WASHINGTON: The Defense Department said Friday that it’s cutting 5,400 probationary workers starting next week and will put a hiring freeze in place.
It comes after staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, were at the Pentagon earlier in the week and received lists of such employees, US officials said. They said those lists did not include uniformed military personnel, who are exempt. Probationary employees are generally those on the job for less than a year and who have yet to gain civil service protection.
“We anticipate reducing the Department’s civilian workforce by 5-8 percent to produce efficiencies and refocus the Department on the President’s priorities and restoring readiness in the force,” Darin Selnick, who is acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a statement.
Probationary employees are generally those on the job for less than a year and who have yet to gain civil service protection.
President Donald Trump’s administration is firing thousands of federal workers who have fewer civil service protections. For example, roughly 2,000 employees were cut from the US Forest Service, and an 7,000 people are expected to be let go at the Internal Revenue Service.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has supported cuts, posting on X last week that the Pentagon needs “to cut the fat (HQ) and grow the muscle (warfighters.)”
The Defense Department is the largest government agency, with the Government Accountability Office finding in 2023 that it had more than 700,000 full-time civilian workers.
Hegseth also has directed the military services to identify $50 billion in programs that could be cut next year to redirect those savings to fund Trump’s priorities. It represents about 8 percent of the military’s budget.
Pentagon says will cut civilian workforce by at least 5%
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Pentagon says will cut civilian workforce by at least 5%
‘Solar sheep’ help rural Australia go green
- The panels have had another surprising side effect: Because the grass is shielded from the elements, it’s of more consistent quality
DUBBO: Australian farmer Tom Warren’s solar panels look like any other — until you spot the dozens of sheep grazing and napping, helping the country transition to green energy and earning him a decent income while doing it.
More than 30,000 solar panels are deployed across approximately 50 hectares at Warren’s farm on the outskirts of Dubbo, around 400 kilometers west of Sydney.
The farmer and landowner has been working with renewables firm Neoen for more than a decade and said he was initially worried the panels would restrict his sheep’s grazing.
It quickly became clear those fears were unfounded.
“Normally they would seek out trees and camp under the trees, but you can see that the sheep are seeking out the shade of the panels,” he told AFP at the farm in Dubbo.
“So, it’s a much better environment for them as well.”
The farm produces about 20 megawatts of power, he said — a “substantial amount” of the energy needs of the local area.
While he can’t disclose how much he earns from the panels, he said he’s taking in much more than he would from just farming.
“The solar farm income is greater than I would ever get off agriculture in this area — regardless of whether I have sheep running under the panels or not,” he said.
The panels have had another surprising side effect: Because the grass is shielded from the elements, it’s of more consistent quality.
That, in turn, has improved the wool produced by the sheep.
“The wool is actually better and cleaner,” Warren said.
“All over, we’ve had about a 15 percent increase in the gross revenue coming from the sheep running under the solar farm.”
Fellow farmer Tony Inder, based around 50 kilometers south in the town of Wellington, agrees.
His flock is much larger — 6,000 sheep grazing on two plots of land covering 4,000 hectares.
