CIA Starting Mass Doge-Inspired Firing

The latest newly hired probationary federal workers hit with a wave of layoffs is the Central Intelligence Agency.

CIA officers hired within the last two years are being summoned to off-site locations, fired and forced to surrender their badges to security personnel, three people briefing on the layoffs told The New York Times.

President Donald Trump said that agencies would begin initiating their own cuts and firings inspired by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) actions over the first month of his second term.

And the CIA under Director John Ratcliffe wasted no time getting to work on trimming down their workforce under Trump's orders.

It's not clear how many officers were let go so far and how many will lose their jobs.

People familiar with the effort, however, insist not all recent hires and probationary employees will be dismissed.

The reduction in CIA workforce came after a judge cleared the way for Ratcliffe to fire employees at will.

Judge Anthony J. Trenga of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled on a lawsuit brought by CIA officers who were assigned to the diversity and recruiting efforts under the previous administration.

They were removed under Trump's order to get rid of any diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs or department within the federal government.

But Judge Trenga'a ruling was sweeping and gave Director Ratcliffe the power to remove any CIA officer for any reason – without giving them a right of appeal.

This rejected defendants arguments that the workers were being denied their 14th Amendment right to due process as well violations of their free speech rights under the First Amendment.

CIA general counsel approved Ratcliffe's efforts to shrink the agency after reviewing the ruling.

Kevin Carroll, an attorney representing fired agency officers, said Judge Trenga strongly recommended Ratcliffe allow fired employees to appeal termination.

'Literally millions of dollars has been put into some of these probationary employees,' Mr. Carroll said.

Officers selected for the firings were summoned, without given reason, to a location away from CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia and told to hand over their credentials to access the building.

A spokeswoman confirmed that officers hired in the past two years have been fired.

Some young agency employees are hesitant to even answer their phones because they are worried it will be security asking them to report to the off-site firing location, people briefed on the matter detailed to the Times.

Most employees facing the cuts are those who joined the CIA within the last two years as these individuals are the officers whose employment is being reviewed, a spokesperson said.

But other officials claim the firings are solely performance based.

Some say that fewer layoffs are conducted in high-interest areas like collecting information on the threat from China and on Mexican drug cartels.

Former officials claim that the removal of newly recruited officers would likely create gaps in the deeply important intelligence agency.

The first two years of a CIA officer's career usually involved intense training in areas like spy tradecraft, languages and other niche skills.