The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is planning to cut over 80,000 workers from the agency, according to an internal memo cited by U.S. media outlets.

The VA's chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, sent a memo to senior officials at the agency on Tuesday, telling them the goal was to return the agency to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000, the reports said. That would mean cutting about 82,000 staff.

(With input from Reuters)