The US Department of Defense will cut about 50,000 to 60,000 civilian jobs, but fewer than 21,000 employees who have accepted a voluntary resignation plan will leave in the coming months, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
To achieve the goal of cutting 5-8% of the civilian workforce, which numbers more than 900,000 people, a senior department official said, the Pentagon is aiming to cut about 6,000 positions a month, without simply replacing employees who leave.
The main concern is that military personnel could be brought in to fill the jobs for civilians left idle by the hiring freeze. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wanted to ensure the cuts would not harm military readiness.
The cuts are part of a broader effort by billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to reduce the federal workforce and eliminate U.S. agencies.
Acknowledging that "some" military veterans would be among the civilian employees laid off, the official declined to say how many there were but agreed that it could be in the thousands.
The Pentagon is using three methods to implement the workforce reductions: voluntary resignations, firing probationary employees and job cuts as employees leave routinely. The official said that the military services and Pentagon officials are reviewing personnel on a case-by-case basis to ensure that the layoffs
The officials did not say how many Defense Department civilian employees had requested the voluntary resignation plan, but said that more had requested it than were ultimately approved.
The defense official said that the "vast majority" was allowed, but in some cases people were denied for national security reasons or to ensure they didn't leave too many people in one office.
He added that Hegsett had given the secretaries of the branches of the military and the chiefs of staff of the Department of Defense the authority to grant exceptions to the hiring freeze.
An average of 70,000 civilian employees are hired each year, which works out to about 6,000 a month, he said. Because agencies have broad discretion in determining which positions are not subject to the freeze, it is unclear how many of those 70,000 people will actually be eliminated.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is considering significant cuts to federal funding for HIV prevention programs in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.
The plans could be announced in the coming days if the administration makes a final decision.
The cuts would be part of a major reorganization of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that includes staff cuts and streamlining programs. The CDC, which spent about $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2023 on preventing HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis, could lose a significant portion of its funding. The agency also supports HIV surveillance, needle exchange and community programs.
“A final decision has not yet been made to streamline the CDC's HIV Prevention Division,“ a Health and Human Services spokesman said. He added that the agency is following the administration's guidance and looking for ways to eliminate duplication of functions.
The Trump administration previously cut funding for the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which provides antiretroviral drugs to millions of people around the world, and halted the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which helped implement the program.
According to the CDC, about 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV, 13 percent of whom are unaware of their status.