Trump administration orders list of new FBI recruits, deepening fears of cuts
The Trump administration has asked the FBI for a list of probationary employees and individual justifications for keeping anyone who has been at the bureau for less than two years.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has asked the FBI for a list of probationary employees and individual justifications for keeping anyone who has been at the bureau for less than two years, sparking a new round of fears within a bureau that has been rocked by the first three weeks of Donald Trump's presidency.
The news comes amid an ongoing dispute over an effort to gather names of FBI employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases. A federal judge signed off Friday on an agreement that forbids the public release of the list of FBI employees who worked on the sprawling probe, which grew to be the largest in FBI history, with more than 1,500 defendants.
In the 21 days since Trump was inaugurated, his appointees have wrought change at the FBI at a dizzying pace: Trump mass pardoned convicted Jan. 6 rioters while naming an advocate for Capitol rioters as the top federal prosecutor for Washington. His administration fired federal prosecutors who had been hired to work Jan. 6 cases, and Justice Department employees formerly on special counsel Jack Smith's team, which prosecuted Trump, were also shown the door. The head of the FBI Washington field office was forced out, as were top leadership officials at the bureau, and an Elon Musk associate and other outsiders were given top roles at headquarters.
Now, the Office of Personnel Management — which has been heavily involved in Musk's work to overhaul the federal government — is seeking the names of the FBI's short-tenured "probationary employees," who have limited appeal rights, making them prime targets for the Trump administration's efforts to quickly shrink the federal government. The request — which covers FBI headquarters and all 55 field offices around the country — mirrored recent OPM requests to other federal agencies.
The request sparked defiance at the FBI, with its Washington field office planning to justify all of its probationary employees. The Trump administration's early moves have been a major distraction for agents, officials told NBC News, at a critical time and amid a variety of threats.
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