The US Defence Department announced that it will lay off 5,400 probationary employees starting next week and will also freeze hiring. US sources said Friday that the action follows lists of such employees that were given to DOGE staffers who visited the Pentagon earlier this week. 

Uniformed military personnel, they maintained, are excluded and were not on those lists. Typically, probationary employees are individuals who have been employed for less than a year and have not yet received civil service protection. Darin Selnick, acting undersecretary of defence for people and readiness, stated in a statement that "we anticipate reducing the    Department's civilian workforce by 5-8 per cent to produce efficiencies and refocus the Department on the President's priorities and restoring readiness in the force."

Probationary employees are usually those who have been working for less than a year and do not yet have civil service protection. The administration of President Donald Trump is removing thousands of federal workers with limited job protections. For instance, about 2,000 employees have been dismissed from the U.S. Forest Service, and around 7,000 are expected to lose their jobs at the Internal Revenue Service. Last week, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the Pentagon needed "to cut the fat (HQ) and grow the muscle (warfighters)" in order to justify the cuts. 

The Defence Department is the biggest government agency. According to a 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office, it had over 700,000 full-time civilian employees. Hegseth has instructed the military services to find $50 billion in budget cuts for next year. The goal is to use those savings to support Trump's priorities. This amount makes up about 8% of the military's total budget.