11:15 AM EST, 01/30/2025 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with a US Office of Personnel Management memorandum in the fifth and sixth paragraphs.)

The Trump administration has instructed federal agencies to find more diversity, equity and inclusion workers to weed out of the government, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing a US Office of Personnel Management meeting.

In a follow-up meeting Tuesday to last week's when the OPM required federal agencies to close offices that focused on DEI accessibility and place employees of those divisions on paid administrative leave by Jan. 22, agencies were asked to identify additional staff who worked on those areas, The Wall Street Journal reported, and that employee resource groups, such as for Black or LGBTQ staff, cannot hold meetings during working hours or use government resources.

Several agencies, including the Defense Intelligence Agency and the IRS, have removed mentions of diversity from internal documents and halted associated programs, the report said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated the initiative is intended to reestablish "a merit-based" system, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In a memorandum dated Jan. 24, the OPM said agencies can and should now start issuing reduction-in-force notices to DEI workers.

The OPM said it initially required agencies to submit written plans no later than Friday to implement the action.

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