Layoffs loom at Pentagon-funded think tank after Hegseth slashes weapons-testing office

CBS News

a day ago

Washington — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's recent personnel cuts in the Pentagon office responsible for weapons testing has halted all work and cleared the way for potential layoffs at the Pentagon-funded think tank that supports it, the Institute for Defense Analyses, or IDA.
In a letter obtained by CBS News, the institute's president, retired Air Force Gen. Norton "Norty" Schwartz, told staff he'd received a notice on Monday "terminating all IDA tasks" for the Pentagon's Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation — known inside the Pentagon as DOT&E.
"Leadership is working to assess the full range of implications of these contract actions," Schwartz wrote, adding that the loss of funding "impacts all of IDA."
He continued, "With the loss of funding, we cannot sustain our current staffing levels as an organization … All of this is devastating for us as individuals and for the amazing work we have had the privilege to perform for so many years."
Congress established DOT&E in 1983 out of growing concern that the Pentagon lacked a clear and independent view of how its weapons systems performed under real-world conditions. Lawmakers at the time had grown frustrated with the quality of oversight, believing both Congress and the Defense Department were being left in the dark about the true effectiveness of the military's most expensive investments. IDA provides technical expertise and analysis to support the weapons testing office.
DOT&E, along with IDA, took up the mantle of testing and evaluating all Pentagon weapon systems. By law, no weapon system can proceed to full production without the office's signoff.
But late last month, Hegseth made deep cuts to the weapons testing office, which has caused a ripple effect at IDA. In his memo, Hegseth called much of the office's work "redundant" and "nonessential" and said it had functions that "do not support operational agility or resource efficiency."
The directive made a sweeping reduction to the office's civilian workforce, cutting the civilian employee count from 118 to 30, with and 15 uniformed personnel, and one person in the Senior Executive Service position to lead the office. The memo also ended all contractor support to the office, such as the work done by IDA.
Hegseth's memo said the cuts would save the Pentagon over $300 million per year. The cost to operate the office was roughly $377 million, according to Fiscal Year 2025 Pentagon budget documents.
The IDA letter sent to staffers on Tuesday and marked "For Internal IDA Use Only," said the agency had faced a sense of uncertainty for months but that IDA had viewed such an outcome as an "unlikely event."
CBS News was unable to determine how many IDA staffers will be impacted or what programs IDA was working on that were halted.
The Fiscal Year 2025 Defense Department budget documents show DOT&E provides operational and live-fire testing and evaluation oversight for every major defense acquisition program. It's currently evaluating over 230 weapons systems that are at various stages of procurement.
Contacted on Friday, Herman Phillips, the chief communications officer for IDA, confirmed to CBS News that IDA leadership has made the "difficult decision to reduce the size of the workforce. However, IDA has not currently dismissed any staff," as they continue to evaluate the impact from Hegseth's directive.
Robert Behler, a longtime test pilot who led DOT&E during the first Trump administration, told USNI News Monday that the cuts will prevent the office from fulfilling its congressional obligations, and ending funding for contractor support will hinder DOT&E's ability to carry out its oversight duties.
"I don't think they will have the resources to be able to accomplish all those tasks with only … a couple handfuls of people, 30 people. It's an enormous job, especially the annual report," Behler told USNI News. He was referring to a report, required by federal law, that summarizes the Defense Department's weapons testing and evaluation each year. The report for 2024 was 498 pages.
During a roundtable discussion with reporters hosted by the Defense Writers Group on Wednesday, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, was asked about Hegseth's cuts to the DOT&E.
"I have questions not only for the secretary and his team, and to an extent the National Security Council is involved in this, but also with stakeholders and experts around town as to the advisability of this, which would amount to a reversal of congressional policy," said Wicker.
contributed to this report.