Trump administration plans to cut thousands of employees at spy agencies

The Trump administration plans to significantly shrink the workforce of the Central Intelligence Agency and other U.S. intelligence agencies, with the aim of cutting thousands of employees over several years, two sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News.

The administration’s cost-cutting approach at the CIA and other intelligence agencies suggests a more calibrated effort than its strategy at other federal departments, with some agencies — such as the U.S. Agency for International Development — essentially dismantled.

Lawmakers have been told that the downsizing would cut about 1,000 to 1,200 employees at the CIA, the sources said. The agency does not disclose the size of its workforce, but leaked documents in 2013 showed the agency had more than 21,000 employees.

The Washington Post first reported on the planned personnel cutbacks.

The CIA declined to comment on details of planned reductions to the agency’s workforce. It was unclear how the cuts would affect different departments.

A CIA spokesperson said in an email that the agency’s director, John Ratcliffe, “is moving swiftly to ensure the CIA 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,” the spokesperson added.

Other intelligence agencies, which unlike the CIA fall under the Defense Department’s budget, are looking to make personnel cuts in line with the Pentagon’s goal of reducing the civilian workforce by up to 8%, according to one of the sources with knowledge of the matter and a former intelligence official.

The cuts at the CIA and other spy agencies would be achieved through a combination of scaling back hiring, early retirements and so-called “buyout” options for those ready to accept a one-time offer to resign later this year. But no mass firings were planned, the sources said.

The planned cutbacks come at a time of heightened security threats, with China’s military power on the rise, Russia carrying out a sabotage campaign in Europe while waging a war in Ukraine and Iran pressing ahead with its nuclear program.

At a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, said her office is “25 % smaller and more lean today than when I walked in the door” in mid-February. Gabbard did not elaborate.

At her Senate confirmation hearing in January, Gabbard said she supported scaling back the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the country’s spy agencies.

The ODNI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The cuts come as the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s advisory Department of Government Efficiency attempt to dramatically slash the federal workforce.

Although the administration plans to avoid mass firings, it tried to fire dozens of employees at the CIA and ODNI because they had been assigned temporary jobs working on diversity programs. A group of the employees challenged their firings in court, and a federal judge in March issued a temporary injunction halting their dismissals.

The CIA additionally offered buyouts to its workforce in February.