CC™ PersPective
The Pentagon is working to downsize its civilian workforce by approximately 50,000 to 60,000 employees through voluntary departures, though it remains uncertain whether this target can be met without resorting to involuntary layoffs.
The Department of Defense is currently implementing a voluntary reduction initiative to achieve a 5% to 8% cut in its 878,000 civilian workforce—an adjustment that translates to around 50,000 to 60,000 positions, a senior defense official told reporters on Tuesday.
“The number sounds high, but I would focus on the percentage, a 5% to 8% reduction is not a drastic one,” the official stated, emphasizing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “is confident can be done without negatively impacting readiness in order to make sure that our resources are allocated in the right direction.”
So far, about 21,000 civilian employees have had their resignation requests approved under the Pentagon’s Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), which allows employees to resign while still receiving pay until the fiscal year concludes on September 30. However, the senior defense official declined to specify the total number of workers who had applied for this program.
ABC News had previously reported that under a Trump administration initiative, 31,000 civilian employees had submitted resignation requests, though some were denied.
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