DoD reopens deferred resignation program, offers early retirements

In an effort to further shrink the size of its civilian workforce, the Defense Department is reopening the Deferred Resignation Program and offering early retirements or voluntary separations to its eligible employees. 

In a memo signed March 28, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed senior Pentagon officials, combatant commands, and defense agency and field activity directors to begin implementing the “Workforce Acceleration and Recapitalization Initiative.”

Hegseth said the intent of the initiative is “not about a target number of layoffs” at the Defense Department, but rather about “executing a top-to-bottom methodology that results in a force structure that is lean, mean, and prepared to win.”

“DoD civilians already support mission-critical requirements, but an honest analysis will reveal opportunities to consolidate duplicative functions, reject excessive bureaucracy and implement technological solutions that automate routine tasks, particularly at the headquarters level,” Hegseth wrote in the memo.