There isn’t supposed to be outright firings…..
Just attrition thru reduced hirings at the CIA, NSA and others US Intelligence Services…..
Donald Trump NEVER liked the US Government Intelligence agencies , which have NEVER really trusted his attachments to Russian President Putin and now him being a convicted criminal….
These cuts are supposed to be over the time Trump is in office ….
DOGE has not been allowed to collect info on the community…
And may end up being smaller than expected…
They could present a security risk in some cases…
Reports are that personnel in the community have been looking for private jobs knowing that cuts are expected….
The specifics of the planned cuts have not been previously reported….
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The staff reductions would take place over several years and would be accomplished in part through reduced hiring. No outright firings are envisioned. The goal of a roughly 1,200-person staff reduction includes several hundred individuals who already have opted for early retirement, the person familiar with the matter said.
The downsizing is taking place separately from efforts by the U.S. DOGE Service, led by billionaire Elon Musk, to radically restructure the federal government. Musk met with Ratcliffe in late March for a discussion that included government efficiency measures, but no DOGE teams have been working at the agency’s Langley, Virginia, campus….
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Both Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have pledged to streamline their agencies and, at President Donald Trump’s bidding, have eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs — firing personnel who worked on those issues. Nineteen employees of the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence sued in federal court to stop their dismissal; a federal judge in late March issued a temporary injunction halting the firings.
Since assuming her post, Gabbard has frequently spoken to conservative media outlets and depicted some U.S. intelligence personnel as part of a “deep state” working to undermine Trump, echoing charges the president has made. As a congresswoman from Hawaii, she sometimes expressed skepticism of U.S. intelligence judgments, including a 2017 assessment that Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own citizens in Syria….
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Current and former U.S. officials also warn of a counterintelligence risk, noting that having thousands of potentially disgruntled intelligence personnel out of work presents a ripe recruiting target for adversary nations’ spy services.
Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up attempts to recruit U.S. national security workers, targeting those who have been fired or feel they could be soon, CNN reported in March, citing U.S. intelligence assessments on the issue….
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Several senior former U.S. intelligence officials said they have received numerous calls and emails from friends at the CIA, asking for help in transitioning to private-sector work. “People are just flooding out,” one such official said. “People who are senior but not qualified necessarily for early outs [are] thinking about leaving.”…
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The former senior intelligence official said the staff reductions at the CIA, if handled properly, would not necessarily be disruptive — particularly if they are focused on underperforming employees. The reductions appear to represent roughly 5 percent of the CIA’s workforce. “That does not seem that out of line,” the former official said.
In a March 31 note to the CIA workforce laying out his priorities for the spy agency, Ratcliffe wrote: “For decades, CIA has known nothing but growth, but the years of growing budgets and resources are behind us. Moving forward, you will be part of a smaller, more elite and efficient workforce.” The memo was first reported by the New York Post….
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