Concluding Service of Defense Advisory Committee Members

In April 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum terminating all members of the Defense Department's advisory committees subject to a March 2025 directive. That March directive, "Review of Department of Defense Advisory Committees," paused all advisory committee meetings pending a 45-day review period. Reports indicate that members of 14 advisory committees were eliminated, including the Department of Defense Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Board of Actuaries, the Defense Advisory Committee on Military Personnel Testing, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, and the National Security Agency Emerging Technologies Board. According to the American Federation of Government Employees, the March directive paused an advisory committee whose recommendations were needed before employees in Wage-Grade positions (mostly hourly pay jobs) could receive a pay raise. This action had the effect of delaying their 2024 pay raises until November, when they were finally granted retroactively.