Trump hiring freeze to impact Robins

President Donald Trump’s hiring freeze across the federal government will have some impact on Robins Air Force Base, but it’s unclear how much.

Although the freeze exempted the military, that has since been clarified to mean uniformed personnel, not civilians. Secretary of Defense James Mattis has the authority to exempt civilian jobs from the freeze if those are deemed vital to national security.

Just how many jobs at Robins might fall under that exemption is unclear.

“Robins AFB is under a civilian hiring freeze per the presidential memorandum,” Faye Banks-Anderson, public affairs director for Robins, said in an emailed statement. “While many organizations on Robins AFB will certainly be affected by the freeze, the extent of the impact to our operations is unclear at this time. The Air Force (and all the Services) are still working though details of the hiring freeze, so it would be inappropriate to speculate on the implementation plan at this time.”

Johnny Michael, a spokesman for the Department of Defense, stated in an email that the department “will publish further guidance regarding implementation and exemptions as soon as possible.”

He stated that anyone who had a job offer as of Jan. 22 can report to work if the start date is on or before Feb. 22. If the start date is after that then the agency head will have to review it to determine whether the job offer should be revoked.

Brig. Gen. John Kubinec, commander of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex, said recently that the base is looking to hire about 300 people.

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 2:08 PM with the headline "Trump hiring freeze to impact Robins."