CIA offers staff 8-month pay to quit world's premier foreign intel agency

CIA. (Photo/Reuters)

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has offered buyouts to employees, US media reported and the spy service confirmed, becoming the latest agency to enact President Donald Trump's plan to slash the federal government and cut down its workforce.

"Director [John] Ratcliffe is moving swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the Administration's national security priorities," the CIA said in a statement on Wednesday.

"These moves are part of a holistic strategy to infuse the Agency with renewed energy, provide opportunities for rising leaders to emerge, and better position the CIA to deliver on its mission."

Ratcliffe, a former member of the House of Representatives who served as Director of National Intelligence during Trump's first term, was confirmed by the US Senate as director of the CIA days after Trump took office for his second term.

An agency spokesperson declined to say how many employees received offers, or whether they face a deadline to decide, but Ratcliffe, Trump's pick to lead the CIA, promised to make big changes to the agency during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month.

The agency does not disclose its budget or the number of people it employs. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.

The agency is also freezing the hiring of job seekers already given a conditional offer, the paper reported, citing an aide to Ratcliffe.

"The offer — which tells federal employees that they can quit their jobs and receive roughly eight months of pay and benefits — had up until Tuesday not been made available to most national security roles in an apparent cognisance of their critical function to the security of the nation," US broadcaster CNN reported citing sources familiar with the offer.

The buyout offers is in line with a massive makeover of the US government embarked on by the Trump administration, which has fired and sidelined hundreds of civil servants in first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing loyalists.

The White House last week offered two million civilian full-time federal workers an opportunity to stop working this week and receive pay and benefits through September 30 as Trump seeks to slash the size of the government.

About 20,000 federal workers have since accepted the offer, a senior administration official told Axios news website.

On Tuesday, unions representing US government employees filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration's plan to offer buyouts to federal workers.

The buyout offers at the CIA — whose work gathering foreign intelligence is vital to US national security — came just hours after Trump announced an extraordinary scheme for the United States to occupy Gaza and "own it."

$100B in taxpayer savings annually?

Last week, Trump's administration announced that nearly all federal employees are being offered buyouts which the White House said could save taxpayers $100 billion annually.

Part of the plan is to end remote work and have employees return to in-person offices five days a week, but those who do not wish to return can opt-in to the buyout by February 6.

"American taxpayers pay for the salaries of federal government employees and therefore deserve employees working on their behalf who actually show up to work in our wonderful federal buildings, also paid for by taxpayers," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a presser last week.

"If they don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump Administration will provide a very generous payout of eight months," added Leavitt.

Any employee who chooses the buyout will retain all pay and benefits, regardless of workload, and will be exempt from their in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025.

Administration officials expect 5-10 percent of the eligible federal workforce to take the buyout, which the White House believes could lead to $100 billion in taxpayer savings annually.

Vast, unintended consequences

The federal government employed more than three million people as of November last year, which accounted for nearly 1.9 percent of the nation's entire civilian workforce, according to the Pew Research Center.

The average tenure for a federal employee is nearly 12 years, according to a Pew analysis of data from OPM.

Critics say even a fraction of the workforce accepting buyouts could send shockwaves through the economy and trigger widespread disruptions throughout society as a whole, triggering wide-ranging — and as yet unknowable — implications for the delivery, timeliness and effectiveness of federal services across the nation.

Untold numbers of front-line health workers in the Veterans Affairs Department, officials who process loans for homebuyers or small businesses, and contractors who help procure the next generation of military weaponry could all head for the exits at once.

It could also mean losing experienced food inspectors and scientists who test the water supply — while disrupting everything from air travel and consumer product protections.

In response, American Federation of Government Employees union President Everett Kelley has said it should not be viewed as voluntary buyouts, but pressuring workers not considered loyal to the new administration to vacate their jobs.

"Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government," Kelley said in a statement.

"Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to."

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Source: TRT