President Donald Trump’s administration reportedly plans to slash roughly 1,200 positions at the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the administration aims to make significant cuts to the intelligence community, including slashing positions at the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
‘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.’
Sources told the Post that the Trump administration plans to reduce the CIA’s workforce over the next several years by easing hiring and relying on normal attrition, including early retirements and resignations.
Lawmakers have already reportedly been informed of the White House’s goals.
Officials who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter confirmed plans to eliminate more than 1,000 CIA positions, the New York Times reported.
It is unclear how many workers the CIA employs, but it is believed to have 22,000 on staff.
While a CIA spokesperson did not confirm the alleged plans, she told the Post that the agency’s director, John Ratcliffe, was “moving swiftly” to ensure the workforce is “responsive to the administration’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,” she stated.
In March, the CIA terminated 80 recently hired probationary employees. Those working on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within the agency were also removed. The CIA does not plan on any more mass firings to reach its reduction goals.
Upon retaking office in January, Trump immediately worked to dismantle woke DEI initiatives the former administration had embedded across the federal government.
Under the Biden administration in 2021, the CIA launched a social media campaign, Humans of CIA, which consisted of recruitment advertisements that aimed to increase the agency’s diversity.
One ad featured an intelligence officer who referred to herself as a “woman of color” and a “cisgender Millennial, who has been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.”
“I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box-checking exercise,” she declared.
Another commercial featured a CIA librarian who highlighted the agency’s inclusive workplace.
“Growing up gay in a small southern town, I was lucky to have a wonderful and accepting family,” he stated. “I always struggled with the idea that I might not be able to discuss my personal life at work. Imagine my surprise when I was taking my oath at CIA, and I noticed a rainbow on then-Director [John] Brennan’s lanyard.”
Conservatives slammed the agency’s woke recruiting advertisements.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said, “If you’re a Chinese communist, or an Iranian Mullah, or Kim Jong Un…would this scare you?”
“We’ve come a long way from Jason Bourne,” he continued.
In a separate post, he added, “My point is that CIA agents should be bad-asses—not woke, fragile flowers needing safe spaces.”
Donald Trump Jr. also criticized the CIA for going “full woke.”
“China & Russia are laughing their asses off watching CIA go full woke. ‘Cisgender.’ ‘Intersectional.’ It’s like @TheBabylonBee is handling CIA’s comms. If you think about it, wokeness is the kind of twisted PSYOP a spy agency would invent to destroy a country from the inside out,” he wrote.
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