The cadre of elite disease detectives at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to be left in ruin today as the Trump administration continues to slash the federal workforce.

Many members of the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service, EIS—a globally revered public health training program—were informed earlier Friday that they were about to be fired, according to reporting from Stat News. Multiple sources told CBS News that half of EIS officers are among the ongoing cuts.

The Trump administration is ousting thousands of probationary federal workers in a wide-scale effort to dramatically slim agencies.

The EIS is a two-year program filled with competitively selected, highly educated and trained experts. EIS officers are the ones deployed in critical public health situations, such as deadly outbreaks or bioterror attacks. The program has a long, rich history since its establishment in 1951, which includes contributing to the eradication of smallpox, among other achievements.

The FBI and CDC neglected to thoroughly investigate a CA biolab operated by Chinese nationals containing deadly transmissible pathogens. //

It’s worth mentioning that the CDC based its classifications on the vial labels and refused to test any of the samples, knowing that “absent testing, local officials would have to destroy all samples pursuant to a forthcoming abatement order.” Despite already being deemed an “illegal enterprise,” the agency also issued a three-page report concluding there was no evidence UMI violated U.S. law and that there weren’t any “select agents or toxins.”

While destroying the pathogens and materials, local officials discovered a freezer filled with silver bags containing samples of Ebola. According to the report, the CDC did not appear to be aware of such materials. Nonetheless, the pathogens were destroyed pursuant to the court order. //

“The CDC’s refusal to test any potential pathogens with the understanding that local officials would otherwise have to destroy the samples through an abatement process makes it impossible for the Select Committee to fully assess the potential risks that this specific facility posed to the community,” the report reads. “It is possible that there were other highly dangerous pathogens that were in the coded vials or otherwise unlabeled. Due to government failures, we simply cannot know.”