The Pentagon is preparing to fire more than 5,000 probationary workers from the Department of Defense’s (DoD) civilian department, according to several reports.

Jeff Seldin, a national security correspondent with Voice of America News, shared a press release from Darin Selnick, the acting undersecretary of defense, on X, in which it was revealed that the DoD was “re-evaluating” its “probationary workforce,” and was anticipating “reducing the Department’s civilian workforce by” five to eight percent, and that 5,400 probationary workers were expected to be let go.

“As the Secretary announced yesterday, the Department of Defense is re-evaluating our probationary workforce, consistent with the President’s initiative to reform the Federal workforce to maximize efficiency and productivity,” Selnick said. “This re-evaluation of probationary employees is being done across government, not just at the Defense Department, but we believe in the goals of the program, and our leaders carrying out that review carefully and smartly.”

“We anticipate reducing the Department’s civilian workforce by 5-8% to produce efficiencies and refocus the Department on the President’s priorities and restoring readiness in the force,” Selnick’s statement said. “We expect approximately 5,400 probationary workers will be released beginning next week as part of this initial effort, after which we will implement a hiring freeze while we conduct a further analysis of our personnel needs, complying as always with all applicable laws.”

“As the Secretary made clear, it is simply not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission-critical,” Selnick added. “Taxpayers deserve to have us take a thorough look at our workforce top-to-bottom to see where we can eliminate redundancies.”

Politico also reported that the Pentagon was preparing to fire 5,400 employees from its civilian workforce.

The layoffs of thousands of probationary workers from the DoD’s civilian workforce comes as President Donald Trump previously signed an executive order directing “Agency Heads” to prepare for “large-scale reductions in force (RIFs).”

Trump’s executive order also instructed agencies to “not fill any vacancies for career appointments that the DOGE Team Lead assesses should not be filled.”