It's apples and oranges comparing discipline in military and civilian environments. Military officers can be relieved of duty for essentially no reason at all, except that the next higher commander has "lost confidence" in his or her leadership. Civilian government employees have much more protection.

Back when I was in the government, the best way to get an SES official to retire (or resign if too young to retire) was for the agency head to transfer him or her involuntarily to some place like Anchorage, Alaska. That can still be done, especially at an agency like TSA with employees all over the country. Whether anyone is willing to do that is another question, of course.

Bruce