At the Pentagon, the job cuts under the DOGE initiative have spiraled into a chaotic mess. Some employees were fired, only to be rehired. Others were temporarily suspended, while many have been told they are “at risk” of losing their jobs, with no clear answers on when or if they will stay. Certain workers were offered buyouts, though not all employees were eligible. A handful were brought back after the administration decided their roles were too vital to cut. Meanwhile, some face the prospect of eight months of paid leave if they resign now—though that rule is subject to change.
The 50,000 civilian employees that President Trump and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency had promised to fire are still on the job for now, but their fate will be determined after a review by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
These decisions have disrupted the lives of tens of thousands, and the fallout is being felt across several sectors of public service. Adding to the confusion are the exaggerations and falsehoods that have been spun around the cuts, making a chaotic situation even more convoluted.
So far, layoffs have largely targeted workers in education, transportation, small business services, national parks, forestry, veterans services, and environmental protection. Additionally, 200 airport security workers and 400 employees from the airline industry were let go.
Law enforcement has mostly been spared, except for prosecutors and FBI agents who were dismissed or reassigned for investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
In an exclusive report, The Nation revealed that military veterans have been disproportionately affected by the DOGE cuts. Many veterans hold essential roles in federal agencies, and two-thirds of them supported Trump in 2024.
Luke Graziani, a 20-year Army veteran with a disability, learned on Friday that he had lost his job at the Bronx Veterans Affairs hospital despite receiving top reviews.
Other veterans, speaking anonymously, expressed their disillusionment. One from Northern Virginia, who had voted for Trump, told WTOP Radio, “I campaigned for Trump, I voted for him. But this wasn’t what I expected.”
Trump’s spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, lashed out at the media when asked about growing opposition from voters in Republican states upset over the cuts Musk is overseeing. Polls indicate that the push for cuts led by the White House and Musk’s DOGE initiative is failing to gain the popular support they expected.
At a rally on Thursday in Roswell, Georgia, Republican Rep. Rick McCormick was confronted by constituents upset about the cuts.
To justify these cuts, the Trump administration has falsely claimed that millions of people over the age of 100 are receiving social security subsidies. Both Trump and Musk have made exaggerated claims, saying that people aged 100, 200, and even 300 years old are wrongly collecting benefits. Musk called this an “ENORMOUS problem,” while his Department of Government Efficiency continues to root out waste and fraud.
While improper payments do occur, the figures cited by Musk and the White House are exaggerated and misinterpret Social Security data.
Trump recently claimed in a Florida press conference that “millions and millions of people over 100 years old” are receiving social security benefits. “A scam,” he said. “If we remove all those millions of people from social security, suddenly we have a much stronger social security system with people who are 80, 70, 90 years old, but not 200.” Trump also mentioned a person receiving benefits at the age of 360.
Musk later echoed Trump’s claims, ridiculing Social Security management on his social media platform X.
But despite these accusations, a July 2024 report from the Social Security Inspector General, reviewed by the Congressional Commission, reveals that between 2015 and 2022, the agency paid out nearly $8.6 trillion in benefits, with only $71.8 billion—less than 1%—in improper payments. Of these errors, 76% were overpayments to living individuals. Moreover, in January, the Department of the Treasury recovered over $31 million in improper payments made to deceased individuals, thanks to a program introduced in a 2021 omnibus bill signed by President Biden.
