The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is proactively aligning its personnel with the national security aims of the Trump administration, as announced by the agency on Wednesday, with employees believed to have received offers for government buyouts.
The CIA has become the first intelligence organisation in the US to take part in a voluntary redundancy initiative launched by President Donald Trump, who has pledged to significantly reduce the size of the federal workforce for efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
“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, Director of National Intelligence from 2020-2021 during Trump’s first term, was recently confirmed by the US Senate.
He informed lawmakers that under his guidance, the agency would “deliver insightful, impartial, all-source analysis, ensuring that political or personal biases do not interfere with our judgment or compromise our outputs.”
“We will collect intelligence, especially human intelligence, in every corner of the globe, no matter how dark or difficult,” and “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.”
