Pentagon Cut Staff At Repository Of Scientific And Technical Data

The United States Department of Defense has long sought to maintain a quantitative edge over its potential adversaries, but developing the military hardware for the future could be increasingly challenging as it slashed the staff of the Defense Technical Information Center by 80%. The White House has argued that the group had become too unfocused and that reducing the workforce could save $25 million.

DTIC was founded in 1945, and in the 80 years since, has been the office responsible for sharing the Pentagon’s science and technology investments across the United States Armed Forces. As noted on its website, it has enabled “lab scientists, engineers, and researchers to build upon past and present research.” Of the 193 employees who worked at DTIC, just 40 remain.

Critics have blasted the move, warning that the work is critical to national security.

“DTIC was established with a clear mandate to collect, preserve, and disseminate the accumulated technical and scientific knowledge produced by the Department of Defense,” explained geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman, president of threat assessment firm Scarab Rising.

“It was intended as a bridge between generations of military innovation, a central repository where past discoveries, failures, and experimental paths could inform future research and prevent costly reinvention,” she added. “With only 40 employees now remaining from a workforce of nearly 200, this vital function is no longer preserved but actively dismantled.”

Eliminating Duplicative Functions

The Pentagon has defended the cuts, suggesting that it simply removed unneeded redundancy, including those with duplicate functions and roles.

However, leaving just 40 employees could hinder the ability of DoD researchers, scientists, and engineers to access and share important scientific and technological information, warned Dr. Lance Hunter, professor of International Relations and faculty member within the Master of Arts in Intelligence and Security Studies Program at Augusta University.

“The Pentagon’s decision to cut nearly 80 percent of the workforce at the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) is not a routine bureaucratic action,” added Tsukerman.

She suggested that the cuts represent a strategic abandonment of a legacy institution that once served as the intellectual core of the military’s scientific enterprise.

“Beneath the language of streamlining and cost efficiency lies a deeper realignment that favors speed, digital fluidity, and tactical immediacy over institutional memory, historical depth, and long-term continuity,” said Tsukerman.

Short And long-term Effects Yet To Be Seen

There are concerns that the planned workforce reductions could impact the DTIC’s ability to conduct essential research, data, and analysis for informed decision-making.

“Planned workforce reductions threaten the ability to maintain this baseline, which is crucial for reference and collaboration across the DoD,” suggested Professor Justin Miller, associate professor of Practice in the School of Cyber Studies at the University of Tulsa.

He said that the implications of these cuts extend across operational, strategic, and organizational levels, with significant consequences for defense research and technological progress. Moreover, by cutting essential resources that support defense research and technological advancement, the DoD risks creating vulnerabilities that adversaries may exploit, ultimately weakening the nation’s defense capabilities.

“The planned downsizing at DTIC raises concerns about the long-term impact on the DoD’s ability to innovate and respond to emerging global threats,” said Miller. “Operationally, the reductions may disrupt the center’s capacity to disseminate critical technical information and maintain a robust database of resources.”

That could slow the development and deployment of new technologies essential for national security.

“Strategically, the downsizing risks diminishing DTIC’s role in supporting research and development, particularly in fields like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems,” Miller added. “A smaller workforce could also hinder collaboration with external partners, such as academic institutions and private industry, limiting access to valuable insights.”

AI To The Rescue? Not Quite

Pentagon officials have suggested that the remaining personnel can be reinforced by artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“While AI could support some aspects of the reduced workforce, who is guaranteeing that the institutional knowledge required to implement and manage these AI systems effectively remains intact?” Miller continued. “As the DoD continues to streamline operations, it must ask whether cutting personnel in specialized areas like DTIC compromises the very foundation of the nation’s defense capabilities, especially when only 40 staff members are expected to carry the load.”

Even if AI can do that job, it isn’t clear that the systems are even in place. It could be months or years before AI is ready to handle the work. Then there is the trust issue that comes with AI. This might not be a situation where the machines will rise, but the accuracy of the data could be put in question.

“AI systems can be extremely useful in collecting, organizing, and disseminating data and information, but they can also make mistakes, and human oversight is often needed to ensure accuracy,” warned Hunter.

For the foreseeable future, human involvement is essential in terms of identifying inaccurate information, eliminating redundancies, highlighting gaps in research and development, and understanding the nuances and contexts of particular data and information, Hunter added.

“Reducing human involvement in many of these activities at DTIC in favor of AI systems could affect the ability of DoD researchers, scientists, and engineers to access important scientific and technical information,” he continued.

The other issue is that AI cannot function effectively in a vacuum.

“Its results depend heavily on the quality of the data it is trained on. If the historical context, failed experiments, and methodological details stored within DTIC become inaccessible or poorly structured for AI ingestion, the likelihood of flawed conclusions rises,” said Tsukerman. “This endangers not only the quality of research but also the strategic decisions based on it.”

Penny Smart, Pound Foolish

The cost savings have been the Pentagon’s primary focus with the cuts, not how it will impact the jobs carried out within the DTIC.

“The reductions at DTIC may offer short-term financial savings, but the long-term consequences could severely undermine the DoD’s operational efficiency, innovation capabilities, and strategic readiness,” said Miller.

The cuts also align fully with the administration’s broader restructuring campaign.

“Similar reductions in the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, along with the February purge of over 60,000 civilian defense workers, show a defense apparatus shedding institutional weight to achieve real-time responsiveness,” said Tsukerman. “Within this framework, legacy systems that cannot be integrated into agile, technology-driven workflows are seen not as protectors of history but as bureaucratic burdens.”

The consequences of this transformation are thus serious and far-reaching. One of the most immediate concerns is over the erosion of institutional knowledge.

“DTIC served as a safeguard against historical amnesia,” Tsukerman added. “Without its infrastructure, defense scientists and engineers face a greater risk of repeating past mistakes, overlooking valuable research, or misunderstanding the evolution of technologies they aim to develop. This is not mere redundancy but continuity, and without it, progress risks becoming fragmented and hazardous.”

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2025/08/08/pentagon-cut-staff-at-repository-of-scientific-and-technical-data/