The Pentagon in the United States is planning to lay off 5 to 8 percent of its civilian employees. Initially, 5,400 employees will be let go. A more comprehensive layoff plan will be discussed at a later stage. The U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) announced its intention to lay off 5 to 8 percent of its civilian workforce. According to CNN, Darin Selnick, the Secretary responsible for personnel affairs and readiness for war at the Pentagon, made a statement regarding the expected layoffs within the institution as part of cost-saving measures. Selnick noted that there are approximately 950,000 civilian employees at the Pentagon and that 5 to 8 percent of them will be laid off in order to increase efficiency and refocus on the readiness of forces for war. He mentioned that they expect to first lay off 5,400 employees who do not hold critical roles in their positions and are in their probationary period. Selnick also stated that after a further assessment of personnel needs, more civilian employees may lose their jobs. He said, “As Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth clearly stated, retaining individuals whose contributions are not critical is not in the public interest. Taxpayers deserve us to thoroughly review our workforce to see where we can eliminate redundancies.” Unnamed officials from the Pentagon speaking to CNN said they were working to create lists of individual employees who should be exempt from layoffs because of the critical importance of their ongoing roles in areas such as cybersecurity, intelligence, operations, and foreign military sales, among others related to national security. It was reported that the Pentagon decided to halt its plan to lay off thousands of civilian employees under cost-saving measures until a more comprehensive examination of the impact on the U.S. military is conducted.