The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reportedly dismissed multiple Biden-era employees as President Donald Trump continues to cut government spending and reshape the country’s intelligence community, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The CIA reportedly fired a batch of officers deemed to be “probationary employees” hired in the last two years, three sources briefed on the matter told the NYT. The moves come as the Trump administration storms its way through the federal bureaucracy, slashing perceived government waste with the help of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The firings come just days after a Bush-appointed federal judge cleared the way for CIA Director John Ratcliffe to fire employees at will. The judge, Anthony J. Trenga of the Eastern District of Virginia, was ruling on a lawsuit brought by officers who had been assigned to diversity and recruiting efforts in the Biden administration.”
It is unknown how many employees work for the CIA due to national security protections.
Select personnel were instructed to go to an off-site location and surrender their credentials to security personnel, not being informed of the meeting’s purpose beforehand, according to the NYT. Not all recent hires were dismissed, and the exact amount of firings remains unclear, the outlet reported. Key issue areas such as southern border security and China were reportedly spared from cuts.
Officials stressed that the firings were partially performance-based, according to the NYT.
CIA officers remain probationary for the first four years of their employment, per the NYT. In February, the CIA sent a list of the probationary employees to the Office Of Personnel Management as part of Trump’s ongoing commitment to shrink the bureaucracy.
Additionally, the CIA reportedly drew up plans in February to fire a slew of officers related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
There were concerns from senior CIA officials in February regarding some CIA employees, disgruntled with DOGE’s involvement in their agency and their potential firing, would potentially leak state secrets as a form of protest, sources told CNN Feb. 24.
“It is not to the American people or the Constitution. It is to themselves, and these are exactly the kind of people that we need to root out and get rid of so that the patriots who do work in this area, who are committed to our core mission, can actually focus on that,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Feb. 25 on Fox News regarding the rumors.
“At CIA, we are reviewing personnel within their first two years of service at the Agency. For some personnel, that process will result in termination,” A CIA spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Our officers face unique pressures from working in situations that are fast-paced and high-stakes—it’s not for everyone”
Story by Wallace White of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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