationary workers are expected to be fired from the Pentagon beginning next week.
Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Darin Selnick announced the cut back of the workforce in a statement on Friday evening.
“We anticipate reducing the Department’s civilian workforce by 5-8% to produce efficiencies and refocus the Department on the President’s priorities and restoring readiness in the force,” Selnick said.
Selnick’s statement continued, “We expect approximately 5,400 probationary workers will be released beginning next week as part of this initial effort, after which we will implement a hiring freeze while we conduct a further analysis of our personnel needs, complying as always with all applicable laws.”
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a video to social media hinting at the upcoming layoffs.
Hegseth stated it is “not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission critical.”
A Message From @SecDef To The American Warfighter, And The American Tax Payer. pic.twitter.com/iRSPfrd6w0
— Department of Defense (@DeptofDefense) February 20, 2025
“Taxpayers deserve to have us take a really thorough look at our workforce top to bottom — and it will be top to bottom — to see where we can find and eliminate redundancy,” he said.
The Hill reports:
“While there is no official figure available of the total firings or layoffs, it’s known that several thousand federal employees have been shown the door in President Trump’s first month of presidency, including 1,000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs let go last week.”
