The Pentagon as seen from above on Aug. 27, 2023. In a report published Friday, the Government Accountability Office directed the Pentagon to evaluate lessons learned from the elimination of around 78,000 civilian positions during President Donald Trump’s second term. (Associated Press)
The Pentagon is being directed by a congressional watchdog agency to assess what was learned from the sweeping reductions in civilian personnel made after President Donald Trump took office.
In a report published Friday, the Government Accountability Office said the Defense Department has yet to consider how slashing nearly 10% of the civilian workforce last year affected agencies’ workload, effectiveness, readiness and stress on the military force, among other key factors.
Effects included immediate delays in Navy shipyard maintenance and readiness challenges for the Space Force due to the loss of specialized skillsets and expertise, the GAO said.
In addition, some Air Force child development centers were closed and waitlists for child care became longer, according to the report.
All told, about 78,000 positions were eliminated in a workforce that exceeded 793,000 employees in January 2025.
“The net effect will be a reduction in the number of civilian full-time equivalent positions and increased resources in the areas where we need them most,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a memo at the time.
But federal law prohibits DOD from reducing the full-time civilian workforce without an appropriate analysis of the impacts, the GAO report said.
It concluded that the department “does not have a plan to assess lessons learned,” calling such an evaluation “a key practice for project and program management.”
In a response, the Pentagon said it would create a plan for collecting and sharing what it learned. The GAO said the plan should include an evaluation of the deferred resignation programs and hiring freeze.
Under the deferred resignation program, also called “Fork in the Road,” employees could choose to resign and be placed on paid administrative leave for up to eight months while also being excused from return-to-office requirements.
Some agency officials told the GAO that the deferred resignation offered to employees had unintended consequences.
For example, some civilians stayed on the payroll to take advantage of the paid administrative leave offer rather than retiring or resigning sooner.
The Navy said an upside of the program was helping it avoid involuntary reduction measures while freeing up resources, and the Defense Logistics Agency reported saving an estimated $12 million in salaries.
At the same time, the reductions at the DLA strained workforce capacity and “increased operational risk from high workload and quickly developed processes,” according to the report.
The Defense Finance Accounting Service said it could not direct its reduction efforts in a targeted way due to the voluntary nature of the deferred resignation program.
The Navy, meanwhile, said it lost about 850 employees at U.S. Pacific Fleet and experienced immediate delays in shipyard maintenance, according to the report.
