Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a 2025 Wash100 awardee, has issued a memo directing Anthony Tata, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, to release guidance to “encourage workforce rewards and demystify the removal process.”
In his Sept. 30 memo titled “Modern Workforce Management,” Hegseth wrote that Tata will lead a “cultural refresh” aimed at incentivizing top civilian employees and advancing the removal of underperformers at the Department of Defense.
“First, we need to incentivize and reward our top performers. Department employees are not in it for the money, but our best performers need to be appropriately recognized for their performance, including through meaningful monetary awards,” the DOD secretary said.
“Second, managers need more guidance on how to separate underperforming employees. Complex offboarding creates cultural drag that hurts morale across the Department and hinders our mission,” he added.
DOD Under Secretary Tata’s Directive on Removal Procedures for Underperformers
Hegseth’s memo coincided with the release of Tata’s new directive, which outlined processes for eliminating underperforming employees.
“Supervisors and human resources (HR) professionals are directed to act with speed and conviction to facilitate the separation from Federal service of employees performing unsuccessfully,” Tata wrote in a memo to senior Pentagon leadership, DOD agency and field activity directors, and heads of combatant commands.
According to an attachment to Tata’s memo, removal may be justified by factors such as “consistent failure” to meet deadlines, repeated mistakes that disrupt operations or hinder the agency’s goals, and inability to carry out key tasks.
The memo directs supervisors to partner with HR officials to send notices of proposed removal to underperformers, who will be given seven calendar days to respond.
According to the directive, the deciding official will assess and decide within 30 calendar days of receiving the proposed removal notice.
Related Articles
President Donald Trump has nominated Arvind Raman, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering at Purdue University, to be the next under secretary of Commerce for standards and technology. According to a congressional notice, Raman’s nomination was referred to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Thursday. If confirmed, he would also serve as the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the Department of Commerce. Laurie Locascio took on the position of president and CEO of the American National Standards Institute in January after serving in the dual-hatted role of NIST director and under secretary
Matthew Napoli has officially assumed the responsibilities of as the deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. He said in a LinkedIn post that he was sworn into office by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. “A special thank you to the incredible NNSA leadership team of Brandon Williams and Scott Pappano — and the President, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly — for their trust and confidence,” he wrote. Williams currently serves as the administrator of NNSA, while Pappano is the agency’s principal deputy administrator. President Donald
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has unveiled his “Space Month” agenda, a comprehensive initiative aimed at accelerating regulatory modernization and strengthening U.S. leadership in the global space economy. Speaking at the opening of a new satellite manufacturing facility in El Segundo, Carr said the move marks a major step in the agency’s broader Build America Agenda, which prioritizes space innovation as a driver of national competitiveness and economic growth. According to the FCC chair, the United States is entering a new golden age of space innovation, noting the agency’s goal of making the country the most innovation-friendly regulatory environment