It's President Trump's Turn to "Ravage" the Defense Sector

WASHINGTON, FRIDAY - United States President Donald Trump continues his efficiency program. Now it is the turn of the US Department of Defense to be shaken up by laying off around 5-8 percent of the civilian workforce. Those affected are around 5,400 new workers who are undergoing a probationary period. The layoffs will begin next week.

In addition to cutting jobs, Trump also suddenly fired US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Charles Q Brown Jr and replaced him with Dan Caine, who recently served as associate director for military affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency or CIA. The firing is believed to be related to Trump's efforts to remove military leaders who support diversity and equality in the military.

Probationary workers at the US Department of Defense or the Pentagon are those who have worked for less than a year and have not received civil service protection. Active military personnel are not included. The Pentagon will also temporarily not recruit workers. Staff from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the Pentagon have received a list of workers who will be fired, Friday (21/2/2025).

“The reduction in the DoD civilian workforce by approximately 5-8 percent is expected to generate efficiencies and restore readiness across the armed forces,” said Darin Selnick, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

The Trump administration has already laid off thousands of federal workers who do not have civil service protections. In the Forest Service, for example, 2,000 workers were laid off. There are also 7,000 people in the Internal Revenue Service who are at risk of being laid off.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth supported the cuts. He urged the government not to retain individuals whose contributions were not important. The cuts would be made to underperforming probationary workers.

The Pentagon is the fattest government agency, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. By 2023, it will have 900,000 full-time civilian workers. Hegseth has asked the Pentagon to identify $50 billion worth of programs that could be cut next year.

The money could be used to fund other Trump priority programs. The amount of funding is about 8 percent of the total military budget. Hegseth said Elon Musk's DOGE would have broad access to eliminate programs of the previous administration at the Pentagon.

DOGE will work to find redundancies and identify the last vestiges of US President Joe Biden’s priorities such as diversity, equality, and climate change. Hegseth said those were not top priorities of the Trump administration’s mission and were removed.

Musk’s leadership in the firing of much of the federal workforce has sparked a flurry of lawsuits. But a U.S. judge on Tuesday denied a request to temporarily block Musk and DOGE from firing federal employees and accessing agency data. This comes after 14 Democratic-controlled states filed a lawsuit challenging Musk’s legal authority.

Trump abruptly fired US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Charles Q Brown Jr., a decorated fighter pilot. Brown was supposed to serve until September 2027. During his 16 months in office, Brown spent his time dealing with the war in Ukraine and the Middle East conflict.

The firing of Brown, only the second Black general to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will shake up the Pentagon. Along with Brown’s removal, Trump will replace five other high-ranking positions. It is an unprecedented shakeup of U.S. military leadership. Trump did not explain why he was removing Brown.

Trump has chosen Dan “Razin” Caine, a former F-16 pilot who most recently served at the CIA, to replace Brown. Under the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, to qualify as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a person must have previously served as vice chairman, a combatant commander, or an agency chief. But these requirements can be waived if “the president determines that such action is necessary in the national interest.”

The role of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was established in 1949 as an adviser to the president and the secretary of defense. It was a way to filter all the views of the service chiefs and more easily get information to the White House without the president having to contact each service.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has no actual command authority. In addition to firing Brown, Trump will also replace the chief of staff of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, as well as the vice chief of staff of the Air Force and the advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force. (REUTERS/AFP/AP)