OAN Staff James Meyers
8:24 AM – Wednesday, February 5, 2025
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) offered buyouts to its entire workforce on Tuesday, with reports saying the agency is trying to get in line with the Trump administration.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the agency told its staff that they can quit and get eight months of severance pay and benefits.
This comes after last month the Trump administration offered close to two million federal employees buyouts to be paid through September, with the deadline to accept ending on Thursday.
Despite the Trump administration making offers to almost two million federal workers, some categories were exempt from choosing the buyout option, which included federal workers with national security roles.
CIA Director John Ratclifffe told the White House to propose the same offer to employees within the CIA, saying he hopes it would help make a path for “a more aggressive” agency, according to the Wall Street Journal.
According to Fox News, despite the CIA being exempt, Ratcliffe still personally decided he wanted the agency to participate.
Last Thursday, he personally emailed the Office of Personnel Management and asked for the same process for the CIA to email its staff and offer the same option, while also retaining flexibility to work through the timing of employee departures in critical areas.
Additionally, Ratcliffe chose to offer the option of early retirement to long-tenured officers, while also pausing bringing on any officer offered a job late during the Biden administration to ensure their position aligns with the Trump administration’s agenda.
“Director Ratcliffe is moving swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the Administration’s national security priorities,” a CIA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “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.”
During the 47th president’s first week in the White House, he issued multiple directives to the federal workforce, including a requirement that remote employees must return to in-person work.
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