Report: Trump plans to shrink top intelligence agencies, including CIA

Mark Abadi

Wed, Jan 4, 2017, 5:40 PM

(US President-elect Donald Trump at an event at the Wisconsin State Fair Exposition Center in West Allis, Wisconsin, on December 13.REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

President-elect Donald Trump is planning to restructure two of the nation's top intelligence agencies, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Wednesday.

The newspaper writes that Trump plans to reduce the size of the office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA, fearing the agencies have become too large and politicized.

"The view from the Trump team is the intelligence world has become completely politicized," The Journal quoted someone close to Trump's transition team as saying. "They all need to be slimmed down. The focus will be on restructuring the agencies and how they interact."

The apparent plans come as Trump continues to mock US intelligence agencies and dismiss their reports that Russia hacked and leaked emails from Democratic officials in an attempt to influence the US election.

President Barack Obama late last year instructed the DNI to investigate potential meddling in US presidential elections dating back to 2008 amid the findings.

Trump cited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday in his latest dismissal of the cyberattacks. Assange had denied Russia was the source of the stolen emails in an interview with Fox News.

The president-elect's comments angered lawmakers from both parties concerned that the incoming president appeared to trust Assange over top US intelligence officials.

"We have two choices — some guy living in an embassy on the run from the law … who has a history of undermining American democracy and releasing classified information to put our troops at risk, or the 17 intelligence agencies sworn to defend us," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina.

"I’m going with them."