Recent hires at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have found themselves without a job, according to multiple sources.
According to NBC News, the firings come on the heels of the Trump administration‘s move to slash the federal workforce, with some employees receiving word that they would be let go as early as this week. Sources further said the officers had been instructed to report to a different location away from CIA headquarters and were told to hand over their credentials.
A CIA spokesperson said the agency was reviewing employees who had been hired over the past two years and noted that officers have to face high-pressure situations and not everyone was suited for the job that can have a probationary period of up to four years.
“For some personnel, that process will result in termination,” the spokesperson said in an email to NBC News.
NBC News further reported that CIA officers had been bracing for job cuts since President Donald Trump took office and promised to cut down federal workers with the help of the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Employees are apparently anxious about the future and confused over buy out deals floated by the Trump administration according to lawyers representing employees and former intelligence officials.
Trump had already planned on canning dozens of officers from both the CIA and the Office of the Director of Intelligence who were working on diversity programs, a move that was upheld by a federal judge.
The court backed up the Trump administration’s argument that the CIA director is able to fire an employee if it is in the interest of the nation. Terminated employees argued that they were only following the order of the Biden administration and should be reassigned to new jobs, not fired completely.
Former CIA officer and staff member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Steven Cash, said firing the employees will be “devastating” to the agency.
“The CIA plans years in advance, recruiting new talent, investing significant time and money into training them, all with the expectation that they will be ready to meet America’s needs in the future,” Cash said. “Firing the new employees will be devastating. It would be like a baseball team firing all of their minor league players.”
