The Pentagon is seen in October 2021. (Robert H. Reid/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Nearly 21,000 workers for the Defense Department have been approved to take deferred resignations offered as part of the Trump administration’s federal workforce purge, a senior defense official said Tuesday.
The Defense Department is in the process of placing those employees on administrative leave leading up to their last day on the job as the agency looks to slash as many as 60,000 jobs, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The resignation directive was offered by the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Government Efficiency Service to help federal agencies substantially trim the civilian workforce.
The Pentagon had set a goal to cut 5 to 8% of its more than 900,000 civilian employees. However, the official said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is now concerned uniformed troops will have to fill gaps left by ousted civilian workers.
As a result, applicants for deferred resignations deemed critical to national security and military readiness were denied that opportunity, known as the “Fork-in-the-Road” program. The official was not authorized to share how many applicants were denied, only stating the Pentagon worked with the services and appropriate offices to ensure those who were approved to resign could do so “without negatively impacting the department’s lethality and readiness.”
“This wasn’t just a totally open process where any employee could depart,” one senior defense official said. “To ensure the department’s ability to effectively function, it is important to consider things like which roles can be removed without losing effectiveness.”
Those of the 21,000 who were approved for the resignation program but are not yet eligible for retirement will end their DOD employment on Sept. 30, the last day of the fiscal year. Those workers who are retiring will be phased out by December, the official said.
“We are confident we could absorb those removals without detriment to our ability to continue the mission,” the official said.
The Defense Department is aiming to add to the workforce cuts by not filling positions that are vacated. The hiring freeze, the official said, would eliminate about 6,000 positions each month.
The secretaries of the military services can request exemptions to the hiring freeze, according to a memo from Hegseth dated March 14. The exemption requests must be approved by the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
“While the department remains under the hiring freeze, DOD will only hire mission-essential employees into positions that directly contribute to our warfighting readiness,” read the memo, which was released Monday by the Defense Department.
Hegseth has already exempted positions that are essential to immigration enforcement. Department leaders, he wrote, should request exemptions to sustain the workforce at shipyards, depots and medical treatment facilities.
“Every dollar counts as we defend the homeland, deter adversaries abroad and prepare our service members to triumph in combat,” Hegseth wrote.
While the bulk of the cuts thus far have been voluntary, forced cuts began in March with the firing of probationary workers at the Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Health Agency and the Navy, among others. The goal, outlined by Hegseth, was to immediately purge 5,400, or 10% probationary workers. The federal government considers workers to be probationary if they have been on the job for less than one to two years. Probationary workers lack the employment protections of more seasoned workers.
It is unclear how many probationary workers were cut, but the official said the department prioritized firing those with documented unsatisfactory performances.
However, those cuts could be reversed.
Last week, a federal judge in California ordered the immediate rehiring of thousands of probationary workers fired from their jobs at the departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Interior, Energy, Treasury and Agriculture. Approximately 30,000 probationary workers across the six federal agencies were fired beginning in mid-February.
The Trump administration has moved to reinstate at least 24,000 federal probationary employees, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The defense official was unable to comment Tuesday if any of the Defense Department’s recent probationary firings were part of those being rehired, citing pending litigation.
“The department is committed to fully complying with every applicable court order,” the official said.
