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EPA chief Zeldin announces overhauls to bring agency back to Reagan-level staffing
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is facing a massive overhaul to slash staffing down to Reagan-era levels and save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year, agency chief Lee Zeldin announced on Friday.
«This reorganization will bring much-needed efficiencies to incorporate science into our rulemakings and sharply focus our work on providing the cleanest air, land, and water for our communities,» Zeldin said in a press release on Friday.
Zeldin announced that he is on a mission to save taxpayers an estimated $300 million annually by next year through an office overhaul that he said will maintain the EPA’s focus on protecting human health and the environment while «recommitting» the agency to «common sense policies.»
The EPA employs roughly 15,000 full-time workers, which Zeldin said he is working to bring down to levels «near those seen when President Ronald Reagan occupied the White House,» according to a video announcement of the office overhauls. There were 11,400 EPA staffers in 1984 under the Reagan administration, Reuters reported.
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Lee Zeldin on Capitol Hill for his Senate confirmation to serve as EPA administrator. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The EPA said the Office of the Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), and Office of Water will all face restructuring.
Zeldin said he will reorganize the agency’s research office to shift its focus on «statutory obligations and mission-essential functions,» including by creating a new office called the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions.
The new office will «prioritize research and put science at the forefront of the agency’s rulemakings and technical assistance to states. At the program level, the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention will add more than 130 scientific, technical, bioinformatic and information technology experts to work directly on the backlog of over 504 new chemicals in review that are beyond the statutorily required timeframe. And they’re also going to address the backlog of over 12,000 reviews that are well beyond the expected review timelines in the pesticides program,» Zeldin said.
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President Ronald Reagan at Durenberger Republican convention rally, 1982 (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
The EPA will also create the Office of State Air Partnerships within the Office of Air and Radiation, which Zeldin said will streamline resolving air permitting concerns across the state, local and tribal levels.
«EPA is also creating the Office of Clean Air programs that will align statutory obligations and mission essential functions based on centers of expertise to ensure more transparency and harmony in regulatory development. Similarly, changes to the Office of Water will better align the development of regulations, guidance and policy with the science that underpins it,» Zeldin added of another new office in the agency shakeup.
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Zeldin underscored that when he took the reins of the agency earlier this year, he «inherited a workforce that didn’t come into the office.»
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin attends a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House on Mar. 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The two leaders met as the Trump administration has once again put the military alliance between the United States and Western Europe in question. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
«In 2024, the record high day of attendance at EPA headquarters in D.C., clocked in around 37%. Upon President Trump’s swearing in, we immediately ended COVID-era remote work,» Zeldin said.
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The former New York congressman added that EPA’s budget and awards in granted last year alone, under the Biden administration, sat at $63 billion — though it had previously been funded to the tune of between $6 billion and $8 billion a year, he said.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images )
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«We are going to massively reduce this excess spending. We owe it to the American taxpayer to be as efficient as possible. We’ve already started to make significant progress by re-examining grants and contracts, real estate footprint, travel costs, staff and more. With the help of DOGE, EPA has identified and canceled more than $22 billion in grants and contracts. These are direct savings for the American people,» Zeldin said.
Lee Zeldin,Reagan,US Environment,Donald Trump
INTERNACIONAL
Jaulas, túneles y fosas: familiares de ex rehenes de Hamas en Gaza cuentan su duro cautiverio
El ex rehén israelí Elkana Bohbot junto a su esposa el día que regresa a casa después de salir del hospital, tras su liberación del cautiverio en Gaza, en Mevaseret Zion, Israel. Foto ReutersSin oxígeno
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As it was announced that Vice President JD Vance would visit Israel, President Donald Trump once again warned Hamas, saying the U.S.-brokered Gaza truce must hold, and issued another blunt warning to the terrorist group.
During a White House meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday, Trump warned, «We’re going to eradicate them. If we have to, they’ll be eradicated. And they know that,» he told reporters, and stressed the deal’s broad backing — «59 countries that agreed to the deal» — while insisting the ceasefire remains in place and warning that any further violence would be met with decisive action.
While details of Vance’s trip to Israel have yet to be announced, Washington’s diplomacy is extending beyond Jerusalem, as U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were expected to travel to Egypt from Israel for talks with Hamas representatives, underscoring a push to move from preserving the ceasefire toward negotiating the more fraught next phase.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accompanied by President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and former National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on April 7, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
At Monday’s meeting with the Australian pm, Trump was asked by a reporter whether the U.S. would put boots on the ground, Trump said his administration does not plan to deploy troops and that other countries — and Israel itself — could act if needed.
«We don’t need to, because we have many countries, as you know, signed on to this deal,» he said. «We’ve had countries calling me when they saw some of the killing with Hamas, saying we’d love to go in and take care of the situation ourselves. In addition, you have Israel — they would go in, in two minutes. If I asked him to go in, I could tell him, go in and take care of it. But right now, we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance, and hopefully there will be a little less violence.»
He added a blunt warning about Hamas’ capacity and support. «But right now, you know, they’re violent people. Hamas has been very violent, but they don’t have the backing of Iran anymore… They have to be good, and if they’re not good, they’ll be eradicated — because absolutely we can, and we have the capacity to do so.»
