Pentagon stops plan to mass fire civilian workers for now, officials say

The Pentagon has paused a plan to fire thousands of civilian probationary employees until Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and legal counsel can review how these terminations might affect military readiness, reports CNN.

Pentagon lawyers began examining the legality of these planned terminations after CNN reported on this legal requirement. Before this pause, military leaders had been ordered to compile lists of employees to fire without conducting the legally required readiness analysis. The article explains how defense officials have been working late hours to identify critical workers who should be exempted from firings, including those in cybersecurity, intelligence, and other national security roles.

While Hegseth claimed in X post that the department focused on firing lower-performing employees, the Office of Personnel Management used a broader justification, arguing these probationary employees were simply no longer needed.

The Defense Department has already submitted lists of probationary employees to the Trump administration as the Pentagon prepares for workforce reductions, said an anonymous senior official in USA Today. While the exact number of potential cuts remains unclear, some reports suggest the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could target an 8% reduction across the department.

According to Defense One, Hegseth confirmed the department was reevaluating its probationary workforce following the Office of Personnel Management's January directive. He characterized this as just the beginning of a more comprehensive workforce review, stating the department would start with "poor performers amongst our probationary employees" as a common-sense approach. 

The report further explains how the Pentagon chief also announced plans for an upcoming department-wide hiring freeze, adding that future hiring would focus on "performance-based standards" to reward employees "central to the core warfighting mission."

Hegseth provided no timeline for these workforce actions, nor did he address how they would comply with laws giving hiring preference to veterans and providing protections to career federal employees, as noted by Defense One. Despite the Pentagon being largely exempt from President Trump's federal hiring freeze, the administration has now directed the Defense Department to reduce its own workforce. 

According to Defense One sources, various commands and agencies throughout the Pentagon continued assembling lists of probationary employees on Thursday, with some employees reporting their leaders were advocating for more exemptions while others expected minimal exceptions within their teams.