False. I know people at OSD who have been RIF'd.
The 2 star may have been correct within his purview.
Messaging I’m getting from a 3 star command is that there are end strength reductions planned, but no plans for RIFs, as they either anticipate normal attrition will take them there before the deadlines.
I’m also fairly sure nobody is really talking forced RIFs for the nuclear weapons folks - also a 3 star command.
SES’s of course are a different case, along with Flag/General officers.
The other thing here is I’m pretty sure the EO doesn’t actually apply to DOD…somebody in the Pentagon was just convinced that DOD would do our own version of it.
So I don’t think the lawsuit ever applied - see the wholesale gutting of DOT&E a while back.