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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
DHS intelligence branch planning to shrink staffing by 75% amid | |
elevated threat level | |
By Holmes Lybrand, CNN | |
Updated: | |
8:26 PM EDT, Thu July 3, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to cut nearly 75% of | |
staffing at the agency’s office tasked with developing and sharing | |
threat intelligence with state and local partners, according to an | |
official familiar with the plans. | |
The planned cuts of about 750 at the Office of Intelligence and | |
Analysis, which has a staff of around 1,000, are part of the | |
department’s efforts to remove what leadership considers redundant | |
roles or those working on “non-critical programs,” DHS said in a | |
statement Thursday. | |
Some Democratic lawmakers asked DHS to pause the cuts, raising concerns | |
over the elevated threat environment intelligence officials have | |
reported. | |
The roughly 275 staffers left after the planned cuts will still be | |
tasked with the mission established in the wake of the September 11, | |
2001, attacks on the US –- to provide intelligence related to threats | |
to the homeland to local and state law enforcement as well as other | |
government officials. | |
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we focused on getting the | |
Department of Homeland Security back to its core mission of | |
prioritizing American safety and enforcing our laws,” the department | |
said. “DHS component leads have identified redundant positions and | |
non-critical programs within the Office of Intelligence and | |
Analysis.” | |
In a to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Director of | |
National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Democratic lawmakers on the House | |
and Senate committees on homeland security implored the officials to | |
reconsider the planned cuts. | |
“We urge you not to take this drastic and unilateral step and instead | |
to consult with Congress about alternative ways to make I&A as | |
effective and efficient as possible,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter | |
Wednesday. “Radically reducing I&A’s workforce at headquarters or | |
in the field would create dangerous and unnecessary security gaps and | |
could again leave us in the dark about the threats that lie ahead.” | |
The letter continued, noting that “at a time when DHS is rightly | |
warning about an elevated threat environment from terrorists and | |
cartels, we should be focused on plugging security gaps rather than | |
senselessly creating new ones.” | |
The planned cuts may not be the last seen under the Trump | |
administration to offices inside DHS. | |
“The Department is actively working to identify other wasteful | |
positions and programs that do not align with DHS’s mission to | |
prioritize American safety and enforce our laws,” the agency said. | |
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