With two opportunities to apply for a deferred resignation and a hiring freeze in effect for the majority of its civilian career fields, the Defense Department is working toward successfully implementing its workforce acceleration and recapitalization initiative, primarily using voluntary reductions in force.
The initiative, announced March 28, 2025, in a memorandum from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is part of a larger plan to rebuild the U.S. military to meet current and future demands.
"To deliver on my commitment to urgently rebuild our military, revive the warrior ethos and deliver maximum deterrence, we must aggressively refocus every available resource towards our core mission," Hegseth said. "We will realign the size of our civilian workforce and strategically restructure it to supercharge our American warfighters consistent with my interim National Defense Strategy guidance."
With more than 900,000 civilian employees across the department, this initiative requires a deliberate, comprehensive approach to reshape and — in some cases — reduce the workforce.
Tim Dill, performing the duties of the deputy under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said the department has achieved many of its workforce goals using voluntary or passive measures, particularly through two deferred resignation programs and a hiring freeze.
"Reducing the size of the civilian workforce is not about hitting a threshold — it's about doing what is best for the department, our warfighters and our mission."
In his messages to the workforce, the defense secretary said he wants to make reduction decisions as voluntary as possible to minimize the need for involuntary separations. Dill said the department has not made a decision regarding a reduction in force, a process through which the department could involuntarily lay off civil servants.
In late January 2025, the Office of Personnel Management offered a government-wide DRP, which was available for two weeks. Under that program, federal employees could volunteer to resign from their positions and enjoy paid leave through the end of September.
The department also offered a second round of DRP, billed as "DRP 2.0," from April 7 through 14.
Under both DRPs, eligible employees were offered the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, which allowed those employees to begin collecting retirement pay earlier than scheduled. Dill said some employees combined the two, accepting DRP and early retirement.
"It was a very attractive and generous offer for those who might have been thinking about leaving," he said.
The department is now reviewing employee applications to participate in the second DRP.
"A lot of analysis must be done in each of the military departments and components to identify concentrations of volunteers and make certain that we manage the impact of their departures on our mission and warfighters," Dill said.
With both DRPs, the department and military services could deny an employee's request to take the offer if doing so was in the best interest of the department.
"We want to maximize participation, but at the same time, we need to mitigate risk and ensure that we don't allow participation where doing so would harm the department's readiness or effectiveness," he said.
Early on in his second administration, President Donald J. Trump directed executive departments and agencies to streamline the federal workforce. Hegseth acted swiftly to implement a civilian employee hiring freeze in support of this guidance and in an effort to streamline operations, bolster readiness and prioritize critical DOD missions.
In the past, the department typically hired about 6,000 civilians each month to fill vacancies left by retirements and other employee attrition. With a hiring freeze in place, the gaps in civilian employment are growing, reducing the size of the civilian workforce across the department.
That reduction in the workforce is not random, in part, because the hiring freeze is not universal. The DOD has exempted jobs it considers central to its core warfighting mission, such as those related to immigration enforcement, national security, public safety, shipyards, depots, cyber fields and medical treatment facilities.
"We never stopped bringing in the new people needed to build a ready, lethal fighting force and help the department achieve its goals," Dill said. "And, hiring continues for our most essential positions. We're just bringing in fewer employees than we have in the past in support of a lean, efficient, disciplined and — above all — effective DOD."
Last month, the secretary ordered the military departments, Joint Chiefs, directors of defense agencies and others to submit reorganization plans that include proposed future functional areas, consolidated management hierarchies, position titles and counts. Dill said those plans have since been submitted, and the department is now analyzing the requested input to further optimize and develop the workforce.
The review will identify functions that are no longer needed or that are duplicative and can be eliminated. Dill said an effort will be made to retain personnel whose experience and expertise can be applied elsewhere to serve the department.
"We want to make sure that talented employees who have chosen to remain with the department are placed where their skills can be used most effectively to meet the challenges that we face today and not on legacy requirements," he said.
While the department continues to realign and reshape its civilian workforce, Dill said he appreciates those who remain focused on the mission and committed to supporting the warfighters.
"These men and women have twice signaled their desire to stay in the department, even when they had an opportunity to take paid leave and depart," he said. "We're glad they are still here, and we're excited to match their skill sets against the most critical needs of the department."
Overall, he said, the workforce acceleration and recapitalization initiative has enabled DOD to further align every part of the organization around its increasingly urgent national defense mission.