The CIA plans to cut more than 1,000 staff positions through attrition over the next few years as the Trump administration shrinks the federal government, according to officials briefed on the plans.

The agency does not plan any more mass firings. About 80 recently hired employees were let go in March. The CIA is also firing officers who had worked on diversity issues, although a judge has temporarily halted that effort.

For the next rounds of reduction, the agency plans, for now, to use normal attrition, including retirements and resignations.

A spokeswoman for the agency did not directly confirm the plan to reduce its size but said in a statement that John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, was “moving swiftly” to ensure that its work force was “responsive to the administration’s national security priorities.” The cuts were confirmed by officials who were not authorised to speak publicly about them.

Changes at the agency, the spokeswoman said, would “provide opportunities for rising leaders to emerge, and better position CIA to deliver on its mission.”

The plan to reduce the size of the agency was earlier reported by The Washington Post.

The CIA does not officially discuss the size of its staff, but it is believed to number about 22,000. Other intelligence agencies, including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Security Agency, are planning reductions as well.

Mandarin message

The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in President Xi Jinping’s government: Come work with us.

America’s premier spy agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted to YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views.

The outreach comes as CIA director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost both the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations.

The videos are “aimed at recruiting Chinese officials to steal secrets”, Ratcliffe said. He said China “is intent on dominating the world economically, militarily, and technologically.”