You know and I know and everyone reading this knows the administration isn't laying off the bottom 10%. They're laying off people perceived to be insufficiently

You know and I know and everyone reading this knows the administration isn't laying off the bottom 10%. They're laying off people perceived to be insufficiently loyal, or who are working on things the administration would rather not discuss. The "probationary" designation does not mean entry-level, nor does it mean people on some kind of Amazon-like PIP. A probationary employee in the civil service could be someone with years or decades of experience who recently got promoted or transferred. They are firing the folks with the probationary designation because they are the easiest to let go, as career civil servants can't generally be fired.