Summary
The Pentagon plans to cut 50,000 to 60,000 civilian employees—5% to 8% of its workforce—primarily through voluntary measures.
So far, 21,000 employees have been approved to resign under the Deferred Resignation Program, which allows them to remain on payroll until September 30.
The reduction also includes a hiring freeze and the dismissal of 5,400 probationary (new) employees, though a federal judge has temporarily blocked the terminations.
Officials stress military readiness will not be affected, but the Pentagon has not ruled out forced layoffs if voluntary cuts fall short.
Or, this is an attempt to reduce the number of cogs that can/will freeze if asked to do immoral things. Like, the higher the number of people who are running the military, the more people there are that can stop you from the inside if your orders are Nazi-ish.