CIA takes major hacking risk by sending unclassified email with names of employees to White House

As President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attempt to streamline the US government through plans to axe thousands of jobs and drastically reduce the wage bill, their efforts could have led to the exposure of CIA employees.

While complying with an order from the White House, the agency sent an unclassified email detailing a list of new hires who had joined the organization in the last two years.

Usually, the CIA would withhold the identities of its employees in an unclassified system, but it handed them over to comply with Trump's new executive order which aims to reduce the federal workforce.

But the move has been blasted as 'disastrous' and 'concerning', with former officials raising questions over whether inexperienced experts working alongside Trump and Elon Musk could make the names more easily targetable for foreign intelligence services.

Musk is heading up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with fears growing that the sensitive information could be passed onto one of his newly-hired teams.

“I am very concerned that the CIA shared identifying details about its officers on an unclassified system," Representative of Connecticut Jim Himes, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said per The Hill.

CIA officials could be identified due to an email sent to the White House, experts have warned (Getty stock photo)

"Those details are secret for a reason — because protecting the identities of CIA employees is critical to their safety and mission, a mission that helps keep Americans safe every day.

“From what I have learned, the CIA should not have transmitted these names in this fashion, nor should the White House have insisted on such a clearly irresponsible approach, one that could genuinely put people in danger.

"I am also deeply concerned by the backdrop of this request, which appears to be an interest in firing provisional employees en masse."

Meanwhile, Virginian Senator Mark Warner slammed the move as he tweeted: "Exposing the identities of officials who do extremely sensitive work would put a direct target on their backs for China. A disastrous national security development."

President Donald Trump's administration has ordered the CIA to send an unclassified email to the White House documenting its new hires (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

What exactly does the CIA list include?

The partial list that the White House ordered to be sent from the CIA included first names of its employees and the first initial of their last name - with a portion of them being operatives hired specifically to focus on China.

Their identities are usually heavily guarded with Chinese hackers constantly trying to weed them out.

However, a source close to CNN said that some employees had 'uncommon' first names, meaning they would be easily identifiable with widely-available information on them already over the internet.

The US Government has potentially opened some of the CIA's agents up to hackers (Getty stock)

It comes as a report by the Wall Street Journal states the CIA offered all employees eye-watering buyouts that had been previously extended to millions of federal workers.

In exchange for their resignations, the buyouts would see CIA employees receive eight month's pay and further benefits if they were to leave now.

The buyouts have reportedly been decided in the hope of bringing the CIA more in line with President Trump's priorities and ideas.

"The CIA appeared to be the first intelligence agency to tell its employees that they can quit their jobs and receive about eight months of pay and benefits as part of Trump’s push to downsize the federal government," the report reads.

Employees have until 11:59pm on Thursday, February 6, to accept the offer, with the Office of Personnel Management stating the deadline will not be extended.