The comments came as senior U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Israeli leaders to shore up the fragile, Trump-brokered, 20-step ceasefire plan after a weekend flare-up. Hamas terrorists killed two Israeli soldiers, prompting Israeli strikes against the terror group. Despite the violence, both Israel and Hamas publicly recommitted to the truce.
President Donald Trump, left, and Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, shake hands outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Oct. 20, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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On the ground, the IDF took custody of the coffin of another deceased hostage. A joint IDF–ISA statement asked the public to «act with sensitivity and wait for the official identification, which will first be provided to the families,» while adding that, «Hamas is required to uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the deceased hostages.» Israeli officials say Hamas could hand over six more bodies immediately out of the 15 still believed in Gaza, though some remains may be impossible to recover amid widespread destruction.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in the Knesset, struck a hard line while stressing close U.S.–Israel coordination. He warned the fighting was far from over and said violations would carry a «very heavy price,» while praising the «unprecedented closeness» with Washington.
A group of Hamas terrorists in Deir-el Balah in central Gaza as 20 living Israeli hostages were freed on Oct. 13, 2025. (TPS-IL)
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Separately, the IDF said Southern Command troops have begun marking a so-called yellow line inside Gaza — 3.5-meter concrete barriers topped by yellow poles placed roughly every 200 meters — to establish «tactical clarity on the ground» as part of the ceasefire arrangement. The military said the marking will continue «in the coming period» as forces work to remove threats and defend Israeli civilians.
israel,donald trump,conflicts,middle east,terrorism,jd vance
INTERNACIONAL
Trump admin agencies coordinating to expose Biden admin’s ‘prolific and dangerous’ weaponization of government
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EXCLUSIVE: Trump administration agencies are working to expose the Biden administration’s «prolific and dangerous weaponization of government,» Fox News Digital has learned.
The Interagency Weaponization Working Group (IWWG) is made up of officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA and more.
Officials told Fox News Digital that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard initiated the Interagency Weaponization Working Group, which has been meeting biweekly since April to «share information, coordinate, and execute.»
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced on Tuesday the revocation of former intelligence officials’ credentials. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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«The American people made a clear choice when they elected President Trump — to stop the Biden administration’s prolific and dangerous weaponization of government agencies against the American people and the Constitution,» Gabbard told Fox News Digital. «I stood up this working group to start the important work of interagency coordination under President Trump’s leadership to deliver accountability.»
She added: «True accountability is the first step toward lasting change.»
Officials told Fox News Digital the group was created to streamline information sharing across the government in support of the Trump executive order.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is sworn in before a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)
«Joe Biden’s Department of Justice targeted President Trump and anyone close to him, prosecuted pro-life advocates, treated parents at school board meetings as domestic terrorists, and destroyed public trust in federal law enforcement,» Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News Digital.
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«Under President Trump, we are working every day alongside our partners to end weaponization and restore one tier of justice for all,» Bondi said.
Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital that, «for years, Biden’s DOJ turned federal law enforcement into a political weapon.»
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«Going after President Trump, pro-life Americans, and parents at school boards while letting real criminals run wild,» Patel told Fox News Digital. «Under Preisdent Trump, we’ve ripped that agenda out by the roots.»
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Sept. 16, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Patel added: «We’re restoring equal justice under the law, one standard, one mission: Protect the American people.»
Officials involved pointed Fox News Digital to President Trump’s executive order, which says interagency coordination is needed to «ensure accountability for the previous administration’s weaponization of the federal government against the American people.»
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The executive order had directed Gabbard, in consultation with the heads of other appropriate departments and agencies within the intelligence community, to «take all appropriate action to review the activities of the intelligence community over the last four years and identify any instances» of the weaponization of government.
Officials told Fox News Digital that the interagency group is «working to undo the Biden administration’s whole-of-government approach to abuse the powers of government against the American people.»
«The weaponization of government against Americans did not happen in one agency, one time,» an official explained. «It happened repeatedly over the duration of the Biden administration.»
Attorney General Pam Bondi, left, FBI Director Kash Patel, center, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, center right, are seen on Wednesday, March 5, awaiting Muhammed Sharifullah’s arrival in the U.S. following his arrest overseas. (Justice Department)
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«That’s why, in order to depoliticize and deweaponize the government, it is important to understand what agencies carried out, what roles, and why,» the official continued. «The IWWG is essential for coordinating across agencies.»
But officials said the media has attempted to «negatively spin lawful oversight and accountability» by claiming it is a way for the Trump administration to weaponize the government against its political opponents.
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«The irony is, accusing the Interagency Weaponization Working Group of targeting the president’s political opponents is classic projection and could not be further from the truth,» an official said.
The official said that there is «no targeting of any individual person for retribution.»
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«IWWG is simply looking at available facts and evidence that may point to actions, reports, agencies, individuals, and more who illegally weaponized the government in order to carry out political attacks,» the official said.
«The only people who fear accountability are the ones who never expected to face it,» the official continued. «Oversight is not the problem—abuse of power is.»
joe biden,tulsi gabbard,pam bondi,kash patel,justice department,cia,fbi
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