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

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 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 target 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.

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.

“Director Ratcliffe is moving swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the Administration’s national security priorities,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”

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 former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own citizens.

Gabbard said at a White House Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that 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 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.

The planned workforce shrinkage comes at a perilous moment with the U.S. involved in multiple global crises and at a difficult time for tens of thousands of intelligence and law enforcement professionals.

Gabbard and other Trump appointees have ramped up leak investigations, including methods such as using polygraphs at the FBI, which some current and former officials say is creating a climate of fear and intimidation. An earlier round of dismissals of probationary workers and DEI employees deeply unsettled civilian and military intelligence employees.

Critics of the planned reductions at the CIA and other agencies said they posed a threat to national security. “These sweeping, reckless cuts of experienced intelligence personnel by the Trump administration will undoubtedly undermine our ability to detect and respond to threats and make America less safe,” said Sen. Mark R. Warner (Virginia), ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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.

Last month, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, a part of ODNI that coordinates programs to thwart foreign spies, warned that foreign intelligence entities — particularly in China — are targeting current and former U.S. employees online, offering jobs while posing as consulting firms, corporate headhunters and think tanks.

While intelligence officers are trained to spot and resist such attempts, and recently laid off staff are legally compelled to report any overtures to U.S. counterintelligence authorities, even a single breach could have serious national security consequences. Former CIA officer Kevin Mallory was convicted of espionage and related charges in 2018, after prosecutors charged he sold deeply damaging secrets about U.S. intelligence operations to China. He had been mired in debt when a Chinese intelligence officer, posing as a headhunter, contacted him on LinkedIn.

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 ODNI, more than 100 people have taken an early resignation offer, commonly known as the “Fork in the Road,” that would see them paid through Sept. 30.

Gabbard also has been reviewing the numerous intelligence centers under ODNI — focused on topics such as terrorism, counterintelligence and weapons proliferation — with an eye on staff reductions or folding them into other agencies.

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 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.

Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report.