CIA Director John Ratcliffe invited Elon Musk to meet with him next week, suggesting the nation’s top intelligence agencies won’t be exempt from the tech billionaire’s efforts to slash government spending.
“Director Ratcliffe has invited Elon Musk to meet with him at the Agency to discuss government efficiency,” a CIA spokesperson told POLITICO.
The meeting will take place on Monday, according to journalist Catherine Herridge, whose post on X was shared by Ratcliffe.
Earlier this month, the CIA fired an unspecified number of probationary staff and recent hires, according to the New York Times, with reports that up to 80 people have so far been let go.
Musk also met with the director of the National Security Agency two weeks ago, which a spokesperson for the NSA described as an effort to make sure the agency was “aligned” with the new administration’s priorities.
The Office of Personnel Management initially exempted those working in national security from its “Fork in the Road” resignation offer in February, though some spy agencies gave their employees the choice to accept the severance package.
The cuts have roiled the intelligence community, with former NSA cybersecurity chief Rob Joyce telling a House hearing earlier this month that the terminations would have a "devastating" impact on national security.
As head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has led President Donald Trump’s efforts to overhaul federal agencies and drastically shrink the government, which Musk has accused of “waste and fraud.”
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