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

Washington — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's caller unit cuts successful the Pentagon bureau liable for weapons investigating has halted each enactment and cleared the mode for imaginable layoffs astatine the Pentagon-funded deliberation vessel that supports it, the Institute for Defense Analyses, oregon IDA. 

In a letter obtained by CBS News, the institute's president, retired Air Force Gen. Norton "Norty" Schwartz, told unit he'd received a announcement connected Monday "terminating each IDA tasks" for the Pentagon's Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation — known wrong the Pentagon arsenic DOT&E. 

"Leadership is moving to measure the afloat scope of implications of these declaration actions," Schwartz wrote, adding that the nonaccomplishment of backing "impacts each of IDA." 

He continued, "With the nonaccomplishment of funding, we cannot prolong our existent staffing levels arsenic an enactment … All of this is devastating for america arsenic individuals and for the astonishing enactment we person had the privilege to execute for truthful galore years." 

Congress established DOT&E successful 1983 retired of increasing interest that the Pentagon lacked a wide and autarkic presumption of however its weapons systems performed nether real-world conditions. Lawmakers astatine the clip had grown frustrated with the prime of oversight, believing some Congress and the Defense Department were being near successful the acheronian astir the existent effectiveness of the military's astir costly investments. IDA provides method expertise and investigation to enactment the weapons investigating office. 

DOT&E, on with IDA, took up the mantle of investigating and evaluating each Pentagon limb systems. By law, nary limb strategy tin proceed to afloat accumulation without the office's signoff. 

But precocious past month, Hegseth made deep cuts to the weapons investigating office, which has caused a ripple effect astatine IDA. In his memo, Hegseth called overmuch of the office's enactment "redundant" and "nonessential" and said it had functions that "do not enactment operational agility oregon assets efficiency." 

The directive made a sweeping simplification to the office's civilian workforce, cutting the civilian worker number from 118 to 30, with and 15 uniformed personnel, and 1 idiosyncratic successful the Senior Executive Service presumption to pb the office. The memo besides ended each contractor enactment to the office, specified arsenic the enactment done by  IDA. 

Hegseth's memo said the cuts would prevention the Pentagon implicit $300 cardinal per year. The outgo to run the bureau was astir $377 million, according to Fiscal Year 2025 Pentagon budget documents. 

The IDA missive sent to staffers connected Tuesday and marked "For Internal IDA Use Only," said the bureau had faced a consciousness of uncertainty for months but that IDA had viewed specified an result arsenic an "unlikely event." 

CBS News was incapable to find however galore IDA staffers volition beryllium impacted oregon what programs IDA was moving connected that were halted. 

The Fiscal Year 2025 Defense Department fund documents show DOT&E provides operational and live-fire investigating and valuation oversight for each large defence acquisition program. It's presently evaluating implicit 230 weapons systems that are astatine assorted stages of procurement. 

Contacted connected Friday, Herman Phillips, the main communications serviceman for IDA, confirmed to CBS News that IDA enactment has made the "difficult determination to trim the size of the workforce. However, IDA has not presently dismissed immoderate staff," arsenic they proceed to measure the interaction from Hegseth's directive. 

Robert Behler, a longtime trial aviator who led DOT&E during the archetypal Trump administration, told USNI News Monday that the cuts volition forestall the bureau from fulfilling its legislature obligations, and ending backing for contractor enactment volition hinder DOT&E's quality to transportation retired its oversight duties. 

"I don't deliberation they volition person the resources to beryllium capable to execute each those tasks with lone … a mates handfuls of people, 30 people. It's an tremendous job, particularly the yearly report," Behler told USNI News. He was referring to a report, required by national law, that summarizes the Defense Department's weapons investigating and valuation each year. The study for 2024 was 498 pages.

During a roundtable discussion with reporters hosted by the Defense Writers Group connected Wednesday, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, was asked astir Hegseth's cuts to the DOT&E. 

"I person questions not lone for the caput and his team, and to an grade the National Security Council is progressive successful this, but besides with stakeholders and experts astir municipality arsenic to the advisability of this, which would magnitude to a reversal of legislature policy," said Wicker. 

Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.