The Defense Department says it’s cutting 5,400 probationary workers starting next week and will put a hiring freeze in place.

“I'm still processing this to some degree,” said a terminated probationary worker who wants to remain anonymous. She worked for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for almost a year, but late Saturday night, she received a letter from the Acting Chief Human Capital Officer at HHS.

"We expect approximately 5,400 probationary workers will be released beginning next week as part of this initial effort, after which we will implement a hiring freeze while we conduct a further analysis of our personnel needs,

Warren Hill spent more than two decades working at the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, which spans 4 million acres of coastline, forests, lakes and glaciers in Alaska. Last summer, he was promoted to serve as maintenance supervisor,

WASHINGTON >> The Pentagon said today it would start firing about 5,400 civilian employees who were on probation, the first moves by President Donald Trump’s administration at the department to make good on its promise to reduce the federal workforce.