CIA offers sweeping buyouts to entire workforce as Trump pushes to downsize government agencies

The Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday offered all employees buyouts that were previously extended to millions of federal workers, according to a report, ‘The New York Post’ reports.

The buyouts would provide CIA employees with about eight months of pay and benefits in exchange for their resignations.

Administration officials indicated that the intelligence agency decided to offer the buyouts as part of an effort to bring the CIA more in line with President Trump’s priorities, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The same package was extended to more than 2 million civilian federal employees last month but exempted workers with national security roles.

Government employees have until 11:59 p.m. Thursday to accept the buyout offer, which the Office of Personnel Management says won’t be extended.

It’s unclear if CIA employees face the same deadline.

The agency is also putting a pause on hiring and reviewing conditional job offers to ensure that they align with the intelligence service’s new goals, including combating drug cartels and countering China, an aide to newly minted CIA Director John Ratcliffe told the Wall Street Journal.

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 U.S. Senate as director of the CIA days after Trump took office for his second term.

The spy agency will also put more of an emphasis on the Western Hemisphere and target nations not traditionally viewed as US adversaries, according to the aide. 

The aide suggested that under Trump, the CIA could use espionage to give the president more leverage in trade negotiations with Mexico’s government and use its agents to fight Mexican drug cartels.

Ratcliffe, 59, had asked the White House to extend the buyout package to the CIA in the hopes that it would result in a more aggressive spy agency.

A CIA spokesperson told The Post that the buyout offers are aimed at injecting a “renewed energy” within the agency.

“Director Ratcliffe is moving swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the Administration’s national security priorities,” the spokesperson said. “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.”

It’s unclear if other agencies that are a part of the country’s 18 intelligence services will also present employees with buyout offers.

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