I’m sure we could probably shed ~25% of the federal workforce without too many people noticing.
The early retirement or extended severance incentive was a good idea. But give people some time to decide if they want to take it. This would encourage people to also look for another job and hope to collect both the severance while also getting a new job.
If that doesn’t get you to your goal, do layoffs like a normal company would, take some time to actually determine what positions are redundant and who are the poor performers. Not on the whims of some teenagers or based on an email demanding bullet points. Don’t shut down entire departments in a moment’s notice, and if you really feel that’s necessary, actually do it legally.