The Department of Justice has cut 4,000 employees in the opening months of the Trump administration. CBS News was the first to review a report showing a larger reduction in investigators and agents than previously known. Scott MacFarlane reports.

Washington

The U.S. Department of Justice has cut 4,000 employees since the return of the Trump administration, according to a report reviewed by CBS News. The reduction, which represents about 4% of the department's workforce, includes a significant number of investigators and agents, and is the largest of its kind in the agency's history.

Officials state the cuts are part of a 'right-sizing' initiative, with plans to move more agents into field offices and reduce headquarters staff. However, former employees and experts have expressed concern that the loss of experienced personnel may impact public safety and the effectiveness of federal law enforcement. The cuts have also led to the elimination of the Community Relations Service, a civil rights-era office, reducing its staff from 56 to zero.

Justice Department has cut 4,000 employees since Trump return

The Department of Justice has caught 4,000 employees in the opening months of the Trump administration. CBS News was the first to review a report showing a larger reduction in investigators and agents than previously known. And there are concerns it could affect the safety in big and small communities across the country. Justice correspondent Scott McFarland joins us now to explain. Hey John, you'll recall way back in those historic days of January, the president and Elon Musk drew up this fork in the road program to nudge federal workers to resign. That fork has taken a sharp knife to the agency that arrests and prosecutes criminals. These are my former colleagues and they are absolutely devastated. Stacy Young, an attorney who served 18 years in the U.S. Department of Justice is one of at least 4,000 agency employees who've left the department since January. Some were fired, some retired, Young quit. Frustrated by how the Trump administration planned to shrink the department's civil rights office where she worked. You think this makes people less safe? It makes people less safe. It makes our society less fair and equal. An agency budget document reviewed by CBS News shows there's been a gutting of longtime Department of Justice workers, an estimated 4% of employees. And the cuts will deepen, the memo says, with the FBI to cut 1,500-plus jobs in the bureau, including 700 FBI agent positions. The agency calls it a right-sizing of the department, which FBI Director Kash Patel argues has too many employees working out of its Washington headquarters and should instead put more of its agents into field offices across America. Nobody becomes a seasoned investigator overnight. Former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Deputy Director Tom Chittum says the downsizing costs federal law enforcement much-needed experience fighting crime. Do not underestimate the importance of experience to being a good investigator. A lot of the work they do depends on judgment, and that judgment can be informed by years of toiling away on investigations in lots of different circumstances. If you lose that and have only green investigators, you really lose a lot. The budget documents reviewed by CBS News shows the cut of those 4,000 Department of Justice workers is really the first cut of that size and magnitude in the agency's history. But they say it saved about $400 million. Though, John, it's uncertain how much it's gonna cost if and when the agency wants to rebuild the force it has just depleted. Right, is the agency planning any other reductions? Oh, a whole bunch. One that we're zeroing in on is the ending of the civil rights era Community Relations Service that was founded during the advocacy of Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights era. They have 56 employees there who work with cities to build relationships, to avoid riots and boycotts and unrest. The new budget shifts the office from 56 employees to zero. John. Scott McFarlane in Washington. Thank you, Scott.

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