Pentagon Workforce Reduction Lacks Comprehensive Analysis, GAO Reports

Pentagon officials reduced the department’s workforce by over 10 percent, with limited consideration of the consequences, and have yet to establish plans for evaluating those effects, according to a congressional watchdog report released on Friday.

The department eliminated 78,000 civilian positions in 2025 via voluntary resignations, involuntary layoffs, and a hiring freeze that produced roughly 60,000 fewer new hires compared with prior years, the report found.

The report concluded that the Department of Defense has not consistently analyzed the effects of these reductions, either in 2025 or in earlier years, and lacks a strategy for evaluating lessons learned from its 2025 workforce cuts.

In response, Defense officials acknowledged that they should develop and implement a plan to collect and share lessons learned from the department’s workforce reduction initiatives.

The officials did not specify whether such a plan would be enacted.

Following Secretary Pete Hegseth’s appointment, the Pentagon announced a reduction of 5–8 percent of its civilian workforce. Within a year, the reduction grew to roughly 110,000 employees, representing about 14 percent of DOD civilian staff, including probationary workers who were laid off, deferred resignations, and voluntary early retirements. Approximately 30,000 hires were made for exempted positions, resulting in a net loss of just over 10 percent.

According to the GAO, at least three of the 28 defense agencies, offices, and organizations targeted for workforce reductions under the Trump administration’s fiscal 2026 budget request failed to provide the required congressional explanation of the cuts’ purpose and methodology.

These agencies include the Joint Staff, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

Component officials reported that the Department of Defense had not issued guidance on when and how to conduct and document this analysis, the GAO found.

Moreover, the GAO noted that the Pentagon did not intend to assess the impact of the cuts on productivity.

In March, the Partnership for Public Service released a survey indicating that morale among DOD employees had sharply declined under the current administration.

Only 9 percent of Army Department employees said that Secretary Pete Hegseth’s political leadership team generates high levels of workforce motivation, making it the most satisfied among the large government agencies surveyed.

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