Following a dramatic string of firings of top military chiefs in the US Department of Defense last week, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that between 5-8% of the civilian probationary workforce will be dismissed from today (24 February 2025).
Initially, 5,400 probationary workers will leave the Department alongside the former Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles QC Brown Jr; the former Naval Operations Chief, Admiral Lisa Franchetti; among other senior officials appointed during the former Biden administration.
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Around 950,000 civilian employees work at the Pentagon headquarters in Washington.
The new administration will also implement a ‘hiring freeze’ while they conduct a further analysis of personnel needs.
Hegseth suggested the probationary job cuts are intended to “maximise efficiency and productivity.” These job cuts, he specified, will free up funds to be allocated elsewhere in the federal government where the government believes it is most needed.
In the same breath, the Department also intimated a need to restore the readiness of the US Armed Forces. This assertion appears to relate to the sacking of the military leadership with the implication that the leaders – Brown, Franchetti, and others – were out of step with US President Donald Trump and his agenda to deconstruct DEI structures.
Trump has already appointed Lieutenant General Dan ‘Razin’ Caine, US Air Force, to replace Brown and has requested nominations for Franchetti’s role and those of others.
Why cut the Pentagon’s civilian probationary workforce?
In his announcement on 21 February, Hegseth laid out the rationale for the decision in a carefully crafted message by video, which he said he hoped would bypass what he sees as the media’s misrepresentation of Trump’s policies.
“It is simply not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission critical and to restore accountability within the federal workforce,” he explained earnestly.
A lot of what Hegseth described as bureaucratic “fat” can impede the decision-making process. This is particularly the case with the acquisition process.
The US defence industry has voiced concern with the former government’s impenetrable procurement process. In an open letter to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, an uncrewed systems manufacturer, stated:
“… poor US government policy and sluggish bureaucratic decision-making has opened the door for competitors like China, Turkey, and Israel to win important international customers.”
A typical acquisition must satisfy nearly 50 documentation requirements and get 50 external sing-offs, observed US senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in his opening remarks during a recent session.
Wider Pentagon overhaul: funds as well as jobs
This purge comes as part of a wider overhaul of defence structures and processes.
The decision to cut jobs comes in conjunction with efforts to reform defence procurement protocols that, it is fair to say, are not delivering. At present, Hegseth has paused the Pentagon’s finances as they undertake a sweeping audit with the aim of filtering programmes and investment according to the new administration’s America First doctrine.
Alongside the job cuts, Hegseth noted that the administration will also be “pulling” around 8%, or $50bn, from the Biden administration’s budget. However, the Defense Secretary stressed that the funds will not be cut, but rather they will be “refocusing” and “reinvesting” the funds due for “woke policies” towards more “lethal programmes.”
At the centre of this anti-woke and efficiency crusade, DOGE is the agent implementing the overhaul at the Pentagon.
“They’re here and we’re welcoming them,” Hegseth acknowledged, supporting them with “everything they’re doing to find fraud, waste, and abuse in the largest discretionary budget in the federal government.
“They’re going to have broad access, obviously with all the safeguards on classification… to find the last vestiges of Biden priorities.”
