The White House is set to eliminate thousands of jobs at the CIA and other intelligence agencies, as officials informed Congress members, according to The Washington Post.
Someone acquainted with the plan, but not permitted to publicly discuss it, also corroborated these developments to The Associated Press, requesting anonymity.
The administration intends to decrease the CIA’s workforce by 1,200 over a few years and diminish thousands of roles at the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies.
The Post reported that the reductions at the CIA include several hundred people who have already opted for early retirement.
The rest of the cuts would be achieved partly through reduced hiring and would not likely necessitate layoffs.
In response to questions about the reductions, the CIA issued a statement saying CIA Director John Ratcliffe is working to align the agency with Trump’s national security priorities.
‘These moves are part of a holistic strategy to infuse the Agency with renewed energy, provide opportunities for rising leaders to emerge, and better position CIA to deliver on its mission,’ the agency wrote in the statement.
A spokesperson for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The White House is planning to axe thousands jobs at the CIA and other intelligence agencies at the CIA officials told members of Congress. Pictured: CIA Director John Ratcliffe
The job cuts will take place over the next few years and will extend to the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies
Gabbard’s office oversees and coordinates the work of 18 agencies that collect and analyze intelligence.
The CIA and NSA have already offered voluntary resignations to some employees. The CIA also has said it plans to lay off an unknown number of recently hired employees.
The new administration has also eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs at intelligence agencies, though a judge has temporarily blocked efforts to fire 19 employees working on DEI programs who challenged their terminations.
Trump also abruptly fired the general who led the NSA and the Pentagon’s Cyber Command.
Ratcliffe has vowed to overhaul the CIA and said he wants to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China.
Rated as one of the most conservative members during his tenure in Congress, Ratcliffe spent time on the House Intelligence Committee before being tapped to serve in Trump’s first administration.
It comes amid increased scrutiny of intelligence agencies in the wake of Signal gate, when former national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally added the editor of The Atlantic to a classified group chat.
Editor Jeffrey Goldberg was exposed to sensitive information about plans to strike the Iran-backed Houthi militant group in Yemen.
It comes after national security adviser Mike Waltz was fired from the role in the wake of the Signal chat scandal in which a journalist was mistakenly added to a classified group chat
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the plans which would impact several of her departments
The scandal was a huge embarrassment for the Trump administration and led to far right activist Laura Loomer meeting with the president and convincing him to fire several people involved.
Waltz has since been unceremoniously dumped from the agency and shipped off to be ambassador to the United Nations.
He has been replaced in the interim by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The CIA has also recently been back in the spotlight following the release of a tranche of documents related to the assassination of John F Kennedy.
The release of 2,182 PDF documents totaling 63,400 pages came more than 60 years after the president was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas.
The so-called JFK files shed little extra light on the infamous 1963 murder itself, but did expose the CIA’s shadowy influence and concerns that the agency was operating as a deep state.
But online sleuths have uncovered some intriguing details about the assassination.
One document was a memo released on a passage from the left wing political magazine Ramparts from June 1967 about intelligence agent, CIA informant and former US Army Captain John Garrett Underhill Jr.
The CIA has been in the spotlight again following the release of the JFK assassination files
The release of 2,182 PDF documents totaling 63,400 pages came more than 60 years after the president was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas
‘The day after the assassination, Gary Underhill left Washington in a hurry. Late in the evening he showed up at the home of a friend in New Jersey He was very agitated,’ the passage starts.
‘A small clique within the CIA was responsible for the assassination, he confided, and he was afraid for his life and probably would have to leave the country.
‘Less than six months later Underhill was found shot to death in his Washington apartment. The coroner ruled it a suicide,’ the passage continued.
