'Nobody is really in charge': DOGE leaves the Pentagon guessing as staff awaits firings

Leadership at the Pentagon is being “left in the dark” as the Department of Government Accountability makes sweeping changes — including firing federal employees — throughout the federal government, NOTUS reported Thursday. Centered around a strict hierarchy, the Defense Department is having to quickly adjust to DOGE’s chaotic style as employees wait for the firings to hit their agency.

The DOD said last week that they would be cutting 5,400 probationary workers and implementing a hiring freeze.

“Looking forward to working with you on this @elonmusk. Need to cut the fat," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X earlier this month.

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“Five sources at varying levels across the department told NOTUS that their leadership is still not informed on DOGE’s plan for civilian personnel,” NOTUS reporter John T. Seward writes. “The possible impacts and second-order effects of the anticipated firings could strain department tactical training, logistics, procurement and other activities that civilian DOD employees largely execute, sources said.”

Employees and leaders are keeping up to date on Musk and DOGE through the news and Musk’s website, X.

“Chain of command doesn’t think they’ll get a heads up when someone gets fired,” a Department of Defense employee told NOTUS. “On internal channels, they’ll tell you they don’t know what’s going on.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, told NOTUS that Congress was having trouble getting answers from the Pentagon. “We have, through our staff, been contacting [the Pentagon] and asking them for all the details, but they’re not forthcoming,” he said. “Some of this, I think, is: Nobody is really in charge.”

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Sen. Thom Tillis told NOTUS (R-N.C.) said DOGE needed to defer to heads of departments. “There’s just got to be a rational basis for ‘the anticipated firings,’” he said. “Anytime you do things on a broad basis, and I’ve done things similar to this in my business experience, you’ve always got to be ready to do remediation.”

One tactical-level officer said that daily functioning has not changed, but there is a “sense of ambiguity,” Seward writes.

An officer working at one of the military service academies said that civilian instructors are feeling afraid due to Musk’s power.

“These folks gravitate towards the mission that we have, and I think a lot of them gravitate towards the stability of government jobs, at least to some degree,” the officer said. “And when you throw that stability out the window, and the mission sort of comes into question — because we’re supposed to be a non-partisan organization and it seems like certain mandates are very politically charged — it causes these folks to say ‘None of this is the reason I came here.’”

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