I am pretty sure that the CIA leakers and CNN did not intend to imply that CIA officers who are asked to leave (or, for that matter, have left on their own) could be disloyal and sell out to foreign adversaries, but that is exactly what they did in this story. 

New: The CIA is conducting a damage assessment to determine potential damage from an unclassified email sent to the White House identifying for possible layoffs some officers by first name & last initial that could have exposed under cover agency roles. https://t.co/JiZse6wseQ

— Katie Bo Lillis (@KatieBoLillis) February 24, 2025

It's a fascinating story, filled with accusations against DOGE and dark, vague warnings about how dangerous it is that the Trump administration is trying to streamline the CIA. 

Meanwhile, as the CIA weighs staff cuts, current and former intelligence officials say that mass firings could offer a rich recruitment opportunity for foreign intelligence services — like China or Russia — who may seek to exploit financially vulnerable or resentful former employees. The Justice Department has charged multiple former military and intelligence officials for providing US intelligence to China in recent years.

The agency has already fired more than 20 officers for their work on diversity issues, many of whom are now challenging their dismissal in court. The government has said in court filings that it is still weighing additional cuts to comply with Trump’s order to end all diversity work across the federal government. And sources say that career officials at the agency are also working on recommendations about which probationary staff whose names were emailed to the White House should be dismissed. A final number has yet to be determined, one of these people said. None have been accused of misconduct or fired for cause.

But, unlike most other fired federal employees, all of those people have had access to classified information about the agency’s operations and tradecraft.

“Terminating someone who works for Department of Agriculture — even if they’re disgruntled, if they’re not accessing classified information, what’s the risk?” one US official said.

First and foremost, I love the irony of a story of how classified information may be leaked due to allowing DOGE to look at CIA spending and personnel. Given that the story is based on potentially illegal leaks and that CNN coverage of the CIA is largely based on illegal leaks from the agency, it's quite rich that we are being warned that inadvertent leaks of sensitive information due to an audit. 

With the CIA and other intelligence agencies, “you take whatever number of employees who are gonna get cut loose and they have knowledge of sensitive programs — that by definition is an insider risk,” this person said. “You’re just rolling the dice that these folks are gonna honor their secrecy agreement and not volunteer to a hostile intelligence service.”

As a result, some officials are considering how to treat those employees who are inevitably fired or elect to take a buyout — including whether to allow them to access agency buildings at all, another person familiar with the discussions said.

The notion that a person fired from the CIA — even for cause — will take what they know to a foreign government isn’t new, former officials noted. When a top aide to the agency’s deputy director was indicted for fraud in 2009 after putting personal expenses on an agency credit card — charges that were expected to render him basically unemployable — senior leaders at the time fretted that he might offer himself up to the highest bidder, current and former officials familiar with the episode said.

For God's sake, the CIA leaks like a sieve, and the people complaining are the primary leakers. 

Second of all, I have yet to see top bureaucrats EVER admit that their agency is bloated and could use reform. They are the primary preservers of the status quo because, after all, they are in their position because they thrived in that status quo. OF COURSE they will argue that any threat to the very system that put them at the top of the pyramid should remain as it is. 

In the annals of things never said, "I rose to the top of a corrupt system that needs total transformation, so I welcome outsiders coming in to reform it" is near the top of the list. It is almost ALWAYS outsiders who reform broken systems. 

Chuck Schumer: "You take on the intelligence community; they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you."

They falsely accused the President of being a Russian agent, maliciously interfered in an election, and framed him for treason.

And nobody will be held accountable? pic.twitter.com/9Z4QwAwXzK

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) May 15, 2023

Third, the CIA is at the heart of the Deep State, conducting operations not only against our adversaries but against Americans' rights. It played a large role in the censorship complex by encouraging our allies and using psychological warfare in other countries to, among other things, suppress the rights of US citizens. It was deeply involved in the "color revolutions" that upended vast parts of the world, led ultimately to the Ukraine war and the collapse of Libya, empowered ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood, and spread chaos. 

Can confirm from sources within that the feeling among bureaucrats inside the intelligence community has gone form “we’ve been here before, we can handle Trump” to

“oh shit, they’re serious this time”

Real fast

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) February 24, 2025

Didn't they notice Tulsi Gabbard joining the Trump campaign?

I'm not arguing that we don't need the CIA or something like it, but that it shouldn't act as an independent force without real oversight. 

I also don't think that all the worries expressed in this article are unwarranted, but the reality is that the CIA is in desperate need of reform, and clearly gives security clearances to potential spies against the US. I know that because they just admitted it. 

If you had told me in the 1970s and 1980s that it would be the Left that was in the business of protecting and promoting the CIA and even encouraging it to undermine democratically elected US politicians, I would have laughed. 

But here we are.