Federal hiring freeze imposed on civilian agencies, beginning workforce contraction aligned with Project 2025's plan to shrink the administrative state by attrition.

Federal employees ordered back to in-person work, terminating remote arrangements — accelerating attrition alongside hiring freezes and deferred-resignation pressure.

Merit Systems Protection Board vacancies left thousands of federal whistleblower and Schedule F appeal cases in limbo — removing a key check on retaliatory firings.

OPM intensified deferred-resignation buyout pressure on career civil servants — offering exit packages while threatening RIFs for employees who declined, mirroring Project 2025 workforce purge tactics.