The US Central Intelligence Agency has begun laying off recently hired employees as a result of President Donald Trumpʼs executive order on government cuts.
This is reported by The New York Times, citing sources.
Some employees hired in the past two years have been asked to hand over their authority to security personnel and recalled to work elsewhere outside the agencyʼs headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
The layoffs are being made to reduce the number of new hires, known as "probationers". The CIA agents are officially on probation for four years. The first two years of a CIA career are a period of intensive training, and the government spends a lot of money to teach them agent skills, languages, and so on. It is not known exactly how many layoffs there will be.
A spokeswoman for the agency said the CIA is reviewing personnel who joined in the past two years and confirmed that layoffs will occur. Other officials said the layoff decisions were based on performance. The sources added that the wave of layoffs has undermined morale and reduced productivity at the CIA.
This comes days after a federal judge allowed CIA Director John Ratcliffe to fire employees at his own discretion.
- In early February, the leadership of the US Central Intelligence Agency offered its employees the opportunity to resign and receive eight months of salary and benefits. The offer did not arouse much interest among civil servants.
- After Donald Trumpʼs inauguration, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was launched in the US Presidential Administration under the leadership of billionaire Elon Musk. This structure is intended to reduce the number of officials and government spending.
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