Margie Palmieri, the longtime senior CDAO official who’s temporarily heading the office until the Trump administration names a new chief, sent an email to her colleagues Thursday that provides insight into how implementation of President Donald Trump’s DOGE directive across the federal government is impacting the military’s artificial intelligence hub.

DOGE is an acronym for Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative that’s being led by billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk.

“We recognize the many moving pieces [with regards to] personnel moves in CDAO and appreciate your patience and support as we respond to emerging guidance and events,” Palmieri wrote.

Agency leaders across the federal government have been scurrying to carry out the mandate Trump announced early into his second administration to “maximize efficiency” via a massive, rapid reduction of the civilian workforce and major budget shifts. Certain moves agencies are pursuing to meet the objectives are now under litigation — leaving some federal employees’ work statuses in limbo.

Following Trump’s order, Pentagon leaders are planning to cut more than 50,000 of the DOD’s 900,000-plus civilian personnel, via the application of three primary mechanisms: the deferred resignation program that employees can opt to participate in; removing probationary staff; and setting a temporary hiring pause.

In Thursday’s email, Palmieri pointed out that “DoD remains in a hiring freeze,” but that on Wednesday officials from the Personnel and Readiness directorate “provided additional guidance on exemptions.” She noted that those include for “positions essential to national security to be filled by non-competitive reassignment, detail, conversion, term or temporary employees, reemployed annuitants, and Intergovernmental Personnel Act employees.”

“DoD is still limited in the number of people it can hire, but the new guidance gives us more flexibility to request exemptions. We will work with hiring managers to determine if any outstanding hires fit into this category, and we expect further guidance to be forthcoming for additional exemptions,” Palmieri wrote.

In recent weeks, CDAO spokespersons have repeatedly declined to share estimates for how many of the office’s employees are part of the pool of more than 20,000 who were granted approval to depart through the deferred resignation program — or its number of recently hired or promoted workers who are in a trial period that gives them probationary status.

Palmieri wrote in her email Thursday that the office has “not terminated any probationary employees” so far.

Elsewhere in the email, she noted that shortly after his Senate confirmation and swearing in last week, Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg “has been getting up to speed on the POM-26 [budget] relook and held a great first Unders meeting” with the principal staff assistants.

She also highlighted “front office changes” happening at CDAO, with transitions planned to play out over the next month.

Specifically, Chris Skaluba, who serves as the executive director and acting principal deputy CDAO, and the office’s Chief of Staff Amy Schafer are exiting in early April. Both entered their positions about a year ago.

Palmieri confirmed that Danny Holtzman will step into the acting principal deputy role. According to CDAO’s website, Holtzman was serving as deputy executive director and acting deputy CDAO for acquisition and assurance. Palmieri said that Andy Mapes will join the front office to cover executive director and chief of staff duties. The email did not provide information about Mapes’ expertise or where the official is moving from.

“We continue to have incredible advocacy and support for the work we do at multiple levels inside and outside DoD,” Palmieri also wrote.

DefenseScoop has reached out to CDAO spokespersons for comment.

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The directive from Jules Hurst III — sent to Pentagon leadership, commanders of the combatant commands, and Defense agency and field activity directors March 18 — is a follow-on to a memo that Hegseth issued last week giving service secretaries and the undersecretary for personnel and readiness authority to exempt certain civilian positions from the freeze.

“The Secretaries of the Military Department and other DoD Component heads must send their proposed hiring freeze exemptions to the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civilian Personnel Policy by the close of business each Tuesday. Proposed exemptions should include justifications and should prioritize civilian positions directly linked to building readiness and providing essential services,” Hurst wrote in the new memo.

Positions exempted from the freeze include a variety of roles related to “immigration enforcement, national security, public safety, recruiting, and readiness, or positions which support such functions.”

They also include positions that “directly support the President of the United States” such as at the White House Military Liaison Office; positions requiring presidential appointment or Senate confirmation, non-career positions in the Senior Executive Service or non-career positions in Schedule A or C of the Excepted Service; positions required to be filled by Dual Status Military Technicians; positions required to be filled as directed by a court, arbitrator, or administrative tribunal; career ladder promotions; positions for employees paid from “nonappropriated funds (NAF) in NAF instrumentalities” under the jurisdiction of the DOD; and positions required to be filled by law as determined by the DOD general counsel or the general counsel of a military department.

Also exempted are foreign national employees in countries with labor cost-sharing arrangements or as necessary to comply with host nation agreements; in-progress permanent change of station (PCS) moves for which the DOD component initiated PCS orders and/or shipment of household goods prior to Feb. 28 “from a less critical position to a more critical position.”

Other categories of workers on the exemption list include civilian mariner positions; positions at depots, shipyards, arsenals, and maintenance facilities; positions at the United States Military Entrance Processing Command; positions at military medical treatment facilities that perform patient care or are essential to hospital operations; child and youth programs staff; instructors or facility support staff at DOD schools or child care centers; and installation positions “that support and are essential for fire, life, and safety.”

“The Secretaries of the Military Department and other DoD Component heads are requested to report hiring actions related to these positions along with their proposed exemptions,” Hurst wrote.

“The Department of Defense remains committed to the President’s workforce optimization initiatives and sustaining the world’s most lethal fighting force,” he added.

The Pentagon aims to reduce its civilian workforce by 5-8% — or upwards of 50,000 employees — facilitated by the hiring pause.

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The SecDef, who previously ordered a civilian hiring freeze in a Feb. 28 directive, laid out additional criteria for exemptions in a March 14 memo to senior Pentagon leadership, combatant commanders, and defense agency and field activity directors.

“While the Department remains under the hiring freeze, DoD will only hire mission-essential employees into positions that directly contribute to our warfighting readiness,” Hegseth wrote in the new directive, noting that he had previously identified exemptions for positions essential to immigration enforcement, national security and public safety.

“The Secretaries of the Military Departments may approve hiring freeze exemptions for the civilian workforce of their respective Military Departments after review by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)). USD(P&R) will review and approve all exemption requests for other organizations within the Department. This authority may not be further delegated,” he wrote.

Hegseth added: “The above exemption authorities should use, and the DoD Component heads should request, exemptions to sustain the workforce at readiness-centric facilities including, but not limited to, shipyards, depots, and medical treatment facilities.”

The undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness will publish additional guidance on hiring freeze exemption requests, Hegseth noted.

USNI News previously reported that civilian mariners and employees who work at the Navy’s public shipyards and maintenance entities are exempt from the hiring freeze, citing comments by Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jim Kilby to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee last week.

Hegseth stated in his memo that the ongoing hiring freeze is intended to “optimize our Federal workforce, reduce inefficiencies, and align our resources to the President’s top national security priorities.”

Pentagon officials are looking to fire thousands of probationary workers and ultimately shrink DOD’s civilian workforce by 5 to 8 percent, in line with the Trump administration’s DOGE efforts.

The department employs hundreds of thousands of civilians. According to an official financial report for 2023, the DOD had more than 778,000 civilian employees that year.

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