US IC in Sad State

Here are just a few recent headlines.

• The CIA is expected to cut 1,200 positions.

• DHS Intelligence and Analysis is reducing its workforce from around 1,000 to 275 employees. 

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the closure of the DoD Office of Net Assessment, a small office that worked with intelligence data, produced highly controlled analysis, and advised leaders on long term strategy. 

• The offices of Analytic Outreach and the Intelligence Policy and Information Sharing Center at the State Department were eliminated:  Additionally, 17 people were cut from INR (famous for being skeptical about whether Iraq had WMD).

• The IC Centers of Excellence program has been cancelled. It gave single and multi-year grants to about 30 different colleges and universities to develop curricula.

• The Pentagon has suspended participation in all think tank and research events until further notice. This includes the Halifax International Security Forum where the Pentagon chief is usually a top guest.

• The “Intelligence Community Efficiency and Effectiveness Act” directs the Director of National Intelligence to wind down and terminate the National Intelligence University.  A key institution, the NIU has advanced the field of intelligence analysis in the US and throughout the 5-Eyes community.  

Addenda - Turmoil and disruption from resignations

In August 2025, it was reported that Thomas Brzozowski, senior counsel for the Justice Department unit assigned to combat domestic terrorism, had resigned in frustration after watching his office effectively gutted with much of its funding cut off and its lawyers reassigned to immigration enforcement and other matters. “I no longer had a functioning job. There was nothing for me to do anymore,” he said.

Brzozowski is one of the uncounted hundreds, possibly thousands, of technocrats leaving government because they no longer feel they can be effective in the jobs.

Further Reading

FBI Purge: National Security Implications. Dolores García, August 27, 2025

A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants: You all deserved better. By William J. Burns, The Atlantic, August 20, 2025

Gabbard to cut ODNI staff by nearly 50 percent, Politico, Aug 20, 2025.

The FBI As We Knew It is Gone, Asha Rangappa, Aug 09, 2025

FBI Director Fast-Tracks New Agents as Firings and Departures of G-Men Tied to January 6 and Trump Prosecutions Accelerate, New York Sun, Aug 15, 2025. The FBI is planning to fast-track a class of 40 investigators through an abridged version of its new agent training at Quantico, as it prepares for the departure of roughly 2,300 agents by September 30th through a combination of early retirements and firings.

Bennet, M. Reconsidering the Cancellation of the IC CAE Program: A Strategic Imperative for National Security Education, July 14, 2025

Trump’s State Department Cuts Are a Self-Inflicted Wound, By John Dinkelman, president of the American Foreign Service Association.