Executive Summary
A June 17, 2026, U.S. Government Accountability Office report found that the 22 agencies that provided data to GAO showed a shed of nearly 256,000 employees over the 13 months ending January 2026, a workforce decline exceeding 11% overall. Eighteen of the 22 agencies saw declines greater than 10%. A separate July 2026 analysis by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) found that permitting-specific staff across the six key civilian permitting agencies, EPA, DOI, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and USDA, declined 20% to 30% between January 2025 and March 2026. These reductions affect the federal personnel who conduct National Environmental Policy Act reviews, Section 7 consultations, Clean Water Act permitting decisions, federal land authorizations, and interagency coordination. For project developers, agency staffing capacity is now a scheduling variable alongside statutory requirements and litigation risk.
What Happened
The GAO has been tracking federal workforce changes since early 2025. Its February 24, 2026 report (GAO-26-108719) documented the first half of that period, finding 134,000 employee separations and 144,000 deferred resignation approvals across major agencies from January through June 2025. The June 17, 2026 report (GAO-26-108583) extended the picture through January 2026, documenting a total…
