The Pentagon announced Friday it plans to ultimately fire five to eight percent of the military’s approximately 950,000 civilian employees, with an initial tranche of 5,400 probationary workers who don’t have “mission-critical” roles expected to be terminated next week.

The Pentagon seeks to cut more than 5,000 civilian employees on probation status beginning next week in a bid to eventually shave off up to 8 percent of the U.S. military’s civilian workforce, the building’s top personnel official said Friday.