CIA sends ‘buyout’ offers to entire workforce

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday became the first major national security agency to offer so-called buyouts to its entire workforce, a CIA spokesperson and two other sources familiar with the offer said, part of President Donald Trump’s broad effort to shrink the federal government and shape it to his agenda.

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 cognizance of their critical function to the security of the nation.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe personally decided he also wanted the CIA to be involved, one of the sources said.

The spokesperson said that the move is part of Ratcliffe’s efforts to “ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the Administration’s national security priorities,” adding that is “part of a holistic strategy to infuse the Agency with renewed energy.”

Still, even as the offer was sent to the entire workforce at the agency, it was not immediately clear whether all would be allowed to take it. Some specific occupations and areas of expertise appear likely to be restricted, one of the sources familiar with the offer said, suggesting that the effort is far less sweeping than in civil service agencies that are not considered to be doing national security work. There’s also a caveat for Ratcliffe to retain flexibility to work through the timing of officer departures in critical areas, according to another source familiar with the matter.

The Office of Personnel Management had issued internal guidance last week that some officers at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence may be able to participate in the program but that not all positions at the ODNI will necessarily be eligible, according to two other sources familiar with the communications.

The decision to include the CIA in the program appears to be a recent one: As of last week, the CIA workforce was still being advised that officials were trying to determine whether they would be eligible for the program, one of those sources said.

The broad CIA offer was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Trump and his allies have claimed at different points that intelligence officers at the CIA have been part of a “deep state” determined to undermine him, and some critics have described the deferred resignation program as a purge – something Trump officials have denied.

Some national security officials in Trump’s orbit believe that the CIA in recent years has become too heavily weighted towards analysis at the expense of clandestinely collecting intelligence and carrying out covert operations – functions of the agency’s much smaller Directorate of Operations.

Ratcliffe during his confirmation hearing vowed to reinvest in both.

“To the brave CIA officers listening all around the world, if all of this sounds like what you signed up for, then buckle up and get ready to make a difference,” he said in his opening statement. “If it doesn’t, then it’s time to find a new line of work.”

The deferred resignation program has caused an uproar across government. The controversial offer, which unions have urged members not to accept, was unveiled in a mass email from the OPM to federal employees on January 28.

The Trump administration is now planning widespread layoffs among the federal workforce soon, leaving employees across the government who don’t accept the deferred resignation offer at risk of losing their jobs.

The layoffs, which are being referred to internally as sweeping “Reductions in Force,” are expected to begin soon after the Thursday deadline that the Office of Personnel Management set for workers to accept the resignation package, officials said.

The package allows them to leave voluntarily and be paid through September 30 but not have to continue working. It was not clear whether those same terms applied to the offer sent to the CIA workforce. — CNN