(AFP) – US federal agencies have been directed to prepare sweeping workforce reduction plans as part of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, according to a memo issued Wednesday by top administration officials. The document, signed by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and seen by AFP, outlines a two-phase approach for implementing “large-scale reductions in force” across the federal government as ordered by Trump.
“The federal government is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt,” Vought said in the memo. “Tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programs that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hardworking American citizens.” The memo directed agencies to “collaborate with their Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE) team leads within the agency.” These are the representatives of the Elon Musk-run department that has been given unfettered authority by Trump to find ways to slash spending and overhaul government. Musk, the world’s richest person, has repeatedly warned that the United States would go “bankrupt” without cuts.
For now, most of Trump administration’s job cuts have targeted probationary staff—the term used for freshly hired or promoted civil servants who had fewer protections than rank-and-file civil servants. Employees were also given an offer, now elapsed, to leave with eight months’ pay or risk being fired in future culls. The White House said more than 65,000 federal employees have signed on to the buyout offer from the Office of Personnel Management.
The memo from Vought, a hard-right nationalist who sees federal public servants as political operators beholden to Democrats, begins the formal process of expanding the cuts to the more than two million federal workers. According to the memo, federal agencies must submit initial reduction plans by March 13, followed by more comprehensive reorganization proposals by April 14.
The directive implements Trump’s February 11 executive order that called for a “critical transformation of the Federal bureaucracy.” Agencies were told to consolidate duplicative organizational units, reduce management layers, close or merge regional offices, and decrease reliance on contractors. Among the suggested methods for cutting employees was looking at “positions not typically designated as essential” during government shutdowns caused by the failure to pass budgets in Congress. Law enforcement, national security, military, and postal service roles are exempt, as are all political appointees and the White House.
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