The Department of Defense announced staff cuts within the agency’s Defense Technical Information Center — which it initially announced as the Defense Technology Information Center — on Monday, marking another in a series of personnel reductions under the second Trump administration.
Sent out via an email, a statement from Chief Pentagon Spokesman and Senior Advisor Sean Parnell said that the decision will eliminate duplicative functions and roles with a goal of refocusing DTIC to “its core statutory mission of administering a library of technical information and improving the user experience.”
Parnell said that this reduction in force, directed by the agency’s Under Secretary for Research and Engineering, is set to save $25 million dollars in federal spending.
A total of 40 personnel will be retained at the office, having been identified as mission-essential, and all other civilians will receive notices of reduction-in-force by August 25. That marks a nearly 80% reduction from the 193 employees working in that office as of September 2024, per Office of Personnel Management employment data. The office, according to its website, is responsible for sharing DOD’s science and technology investment with all of the services, “enabling lab scientists, engineers, and researchers to build upon past and present research.”
The reduction-in-force follows the Pentagon’s announcement of a similar downsizing within the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation in May. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the time that the removals, which reduced the staff at DOT&E from 94 employees down to 30 civilians and 15 service members, was a result of a “comprehensive internal review” that identified duplicative roles and positions in the office.
In February, roughly 61,000 Defense employees’ jobs were terminated, beginning with probationary employees, as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s broad cuts across the federal government to restructure agency operations and reduce federal spending.
