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Hi from CNN. This is Madeline Thompson with the five things you need to know for Friday, February 21st.

Two defense officials say the Defense Department has temporarily paused a plan to carry out mass firings of civilian

probationary employees. That is, until Secretary of Defense Pete Hegeseth and the Pentagon's

official office of general counsel can carry out a more thorough review of the impacts

these firings could have on U.S. military readiness.

The pause comes after CNN reported on Wednesday that the mass terminations, which could

impact over 50,000 civilian employees across the Pentagon, could violate a section of the U.S.

Code.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke to CNN about the harm these mixed signals

could do.

When you have this kind of chaos and disruption, very frankly, you're sending a very bad

signal to the world about our ability to be ready to defend ourselves

and to do what's necessary for our national security.

So this is not just fun games in the administration.

These carry serious implications about our national security.

Meanwhile, multiple published reports say President Donald Trump's administration is planning to fire members of the independent government board that oversees the U.S. Postal Service.

It could be a step toward privatizing the service, though a White House official denied that Trump planned to sign such an order.

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