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“They are just indiscriminately firing people. There are no rules to the game,” a civilian employee who was laid off last week told Federal News Network.
When the Defense Department announced its plan to fire 5,400 probationary civilian employees, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth emphasized that poor performance would be the main factor in determining who would be let go, saying it was simply not in the public interest to keep workers “whose contributions are not mission critical.”
“Taxpayers deserve to have us take a really thorough look at our workforce top to bottom. Common sense would tell us where we should start. We start with poor performers amongst our probationary employees. We take a little bit more time to make sure, top to bottom, we’re doing a review. Those who we need, who are the best and brightest, are going to stay. Those who are under performers won’t. We’ll continue to shoot straight with you. We’ve got your back,” Hegseth said in a message to the force and the American public on Feb. 21.
After the first round of Defense Department firings last week, the details of who was laid off — and why — are starting to emerge. Federal News Network spoke with an employee who was let go one hour before his probation period was set to end, another employee who was not in a probationary status at all, and one employee who had just started a job in warfighter support operations.
“They are just indiscriminately firing people. There are no rules to the game,” one of the fired probationary workers at the Defense Missile Agency, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation, told Federal News Network.
One Navy employee, whose name is also being withheld to protect against retaliation, was one hour away from the end of his probationary period before being terminated — unlike about a dozen probationary employees in the same role across the region who were given three weeks of administrative leave.
In a memo signed by Darin Selnick, who is performing the duties of the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, the Navy said he “has not demonstrated that his further employment at the agency would be in the public interest.”
“What’s inequitable is that you can have 11 people, and ten of them go on three weeks administrative leave, which means that they have three weeks with a clearance that they can use to get another job. They’re getting paid. They have time to look for other jobs. I’m terminated that day. My leadership said it was discussed with the Department of Navy when they were trying to figure out how not to have to fire me. They said, “No, it happens today, because if he goes into another pay period, he’s no longer probationary, and we can’t fire him because he’s a protected veteran,” he said.
He also never received a formal performance review — he submitted self-assessments months ago, and his supervisor had completed their portion, but the commander had yet to sign off on it.
The memo the Navy employee received upon his termination is almost identical to the one the Defense Health Agency sent out to its fired probationary employees.
One of the fired DHA workers told Federal News Network she was not in a probationary status at all — she was hired at the beginning of 2023 as a GS-9, completed her probationary period in March 2024, and was promoted to GS-11 in August 2024.
The letter she got from HR congratulating her on her promotion last August never mentioned probationary time — her position description remained the same, but instead of assisting with certain tasks, she was now fully responsible for them.
When the DHA leadership received a list of people who were in a probationary status, she was notified her name was on the list. Her leadership got involved several times to clarify with HR that there was an error, but no action was ultimately taken to correct it.
During her time at DHA, she received an outstanding performance appraisal, along with time-off and monetary awards. But the memo she received, just like dozens of DHA workers fired that day, said that “based on your performance, you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the agency would be in the public interest.”
The Missile Defense Agency employee, who is a disabled veteran, had been with the organization since December — as a non-commissioned officer, he held a leadership role directly supporting the warfighters’ ability to do missile defense in theaters throughout the world.
He understood the mission intimately — the warfighters he provided support for as a civilian were the very same units he served in during his time in the military.
“I was a perfect fit for this job. I was doing really well. My supervisor was telling me I was doing really well, and if it was up to him, he would fight for me. But he was kept out of the conversation. It hurts me, because I worked extremely hard to get this position. I loved this job. The team I was on was the best team I was ever on. My supervisor was amazing, and I got fired for no reason whatsoever,” he said.
While many probationary employees were aware for some time they were on a list of those potentially facing termination, the MDA employee said there was no indication he would be laid off until he was in the HR office being told to sign documents and turn in his ID card. In fact, he was actively preparing to go on a work trip abroad prior to being fired that day.
He also never had a formal performance review — his mid-year evaluation was scheduled for the end of March.
“How are you going to let people go based off of performance if these people aren’t even being evaluated for performance? They have no indication of what their performance is other than the verbals from their supervisor. That’s not quantifiable,” he said.
The reason for his firing was to “further promote the efficiency of the federal service.”
“Even if they offer me my job back, I really don’t know if I would take it. I don’t want to subject myself or my family to that. I don’t want to put myself in a position where I could lose my job again,” he said.
After being sworn into office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to deploy a “next-generation missile defense shield” to protect the U.S. against aerial attacks. The agency was given 60 days to come with a plan for the Iron Dome for America — it is now seeking a wide range of advanced capabilities that would require significant investment, new technology, and infrastructure.
“They’re expecting to increase the funds later this summer because of the Iron Dome for America — we were expecting that the workload was going to get massive to support this. You’re not going to be able to get all that if you just slash the workforce, because you can’t fire everybody and then quadruple the work,” the fired MDA employee said.
It is unclear how many employees have been let go so far, or when the next round of firings will take place. The department said it was preparing to reduce its civilian workforce by 5-8%.
If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email anastasia.obis@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at (301) 830-2747
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