As the war in Iran continues, there are growing concerns about heightened terrorism threats on U.S. soil that make the recent purges in federal law enforcement even more difficult to defend. MS NOW reported this week that roughly 300 FBI agents who worked mostly on national security matters have left the bureau since Donald Trump returned to the White House, including 45 who were fired.

“Most of those agents hunted terrorists and spies, and at least 50 of them were in leadership roles,” the report noted, adding that their absence creates vulnerabilities at a dangerous time.

And it’s not just the bureau: The same MS NOW report noted that at Trump’s Justice Department (which has seen its own politically motivated purges), an elite counterespionage section has been cut in half “because of firings and resignations.”

That report coincided with related reporting from Politico about the administration dealing with the fallout from other earlier personnel moves.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has gutted the Pentagon oversight offices that would have investigated the recent strike on an Iranian girls’ school — a move that has degraded America’s ability to protect civilians amid its largest air campaign in decades.

The Pentagon chief last year slashed offices that didn’t contribute to his goal of ‘lethality,’ including the group that assists in limiting risk to civilians, known as the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence.

Though the reporting hasn’t been independently verified by MS NOW, Politico cited multiple sources who confirmed that the office was reduced by roughly 90% before the war. Politico added that the team that addresses civilian casualties at Central Command, which deals specifically with events in the Middle East, has dropped from 10 people to one.

And this dovetailed with a related piece from Axios, which reported that Ukrainian officials approached the administration nearly seven months ago to offer “battle-proven technology for downing Iranian-made attack drones.”

According to Axios’ article (which also hasn’t been independently verified by MS NOW), “The Trump administration dismissed the Ukrainians, only to reverse course last week because of more-than-expected drone strikes from Iran.” Two U.S. officials characterized the decision as “one of the biggest tactical miscalculations by the administration” to date.

A day later, The New York Times noted that the administration was largely indifferent to the idea that a war in Iran “might disrupt oil supplies in the Middle East and wreak havoc in energy markets,” shortly before the war disrupted oil supplies in the Middle East and wreaked havoc in energy markets.

In isolation, each of these reports is important; taken together, an unsettling picture comes into view. We are already dealing with the avoidable consequences of not only tactical errors but Team Trump’s miscalculations across multiple fronts and departments.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but the Republican administration’s bad decisions and poor judgment will have lasting effects, undermine public confidence and reinforce concerns that these guys just don’t know what they’re doing.