Pentagon looking to cut about 5,400 probationary workers — starting next week

The Pentagon is set to begin its termination of thousands of select probationary employees in the coming days as part of the Trump administration’s unfolding campaign to “maximize efficiency” by rapidly reducing the size of the federal workforce, according to a senior defense official.

Darin Selnick, who is performing the duties of undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, announced the plans in an email to reporters on Friday afternoon.

“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,” Selnick wrote.

He confirmed that the DOD is anticipating at this time to shrink its civilian workforce by 5% to 8% in an effort to “produce efficiencies and refocus” the department’s priorities to match those of President Donald Trump’s new administration.

In the process, Selnick stated, the Defense Department will “treat our workers with dignity and respect as it always does.” 

This announcement comes as questions and news reports swirled this week about the Trump administration’s vision for potential major staff and budget changes and how they’ll impact the military and civilian workforce.

According to an official agency financial report for 2023, the DOD had a total of more than 778,000 civilian employees that year. Generally, in the U.S. government, probationary employees refer to new hires — as well as officials who recently moved or were promoted into new positions.

It’s not immediately clear which offices inside the Pentagon will be most impacted by this direction, or when.

In a video message released online Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth highlighted some of the initial efforts his team is pursuing, including instituting the hiring freeze and re-evaluating the probationary workforce to identify who should be fired. He did not share any information about metrics or performance standards leadership would be applying in its review.

“We start with poor performers amongst our probationary employees, because that is common sense, and you want the best and brightest. So, when you look at headcount, we’re going to be thoughtful, but we’re also going to be aggressive — up and down the chain — to find the places where we can ensure the best and brightest are promoted based on merit. And then we’re going to go out, we’re going to put out a hiring freeze and take more time to identify, on a performance-based standard, who we’re going to hire — and reward hard-working employees, who are central to the core warfighting mission,” Hegseth said.

He also emphasized that highly technical areas including cybersecurity, drone capabilities  and nuclear modernization are “off the table” in terms of looming budget reforms.

DefenseScoop has requested information about the total number of probationary employees from some of the DOD’s key technology components including the Chief Digital and AI Office, Chief Information Office and Defense Innovation Unit.

The cuts are emerging as officials affiliated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire and Trump supporter Elon Musk, are also at the Pentagon to probe for spending that the administration deems wasteful.

Pentagon leadership has also ordered all defense agencies and components to comprehensively review their existing contracts for consulting services to determine which are “non-essential” — and could therefore be considered for termination in the near future.