There are about 645 probationary employees at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard who are anxiously awaiting news of whether their positions are among those being eliminated in a purge of the federal workforce.

The Department of Defense initially paused the directive from the Office of Personnel Management, but all DOD civilian employees are now required to submit five bullet points on their previous week's achievements.

On Monday morning, the Department of Defense set a 48-hour deadline for workers to respond to the email by detailing their work.

Senators and union leaders say Portsmouth Naval Shipyard's thousands of workers should be exempt from Trump administration's job cuts.