John Ratcliffe to Fire 1,200 CIA Employees

The Trump administration is planning significant personnel cuts at the Central Intelligence Agency and other major U.S. spy units, downsizing the government’s national security agencies, WashPost reported.

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 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 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.”

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.