(Headline USA) Nearly 1,300 probationary employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — roughly one-tenth of the agency’s workforce — are being forced out under the Trump administration’s move to downsize the federal bureaucracy.
The Atlanta-based agency’s leadership was notified of the decision Friday morning. The verbal notice came from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a meeting with CDC leaders, according to a federal official who was at the meeting. The official was not authorized to discuss it and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The affected employees are supposed to receive four weeks paid administrative leave, the official said, adding that it wasn’t clear when individual workers would receive notice.
HHS officials did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
With a $9.2 billion core budget, the agency had about 13,000 employees before the cuts, including more than 2,000 staff work in other countries.
The staff is heavy with scientists — 60% have master’s degrees or doctorates. Most of the workforce does not belong to a union.
It’s not only new employees who are subject to probation. Probationary periods also are applied to veteran staffers who, for example, were recently promoted to a new job in management.
The cuts at the CDC are part of a Trump administration Department of Government Efficiency initiative to cut some $2 trillion from the federal government—though DOGE boss Elon Musk has admitted that’s unlikely.
“I think we’ll try for $2 trillion. I think that’s like the best-case outcome,” Musk said last month. “But I do think that you kind of have to have some overage. I think if we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting $1 [trillion].”
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
