The cuts would take place over several years and would have been completed thanks to reduced hiring as opposed to layoffs.
The administration of the American president Donald Trump provides for significant staff reductions in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and to other major American espionage units, according to the Washington Post, in a move considered to be part of its attempt to reduce the main government agencies.
The CIA plans to reduce 1,200 positions, as well as thousands of others in other parts of the American intelligence community, the newspaper reported on Friday.
Members of the Congress were reportedly informed of the planned cuts, which take place over several years and will be accomplished in part thanks to reduced hiring as opposed to layoffs, added the report.
Asked about the report, a spokesman for the agency did not confirm the details, but said that CIA director John Ratcliffe, “moves quickly to ensure that CIA workforce responds to the National Security Priorities of the Administration”.
“These measures are part of a holistic strategy to instill the agency with renewed energy, to offer managers of the emergence of the rise in power and to better position the CIA to deliver its mission,” also said the spokesperson.
Ratcliffe, appointed by Trump, who was sworn in as CIA director in January, previously declared to the legislators that, under his management, the agency “would produce a insightful, objective analysis and all sources, would never allow political or personal prejudices to blur our judgment or infect our products”.
“We will collect intelligence, in particular human intelligence, in all corners of the globe, no matter how the dark or the difficulty” as well as “conduct a secret action towards the president, ranging from the places of other can go and do things that no one else can do,” he said.
Addressing the CIA officers, he said: “If all it looks like what you have registered, then complete and prepare to make a difference. If not, it’s time to find a new work line.”
In March, the CIA also announced that it would dismiss an indefinite number of subordinate officers in the context of the Trump government reduction policy.
An agency spokesman said that officers with behavioral problems or who were deemed mediocre for intelligence work will be laid off, noting that not everyone is able to manage work pressure.
In February, the CIA also offered acquisitions to certain employees. It was not clear how many employees accepted the offer.
