Pentagon announces it will fire over 5,000 civilian employees next week

The Pentagon on Friday announced that it expects to fire roughly 5,400 civilian probationary employees next week, as part of its efforts to reduce its workforce to better align the Defense Department with President Donald Trump's priorities. 

The anticipated move comes after other federal agencies looked to reduce their workforces by offering buyout options for employees who resigned voluntarily. The agencies also purged their probationary employees, following a Trump order.

The 5,400 workers are all newer employees who have worked for the department for one or two years, and whose employment is not considered "mission critical." The department is also implementing a hiring freeze.

"As the Secretary made clear, it is simply not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission-critical," Darin Selnick, acting defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness, said. "Taxpayers deserve to have us take a thorough look at our workforce top-to-bottom to see where we can eliminate redundancies.

"As we take these important steps to reshape the workforce to meet the President's priorities, the Department will treat our workers with dignity and respect as it always does," he continued. "Those who commit themselves to defending our nation deserve nothing less."

The dismissals could eventually impact as many as 50,000 probationary employees who work for DoD, per Politico.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.