Up to 60,000 jobs to be cut at the Pentagon
March 19, 2025 Timothy Frudd
The Pentagon has confirmed that up to 60,000 civilian Department of Defense jobs will be cut as part of the administration’s plan to redirect resources to “mission critical functions” under President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
During a media briefing on Tuesday, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters, “The department’s been public about its decision to undertake a strategic reduction of 5 to 8 percent of the department’s civilian workforce in order to direct resources and manpower towards more mission critical functions.”
According to the senior defense official, the anticipated cuts at the Department of Defense will affect roughly 50,000 to 60,000 civilian jobs. However, the senior defense official noted on Tuesday that roughly a third of the job cuts will come from Department of Defense employees who have volunteered for the department’s deferred resignation program.
“More than 20,000, nearing 21,000 of the applications from employees that volunteered to participate in deferred resignation program. So those will actually be achieved over time,” the Defense official said during a media briefing. “We’re in the process of placing those employees that were approved on administrative leave.”
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2025/03/up-to-60000-jobs-to-be-cut-at-the-pentagon/
