Trump’s Justice Dept. Ousts National Security Officials in Latest Purge

The Washington Post

15:56 JST, March 9, 2025

The Justice Department has removed top national security officials as part of a widespread purge of senior career leaders across the law enforcement agency, according to people familiar with the decisions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues.

The transferring of at least three national security officials amounts to a complete gutting of leadership in the highly sensitive National Security Division, which is charged with working with the FBI and other intelligence agencies to protect the nation from threats.

It is unclear if the the national security officials were provided a reason for their removals. They were technically not fired, with at least some of them being transferred to other parts of the Justice Department in less desirable positions, according to people familiar with the transfers.

The officials must now decide if they will accept those new assignments or resign.

The removals – which come after a multiple ousters of senior Justice officials on Friday – reflect the Trump administration’s effort to push out experienced career officials from nonpartisan roles at the Justice Department, likely paving the way for President Donald Trump and his allies to install people in these traditionally nonpartisan positions who align ideologically with the president. Trump and his allies have long lambasted the Justice Department as weaponizing the law enforcement agency against him and the administration has sought to root out career officials who could undercut the president’s agenda.

“If I am confirmed as attorney general, it will be my job to not only keep America safe but restore integrity to that department,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi in her Senate confirmation hearing.

Dozens of senior career officials in the civil rights, executive office for immigration review, U.S. attorneys office for D.C., public integrity section and more have been removed or transferred during the Trump administration.

The national security officials had decades of experience across multiple Republican and Democratic administrations, leaving a vacuum of experience in the division, according to the people familiar with the matter.

Melissa MacTough, who headed the office of intelligence, and Brad Wiegmann, who headed the law and policy section for the division were among those ousted. Scott Damelin, the executive officer of the national security division, was also removed. The Justice Department had transferred two other leaders in the first days of the Trump administration.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

On Friday afternoon, the Justice Department also removed at least four other career staffers in various divisions, including a top ethics official and pardon attorney and public records officer.

Jeffrey Ragsdale, the head of the Office of Professional Responsibility, and Liz Oyer, the U.S. pardon attorney, were among those removed, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel matter.

Tara Twomey, the head of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees, which oversees the administration of bankruptcy cases and private trustees, was also removed, the people familiar said.

“I’m sad to share that I was fired today from the job I have poured my heart and soul into for the last three years,” Oyer said in a note posted Friday on LinkedIn. “I am so proud of the team we built in the Office of the Pardon Attorney, who will carry on our important work.”

Those positions are intended to be apolitical, ensuring that institutional knowledge and Justice Department investigations are carried on from administration to administration. But the Trump administration has challenged this federal norm, stressing through executive orders and personnel decisions that loyalty to the president’s agenda is critical to serving in the administration.

The latest wave of firings arrived days after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was sworn-in to his posting as the number two position at the Justice Department. He signed off on at least some of the termination notices.

Devin DeBacker, a career national security prosecutor, had been serving as the acting director of the national security division at the start of the Trump administration. But he was abruptly removed from that position last month.

Trump has nominated John Eisenberg to serve as the permanent director of the National Security Division. Eisenberg, who served in the first Trump administration, is awaiting Senate confirmation.

The Trump administration’s shake-ups at Justice and the FBI have eroded the continuity on national security matters that has long been a cornerstone of presidential transitions, The Washington Post reported last month.

National security experts have said the loss of veteran career experts could have serious implications if they are not quickly replaced with others who are qualified and up to speed on how the Justice Department and FBI operate.

The removals have fueled mistrust between Justice Department leadership and the national security division, according to people familiar with the unit.

The Post reported that after the national security officials were transferred in the first days of the Trump administration, Justice Department leadership told the division that there would be no further personnel removals in national security.

There have been at least four more removals since then.