Next week, he will start the process of dismissing employees – the US Department of Defense said. Receiving new ones will be suspended. 5,400 people are to leave the Pentagon.
The exemptions are to apply to employees on the trial period first and will not apply to uniformed staff. According to the AP agency, employees work less than a year on the trial period and are not covered by the provisions on the protection of public employees.
– We are planning a reduction in the Department's civilian personnel by five or percentage to increase efficiency and focus the department on the president's priorities and increase the readiness of the workforce – said Darin Selnick, acting in the Undersecretary of Defense for Personal Affairs. The exemptions will include 5,400 people.
Pentagon headquarters in Washington Mia2you/Shutterstock
The Pentagon must “degrease”
Defense Secretary Pete HegeSeth recently stated on the X platform that Pentagon He must “degrease, develop his muscles.” In addition, he ordered the armed forces to “find” $ 50 billion in military programs that could be cut next year.
This is another move as part of the savings review of the agencies and federal departments, ordered by President Trump, chaired by the billionaire Elon Musk standing at the forefront of the newly created Department for Government Efficiency (Doge). AP estimates that so far employment reductions have covered over 20,000 people.
Attempts to bring lawsuits to courts against exemptions have brought little results so far because federal judges usually dismiss them.
Source of the main photo: Mia2you/Shutterstock