By Natasha Bertrand and Haley Britzky | CNN
(CNN) — Some defense officials responsible for drafting lists of civilian Pentagon employees to be terminated as soon as this week are raising concerns with their superiors that the summary firings could break the law and potentially harm US military readiness, a senior defense official told CNN.
Title 10 section 129a of the US code governing civilian personnel management in the armed forces says that the secretary of defense “may not reduce the civilian workforce programmed full-time equivalent levels unless the Secretary conducts an appropriate analysis” of how those firings could impact the US military’s lethality and readiness.
The law says that risk mitigation takes precedence over cost.
“In establishing the policies and procedures under subsection (a), the Secretary shall clearly provide that attainment of a Department of Defense workforce sufficiently sized and comprised of the appropriate mix of personnel necessary to carry out the mission of the Department and the core mission areas of the armed forces takes precedence over cost,” the law states.
“The Secretary may not reduce the civilian workforce programmed full-time equivalent levels unless the Secretary conducts an appropriate analysis of the impacts of such reductions on workload, military force structure, lethality, readiness, operational effectiveness, stress on the military force, and fully burdened costs,” it continues.
A senior defense official said that no such analysis has been done and that they and their colleagues were raising questions about whether the firings could run afoul of those rules. Pentagon civilian employees who fall under Title 10 are also typically in specialized roles involving national security, including cyber operations and intelligence, the official said.
Active duty military personnel are exempt from the firings.
A handful of employees from the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, began meeting with Pentagon officials last week and are in the process of getting set up with office space inside the building, CNN has reported.
Following those meetings, the Defense Department began reviewing lists of civilian probationary employees for potential termination that could come as early as this week, multiple US officials told CNN, following a string of firings of other probationary employees at other federal agencies last week.
Combatant commands — the major US military commands around the globe — were asked to submit lists of probationary employees by Tuesday afternoon, one official said.
Across the department, tens of thousands of civilian employees are considered probationary and eligible to be fired, the senior defense official said. CNN has reached out to the Office of the Secretary of Defense for comment.
Defense officials have been scrambling to create lists of employees who should be exempted from the firings, including those who work in cybersecurity, intelligence, operations, foreign military sales and other critical national security roles, several defense officials said. Veterans and military spouses may also be exempted, but that is still being determined, the senior official said.
The Office of Personnel Management is also using a broad justification for firing large swaths of probationary employees across the federal government. Probationary employees at the Pentagon can include civilian employees who have been in their job for up to three years but typically applies to workers who have been in their jobs for a year or less.
While typically firing a probationary employee requires a legitimate reason having to do with their individual performance, OPM is arguing to DoD that these employees don’t contribute positively to the Pentagon’s overall performance because they are no longer needed, the official said.