The Central Intelligence Agency is expected to undergo the largest mass layoffs in fifty years.
An unspecified number of officers working on recruitment and diversity will be targeted, according to former officials who spoke to The New York Times, as the agency is forced to comply with President Trump’s executive order overturning diversity, equity and inclusivity initiatives within the federal workforce.
The majority of terminations are likely to be employees hired by the Biden administration.
The Agency has already started offering buyouts to its workforce. At the beginning of the month, the Trump administration offered buyouts to two million full-time federal workers.
As The Times notes, the last large-scale firing at the CIA took place in 1977, “when President Jimmy Carter ordered the agency to move away from covert action. Stansfield Turner, the C.I.A. director at the time, moved to fire 198 officers involved in clandestine action.”
The firings have already faced legal challenge, but on Thursday government lawyers said the agency’s director, John Ratcliffe, could continue firing employees.
Ratcliffe, a former member of the House of Representatives who served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, was confirmed as director of the CIA soon after Trump took office again.
Sources close to Ratcliffe said Trump’s CIA will focus more on the Western Hemisphere and will target countries that are not traditionally considered to be adversaries of the US.