Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says he’s “embarrassed” that American veterans are being treated “disrespectfully” by the Trump administration as the “Department of Government Efficiency” (otherwise known as DOGE) continues to eliminate federal jobs.
An internal memorandum, first reported and obtained by The Associated Press, outlines a massive overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs that includes the elimination of more than 80,000 jobs.
It’s part of DOGE’s effort to shrink the size of the federal government.
Moore, an Army combat veteran himself, said that one in three federal employees is a military veteran and there are more than 23,000 federal workers in Maryland alone.
“These are people who served this country proudly,” Moore said. “To see, now, this level of disrespect that is being taken toward our military veterans, towards their service, towards their families, it’s just deeply disheartening and, truthfully, it’s just un-American.”
The memo instructs top-level staff to prepare for an agencywide reorganization in August to “resize and tailor the workforce to the mission and revised structure.”
It also calls for agency officials to work with DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk, to “move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach” to the Trump administration’s goals.
The agency provides healthcare and other services for millions of veterans.
Veterans groups have been speaking out against the cuts at the VA that, so far, had included a few thousand employees and hundreds of contracts. More than 25% of the VA’s workforce is made up of veterans.
The plans underway at the VA showed how the DOGE initiative is not holding back on an all-out effort to slash federal agencies, even for those that have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
