The Pentagon has approved nearly 21,000 employee resignations amid Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s effort to cut 5-8% of the military’s civilian workforce, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
The resignations are one of three methods the Pentagon is using reach that goal, which could ultimately cut between 50,000 to 70,000 employees.
The entire U.S. government sent out an email earlier this year offering to pay workers their salary through September if they offered to resign — a move billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading these cuts from the White House through his controversial advisory body, the Department of Government Efficiency, called a “fork in the road.” The 21,000 number is the Pentagon’s total thus far.
Alongside this effort, the Defense Department imposed a hiring freeze in late February and is also firing some of its new hires, which have fewer protections than long-term employees.
The hiring freeze is expected to stall around 6,000 hires per month, while the number of firings remains unclear. Hegseth pledged to lay off 5,400 such employees, or around one-tenth of the total probationary workers, starting in late February. A court has since ordered the government overall, including the Pentagon, to halt the firings and begin reinstating the workers.
“The department is committed to fully complying with every applicable court order regarding the process,” the defense official told reporters Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity per call’s terms.
The official wouldn’t say how many, if any, employees have been reinstated, referring questions to the Justice Department. They also wouldn’t comment on whether any of the 50,000 other probationary employees might also be fired.
Reducing the workforce so quickly and in such numbers has created widespread confusion across the military. Some employees have been caught in limbo while changing jobs, waiting for leadership to approve exceptions during military moves. Others have volunteered to resign without actually being approved to do so.
The defense official wouldn’t say how many employees have volunteered to resign in total, rather than the number whose resignations have been accepted.
Hegseth has pledged the cuts will make the military more efficient without compromising its readiness to fight. Many Democrats in Washington doubt that promise, criticizing the decision during Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg’s confirmation hearing in February.
Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.
