Key points
- Elon Musk oversees cost-cutting drive
- Several agencies dismantled so far
- 200,000 federal workers forced to quit jobs
ISLAMABAD: The Trump administration is planning significant personnel cuts at the Central Intelligence Agency and other major US spy units.
The Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the plans, that the CIA plans to cut 1,200 positions, along with thousands more from other parts of the US intelligence community.
Since taking office in January, Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk have gone on a cost-cutting drive that has gutted and attempted to dismantle various agencies, and resulted in the departure of over 200,000 federal workers, as per Reuters estimates.
Asked about the report, a CIA spokesperson did not confirm the specifics, but said that Director John Ratcliffe “is moving swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the administration’s national security priorities.”
“Holistic strategy”
“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 said.
The CIA earlier this year became the first US intelligence agency to join a voluntary redundancy program initiated by President Donald Trump, who has vowed to radically downsize the federal workforce in the name of efficiency and frugality.
Ratcliffe previously told lawmakers that under his leadership, the agency would “produce insightful, objective, all-source analysis, never allowing political or personal biases to cloud our judgment or infect our products.”
Intelligence
“We will collect intelligence, especially human intelligence, in every corner of the globe, no matter how dark or difficult,” as well as “conduct covert action at the direction of the president, going places no one else can go and doing things no one else can do.”
Addressing CIA officers, he said: “If all of this sounds like what you signed up for, then buckle up and get ready to make a difference. If it doesn’t, then it’s time to find a new line of work.”
