The Trump administration has launched a federal recruitment program called War Force, designed to connect experienced software engineers with open technical positions across the Department of Defense (DoD). The initiative aims to attract hundreds of candidates for temporary, two-year positions, particularly those with expertise in AI, machine learning, automation, and data systems.
Applications are open until July 17 via USAJobs. War Force is a spinoff of the broader Tech Force program, which first launched in December 2025. OPM Director Scott Kupor stated, "America's national security depends on attracting the best technical talent to some of government's most important missions."
This hiring push comes as the federal workforce has seen a net reduction of about 278,000 employees under the Trump administration, including nearly 20,000 IT separations governmentwide. At the DoD alone, over 7,600 IT employees have left, resulting in a net loss of about 5,700 tech experts.
Kaydee James, chief of staff of DoD's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, noted that the CDAO is seeing "explosive growth" in AI use and faces gaps in business relationship managers, backend support, and infrastructure oversight. The War Force program aims to fill these gaps by bringing in private-sector talent for short-term stints.
So far, Tech Force has hired close to 300 candidates, with about 125 onboarded. War Force is the second spinoff after NASA Force, which launched in March. Emil Michael, DoD's chief technology officer, called it "a call to action for patriotic forward-deployed engineers who want to serve their country and the warfighter."
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