# Executive Order 14210 **"Implementing the President's 'Department of Government Efficiency' Workforce Optimization Initiative,"** signed **February 11, 2025**. The load-bearing document for the 2025–26 federal workforce reduction. Its three operative pieces: - A **four-to-one hiring rule** — agencies may hire no more than one employee for every four who depart, with exemptions for public safety, immigration enforcement and law enforcement. - A directive that agencies "promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force," and separate temporary employees and reemployed annuitants in areas likely to face a [[Reduction in Force]]. - A targeting instruction: prioritize functions **not mandated by statute** and staff **not designated essential** in the agency's own shutdown contingency plan — repurposing a continuity-of-operations document as a reduction target list. A joint OMB–OPM memorandum of February 26, 2025 required Agency RIF and Reorganization Plans by March 13, 2025. The Supreme Court stayed a government-wide injunction against the order 8–1 on July 8, 2025, while expressly reserving judgment on any individual agency plan. See [[How a Federal Agency Is Dismantled]].