The Defense Department has issued guidance to its components on using early retirement authority in the fiscal year that starts October 1, following approval from the Office of Personnel Management for that program to continue. DoD said it will continue to target offers based on “any combination of organizational components, geographic areas, occupational series or grade levels, or other nonpersonal and objective factors.” In general, under the grant of authority from OPM, employees also must have been continuously on the agency’s rolls since at least June 25, must not be serving time-limited appointments and must not be in receipt of an involuntary separation notice for misconduct or unsatisfactory performance. Early retirement authority allows retirement at age 50 with 20 years of service or at any age with 25 years, although an annuity reduction applies to those under the CSRS retirement system retiring before age 55.