WP: Trump administration plans major downsizing at U.S. spy agencies

From left: FBI Director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe at the House Intelligence Committee.
Photo: AP

The Trump administration is planning significant personnel cuts at the Central Intelligence Agency and other major U.S. spy units, downsizing the government’s most sensitive national security agencies, according to people familiar with the plans, ‘The Washington Post’ reports.

The administration recently informed lawmakers on Capitol Hill that it intends to reduce the CIA’s workforce by about 1,200 personnel over several years and cut thousands more from other parts of the U.S. intelligence community, including at the National Security Agency, a highly secretive service that specializes in cryptology and global electronic espionage, a person familiar with the matter said. The person, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The specifics of the planned cuts have not been previously reported.

The CIA does not publicly disclose the size of its workforce, but it is believed to be about 22,000. It is unclear which parts of the spy agency would be most affected. The downsizing is happening even as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has pledged to put more agency resources on China and on cartels smuggling fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the United States.

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.

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.

Gabbard said at a White House Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the ODNI is “25 percent smaller and more lean today than when I walked in the door.” She was confirmed to her post on Feb. 12.

Gabbard did not specify what has been eliminated at the ODNI, which coordinates the vast intelligence apparatus across 18 separate spy agencies and has about 2,000 employees. A spokeswoman said details were not available. “Quite a few DEI-related cuts have already been announced,” the spokeswoman said.

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.”

At the CIA, the person familiar with the matter said, of the 1,200 positions to be cut, slightly more than 500 represent workers who have already put in for early retirement.

A total of several thousand positions would also be cut from the NSA; the Defense Intelligence Agency; the National Reconnaissance Office, which designs and operates spy satellites; and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which analyzes satellite imagery and provides targeting data to U.S. troops, according to the plans described to The Washington Post.

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.

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