(AFP) – The CIA is moving “swiftly” to align its workforce with the Trump administration’s national security priorities, the agency said Wednesday, with staff members understood to have received government buyout offers. The CIA has become the first US intelligence agency to join a voluntary redundancy program initiated by President Donald Trump, who has vowed to radically downsize the federal workforce in the name of efficiency and frugality.
“Director (John) Ratcliffe is moving swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the administration’s national security priorities,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “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 — who served as the director of national intelligence from 2020-2021 during Trump’s first term in office — was confirmed by the US Senate last month. He told lawmakers that under his leadership, the agency would “produce insightful, objective, all-source analysis, never allowing political or personal biases to cloud our judgment or infect our products.”
“We will collect intelligence, especially human intelligence, in every corner of the globe, no matter how dark or difficult,” and will “conduct covert action at the direction of the president, going places no one else can go and doing things no one else can do.” Addressing CIA officers, he said: “If all of this sounds like what you signed up for, then buckle up and get ready to make a difference. If it doesn’t, then it’s time to find a new line of work.”
© 2024 AFP
