U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) began a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday by decrying a massive cut in the nation's critical intelligence infrastructure — a result of sweeping government staffing cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Elon Musk's DOGE has been behind upheaval and dismantling of many government agencies. Websites, grants, programs, and employees have been cut or frozen under the promise that Trump will save taxpayers trillions.
And the cuts have included intelligence positions in the government.
In his opening statement, Warner cited a bombshell report from The Atlantic that top officials in Trump's Cabinet were communicating about classified war plans in a Signal chat — and had inadvertently included a reporter.
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He called it "sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly towards classified information." He then connected it to the DOGE cuts. "This is not a one-off or a first-time error. Let me take a couple of minutes and review some of the other reckless choices that this administration has made regarding our national security," he said.
Warner continued, "In the first two weeks [FBI Director Kash] Patel, the administration fired several of our most experienced FBI agents, including the head of the criminal investigative division, the head of the intelligence division, the head of the counterterrorism division, the heads of the New York, Washington, and Miami field office. All individuals who were distantly and directly responsible for helping to keep America safe."
Warner also cited the irony of "the recently dismissed head of the counterterrorism division, who was involved in disrupting the ISIS attack plan for Oklahoma City and Philadelphia, and helped lead the effort to bring to justice the key planner of the bombing at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan."
Warner said he can't understand how Americans are being made "more secure by firing more than 300 staff at the National Nuclear Security Administration, including those responsible for overseeing the security and safety of the nuclear stockpile."
"Our intelligence officers, they are not interchangeable like a Twitter coder," said Warner. It's a throwback to Musk's takeover of the social media site, in which he fired nearly all staff and then re-hired some as problems arose. Warner said that the U.S., particularly those in the intelligence community, can't be as easily dismissed.
"These intelligence officers — our country makes $20,000 to $40,000 of an investment just in getting security clearance. Literally close into six figures when you take the training involved. Can anyone tell how firing probationary individuals without any consideration for merit or expertise is an efficient use of taxpayer dollars?" he asked.
See the clip below or at the link here.