Voluntary early retirement authority will also be offered.

The initiatives, ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, come as the Pentagon is looking to reduce its civilian workforce and implement the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts.

“The DoD DRP provides a generous opportunity for employees to enter a paid leave status for several months, prior to resigning or retiring. Employees pending approval or approved for the DoD DRP will not be subject to Return to In-Person Work requirements,” Jules Hurst III, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, wrote in an April 1 memo to senior Pentagon leadership, combatant commanders, and DOD agency and field directors.

“Exemptions to DRP should be rare,” he noted.

However, principal staff assistants and DOD component heads may exempt “mission critical positions” from the offerings and deny workers’ requests to participate.

“PSAs and DoD Component heads will ensure that all eligible employees in their respective organizations are notified of the availability of DoD DRP and VERA, and are provided a means to elect to participate,” Hurst wrote.

He added: “PSAs and DoD Component heads will conduct the analysis required by 10 U.S.C. § 129a when determining which positions will be exempt. They should also consider the loss of that position’s impact on readiness and the performance of mission essential functions.”

Eligible workers can choose early retirement without participating in the deferred resignation program.

Employees approved for either initiative will have to leave federal service by Sept. 30, which is the end of the fiscal year.

Probationary employees are eligible to participate in the deferred resignation program. However, it’s not available for Non-Appropriated Fund employees, Foreign Local National employees, Dual-Status Military Technicians, Highly Qualified Experts, and Re-Employed Annuitants, according to the memo.

“Employees participating in the DoD DRP will begin administrative leave no earlier than May 1, 2025. Before beginning administrative leave, employees must enter a written agreement to resign or retire by September 30, 2025. Retiring employees will not be permitted to extend until December 31, 2025. Where appropriate, management may agree not to establish a debt for unfulfilled time-in-service requirements,” Hurst wrote.

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Hegseth signed a memo on Friday, “Initiating the Workforce Acceleration and Recapitalization Initiative,” that was directed to senior Pentagon leadership, combatant commands, and defense agency and field activity directors. The move comes as department leaders are looking to shed civilian employees and reinvest the savings elsewhere as part of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts.

“It’s an important new opportunity to right-size DOD,” Hegseth said in a video.

“The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)) will immediately open the DoD Deferred Resignation Program and offer the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority to all eligible DoD civilian employees. Exemptions should be rare. My intent is to maximize participation so that we can minimize the number of involuntary actions that may be required to achieve the strategic objectives,” Hegseth wrote in the March 28 memo, which was viewed by DefenseScoop.

Prior to the issuance of the new directive, the Pentagon was already placing more than 20,000 employees on administrative leave and a path to full termination, following staff approval for voluntary participation in the Trump administration’s previous round of the Elon Musk-inspired “fork in the road” initiative, according to officials.

“Employees who accept deferred resignations should promptly have their duties re-assigned or eliminated and be placed on paid administrative leave until the end of the deferred resignation period (generally September 30, 2025, unless the employee has designated an earlier resignation date), unless the agency head determines that it is necessary for the employee to be actively engaged in transitioning job duties, in which case employees should be placed on paid administrative leave as soon as those duties are transitioned,” the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management wrote in a Jan. 28 memo.

In his March 28 memo, Hegseth emphasized that the department needs to realign resources.

“DoD civilians already support mission-critical requirements, but an honest analysis will reveal opportunities to consolidate duplicative functions, reject excessive bureaucracy, and implement technological solutions that automate routine tasks, particularly at the headquarters level. The net effect will be a reduction in the number of civilian full-time equivalent positions, and increased resources in the areas where we need them most,” he wrote.

Defense officials previously said Pentagon leadership was aiming to reduce DOD’s civilian workforce by 5-8 percent — upwards of 50,000 employees — via multiple pathways, including the Deferred Resignation Program, removing certain probationary employees and instituting a civilian hiring freeze.

“Important changes are required to put the department on ready footing to deter our enemies and fight for peace. This is not about a target number of layoffs at the DoD. The intent is to execute a top-to-bottom methodology that results in a force structure that is lean, mean, and prepared to win,” Hegseth wrote in the new memo.

He directed the secretaries of the military departments, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, directors of defense agencies and field activities, and his principal staff assistants to deliver a “proposed future-state organizational chart.”

“It will reflect required analysis and include functional areas, consolidated management hierarchy, and position titles and counts clearly depicted,” he wrote.

The undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness is expected to submit the initial proposal to Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg by April 11.

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