Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum on March 28 announcing that he would “realign the size of our civilian workforce and strategically restructure it to supercharge our American warfighters."

He went on to write that “an honest analysis will reveal opportunities to consolidate duplicative functions, reject excessive bureaucracy and implement technological solutions that automate tasks, particularly at the headquarters level. The net effect will be a reduction in the number of civilian full-time equivalent positions.”

To this end, Hegseth has charged the under secretary for Personnel and Readiness to offer early retirement to eligible civilian employees at the Department of Defense. There is no confirmed under secretary, however — only an official "performing the duties" of under secretary.

Traditionally, officials serving in this capacity tend to be reticent about taking any bold actions that might cause them problems once their Senate-confirmed boss takes office. Their safest route is merely to rubberstamp whatever document their staff produces. How eager the current acting under secretary will be to identify and then press officials to take early retirement is therefore rather uncertain.

There is much to commend........

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