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The United States government is preparing for the largest staff reduction in national security structures in decades. According to CNN, the US Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), headed by businessman and tech mogul Elon Musk, will begin a staff optimisation process at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the coming days.
The cuts are expected to affect all key DHS departments, from the Secret Service to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which may be eliminated altogether. The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are also potential candidates for cuts.
“The DHS is preparing for significant cuts, although final decisions have not yet been made,” administration sources said. According to a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security, the reform aims to eliminate unnecessary costs that have long been borne by taxpayers.
According to preliminary information, Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem will soon send two letters to employees: one announcing the start of layoffs and the other providing detailed information on early retirement and voluntary retirement options.
The attention of journalists was also drawn to a detail from the recent past: in February last year, the Secret Service spent a record $2 million on an advertising campaign directed by action movie director Michael Bay. This example is likely to become an argument in the struggle to reduce the “bloated” budgets of the agencies.
Donald Trump’s administration’s tariffs and a tough review of government spending are creating the preconditions for a total reset of US internal security.
