Secretary of War Pete Hegseth pledged to dramatically shrink and reshape the Department of Defense, now rebranded as the Department of War, while returning it to its “warfighting ethos.” That included removing programs that he claimed were too focused on DEI (diversity, equality, and inclusion). It has also resulted in more than 60,000 civilian employees being relieved of duties or voluntarily leaving the department.
That accounted for 7.6% of the Pentagon’s workforce, higher than the 5-8% goal Hegseth set in March. According to recent reports, the majority of the 60,000+ workers who have exited the DoD were from buyouts and early retirements, with 55,000 applications for the Deferred Resignation Program approved and another 6,100 from the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority program.
There have been concerns since it was announced that service members would be called to take on the duties of those civilian employees. A few individuals have expressed concerns about what it means for the department.
“The consensus among the rank-and-file DoD employees is that the SecDef has essentially declared war on his civilian workforce, creating an atmosphere of mutual distrust and an implication that all DOD civilians are untrustworthy parasites until proven otherwise,” one department civilian, who asked not to be identified to prevent retaliation, told Defense One.
Not Good For the DoD?
The planned cuts were meant to streamline the department, cut bloat, and allow for a leaner and more focused Pentagon.
“A 7.6% civilian drawdown sounds surgical on paper,” warned geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman, president and founder of threat assessment firm Scarab Rising. “In practice, it concentrated pain in places where civilian continuity is the mission glue. Buyouts and early retirements stripped out corporate memory in acquisition commands and depots.”
Some branches took a disproportionate hit. That included the United States Space Force, the sixth and newest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, which reported a 14% civilian loss, with Space Systems Command experiencing rates above 10% in some areas.
“That is where independent cost estimates, configuration control, and risk burn-down live. When those functions thin out, schedule credibility becomes a guess and vendors drive the calendar,” Tsukerman told ClearanceJobs.
It isn’t just those who have departed the Pentagon, but also those who never entered the building or department.
“The hiring freeze did the most visible damage. Rescinded offers left thousands in limbo, with the Army alone pulling back roughly two thousand jobs,” Tsukermand continued. “Overseas staff were stranded between tours, living in hotels on government tabs while their household goods traveled without them. Commands burned money on per diem while billets sat empty—exemptions required top-level attention, which created a bottleneck by design. Even after limited delegation, the pipeline moved slowly. The result is a two-front problem: positions cannot be filled, and experienced people cannot shift to the roles where they add the most value.”
Good Time to be a Contractor
Even as the U.S. unemployment rate recently ticked up to 4.3% in August, the highest it has been since October 2021, and indicating a cooling labor market, those leaving the Pentagon may not have to head to the unemployment line. The difference in 2025 is the amount of federal employees entering the contracting landscape. That does take time to sort through and place candidates in the correct positions – where possible.
“Clearances are gold,” said Tsukerman. “Program and budget experience is gold. Acquisition officers, logisticians, cyber analysts, systems engineers, test directors, contracting specialists, and cost estimators are all immediately marketable.”
Tsukerman told ClearanceJobs that while ethics rules limit work on the exact matters they handled, they do not bar broader support.
“Contractors will do what markets do when talent becomes available,” she added. “They will hire quickly, pay competitively, and deliver where they are allowed to do so. The question is whether the government will retain enough of its own expertise to define requirements, make binding decisions, and hold industry accountable. If that answer is allowed to drift, the savings achieved today will become costs that recur in every program that slips tomorrow.”
Yet, even as contractors may recruit aggressively from the suddenly enlarged pool, they cannot replace everything that walked out.
“The government has unique authorities that contractors cannot exercise. Only the government can obligate funds, accept risk on behalf of the United States, and sign certain determinations and findings. When the people who do those things are thin, throughput drops no matter how many support contractors stand ready,” said Tsukerman.
The Spy Games
The final consideration with the number of workers who have suddenly departed the Department is that more than a few may end up being prime targets for foreign actors. There will be those with grievances, and that opens the door for recruitment by an adversary’s spy agency.
“The even bigger issue is the ongoing efforts by foreign powers to go after these civilian employees,” said Tsukerman. “UAE, China, and any country with clout and money is looking to capitalize on these trends and to take advantage of these outgoing defense specialists.”
