GAO: Defense Department Failed to Analyze Readiness Impact of Civilian Job Cuts
When the Department of Defense downsized its civilian workforce by roughly 10 percent in 2025, it cut more than 78,000 employees through hiring freezes and resignation programs. And according to the nonpartisan federal watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Defense Department failed to properly analyze how the losses affect military operations.
GAO: Defense Department Failed to Analyze Readiness Impact of Civilian Job Cuts
The Government Accountability Office report, released May 29, found that the Pentagon lacks a plan to collect or share lessons learned from rapid federal civilian workforce reductions. And that is a serious problem because federal law prohibits the Secretary of Defense from cutting civilian positions without first analyzing the effects on seven specific areas, including military readiness, workload, and lethality.
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The GAO reviewed 14 defense components to evaluate compliance with the law. While 11 of those conducted some level of analysis to justify planned cuts between fiscal years 2023 and 2025, the review found the evaluations were inconsistent.
Many did not provide the required documentation, and some officials told investigators that the Department of Defense failed to provide clear guidance on how or when to conduct the mandatory reviews.
Results of the GAO Report
The report noted that 22 of 40 defense components planned civilian staff reductions in at least one fiscal year from 2023 through 2025. Those cuts ranged from 0.1 percent to 9.8 percent of a component’s civilian workforce. A review of the 2026 budget request shows a growing trend in programmed workforce reductions.
Outside of standard planning, the Pentagon seems to have aggressively pursued personnel cuts starting in January 2025. The department approved about 53,200 applications for deferred resignations. At the same time, an agency-wide hiring freeze resulted in the department hiring roughly 59,500 fewer civilian employees during 2025 than in recent years.
2026 Concerns
Defense officials retroactively added some of those off-cycle cuts into the fiscal year 2026 budget request. Some of these officials told the GAO they faced severe challenges in analyzing the operational effects of the rapid personnel losses.
The GAO report issued one recommendation, calling on the Secretary of Defense to ensure the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness creates a plan to collect and share lessons learned from the 2025 hiring freeze and resignation programs.
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About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
