
CIA fires some recently hired employees
CNN
The CIA has fired some probationary employees as part of the Trump administration’s broad efforts to shrink the federal government, according to a spokeswoman for the agency.
The CIA has fired some probationary employees as part of the Trump administration’s broad efforts to shrink the federal government, according to a spokeswoman for the agency. The agency has been reviewing employees who have worked for the CIA for two years or less, a group that includes everything from analysts to young officers training to work undercover overseas and has now terminated some of those people. “Our officers face unique pressures from working in situations that are fast-paced and high-stakes — it’s not for everyone,” the spokeswoman said in a statement confirming the firings. It is not clear how many officers have been let go. The New York Times first reported the firings. The CIA had already moved to fire more than a dozen officers for working on diversity issues last month, in what amounted to an initial round of mass firings at the agency. Those officers challenged their dismissal in court but were rebuffed by a federal judge who ruled last week that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had the right to fire officers at will. Foreign adversaries including Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of US federal employees working in national security, targeting those who have been fired or feel they could be soon, CNN has previously reported.

US officials are furiously trying to avert a potential monthslong closure of the Strait of Hormuz, privately acknowledging that reopening the key waterway is a problem without a clear solution and dependent at least in part on what lengths President Donald Trump is willing to go to force the Iranian regime’s hand, multiple administration and intelligence officials tell CNN.

Supreme Court revives First Amendment lawsuit from street preacher who called concertgoers ‘sissies’
The Supreme Court on Friday revived a First Amendment lawsuit from a street preacher who used a loudspeaker to call people “whores,” “Jezebels” and “sissies” as they tried to enter an amphitheater to attend concerts in a suburban Mississippi community.











