Pentagon lays off 5,400 civilian workers, with tens of thousands more firings due

Pete Hegseth supports cuts of up to 8% of civilian workforce as Trump bids to institute massive government cuts

The Pentagon announced plans Friday to fire 5-8% of its civilian workforce, staring next week with layoffs of 5,400 probationary workers, a Department of Defense official said in a statement.

The initial civilian layoffs will be followed by a Department of Defense hiring freeze to analyze the military's personnel needs in compliance with Donald Trump's political goals, Darin Selnick, the acting under-secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in the statement.