The FBI has taken drastic steps to comply with President Trump’s hiring freeze, causing deep uncertainty within the bureau’s ranks and shaking up new hires.
The movements seem to contradict the implementing regulation that the president issued hours after taking office specifying that such a freeze would not apply to national security or public safety officials. Given that one of the FBI’s primary missions is to protect against terrorism and the possibility of other threats, it remains unclear why the bureau should not be exempt.
Regardless, any moves are sure to slow the agency’s efforts to recruit, retain and train staff.
In an internal memo released Friday, the office’s human resources division detailed the steps it is taking as a result of the order, including providing a list of probationary employees to the White House.
Staffers’ fears have only been heightened by deep suspicion and relentless attacks by President Trump and his handpicked agency director, Kash Patel, on the agency over a previous criminal investigation that ensnared Mr. Trump. Mr. Patel has vowed to turn FBI headquarters into a museum of the “deep state,” disband intelligence staff and undermine the general counsel’s office, which provides key legal advice to the director.
Current FBI employees are already wondering whether the directive signals the administration’s intent to gut parts of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency, even as Mr. Trump has pushed for a swift overhaul of the federal bureaucracy.
The FBI declined to comment and referred questions to the Justice Department, which, like other government agencies, is subject to a hiring freeze. A spokesman for the department did not immediately comment.
Among the moves that have raised concerns with the FBI is the White House’s request for the names of employees on probation or employees who joined the agency in the past two years — some of whom are military veterans. The list includes nearly 1,000 agents in branches across the country.
The memo stated that the office must justify which employees on the list the agency wants to keep.
“To be clear, our employees on this list are on this list because we hired them to do critical work,” the memo said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure they stay here at the FBI.”
Firing the new agents would be a significant blow to the FBI, which spends tens of thousands of dollars on recruiting, hiring and 20 weeks of extensive training.
The FBI said the new classes of agents and analysts will begin their training at the bureau’s facility in Quantico, Virginia, as planned on Sunday. But future classes, the backbone of the agency’s ability to protect the country, appear to be on hold as job offers for agents and analysts are suspended.
Field offices struggling to keep their squads filled will have to scramble to make sure investigations and other operations continue smoothly if agents are laid off and more can’t be hired to keep up with retirements.
All recruiting events and activities have also been suspended. The agency said the job postings had been removed, but that it was trying to get a waiver for special agents.
The FBI, which has about 38,000 employees, was facing budget cuts even before Mr. Trump’s hiring freeze.
In June, Christopher A. Wray, who fell out of favor with Mr. Trump and resigned before the inauguration, he told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that the agency was already strained from previous budget cuts.
He warned that threats to the country had never been greater.
“Our adversaries are not reducing their efforts because of the tight budget environment,” he said. “In fact, threat actors may attempt to take advantage of federal budget cuts to conduct nefarious activities.”
Much like the Department of JusticeThe FBI also suspended its coveted honors internship program through fiscal year 2026, the report said.
