CIA plans largest mass firing in nearly 50 years: New York Times

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has initiated the dismissal of an unspecified number of officers involved in recruitment and diversity initiatives, according to former officials.

This could be one of the largest mass terminations in the agency's history, reports The New York Times.

This potential purge aligns with the agency's efforts to adhere to the intent of President Trump's executive order, which prohibits diversity-focused programs within the federal workforce.

Last Friday (14 February), The CIA started summoning officers who had been placed on administrative leave today (21 February), instructing them to either resign or face termination.

However, a federal court quickly intervened to halt this action. A judge in the Eastern District of Virginia is set to hold a hearing on Monday (24 February) to evaluate a temporary restraining order against the agency.

US Justice Dept says judge cannot block CIA firings

The US Justice Department argued that a judge could not block firing 21 CIA officers assigned to diversity, equality, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) programs because the US spy chiefs have the power to terminate them, reports Reuters.

Congress vested CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, with the authority to fire personnel when they deem it "necessary or advisable" in the national interest, the Justice Department said in a brief filed in federal court in Virginia.

The case represents the first public battle between US intelligence officers and President Donald Trump's new spy chiefs over an order he issued ending DEIA programs across the federal government after his 20 January inauguration.

In the court filing yesterday, the government lawyers said the CIA director could seek to fire more people following the White House executive order ending diversity hiring, reports the New York Times.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for the officers, Kevin Carroll, said the filing suggested the firings were only beginning.

In its brief, the department opposed a temporary restraining order sought in a lawsuit brought on Monday by 11 CIA personnel, which was joined by 10 more officers during the week, their attorney, Kevin Carroll, told Reuters.

The new plaintiffs include Stephanie La Rue, who oversaw DEIA programs for the 18-agency US intelligence community, said Carroll, a former undercover CIA officer.

The Justice Department filed its brief two days after US District Court Judge Anthony Trenga issued a five-day administrative stay and set Monday for a hearing on the plaintiffs' request for a temporary restraining order.

The plaintiffs are among 51 intelligence officers assigned to DEIA programs who were placed on paid administrative leave two days after Trump's order.

All 51 officers were ordered to accept one of three options by 5pm on Wednesday or be fired: retirement by 1 October, resignation effective on Tuesday, or termination on 20 May, according to court papers.

Trenga's administrative stay, which did not deal with the case's merits, halted the terminations to give both sides time to make legal arguments.

CIA's large-scale firing in 1977

The CIA last conducted a large-scale firing in 1977, when US President Jimmy Carter ordered the agency to move away from covert action.

Stansfield Turner, the CIA director at the time, moved to fire 198 officers involved in clandestine action. However, even that downsizing was done with some care, sparing some people close to retirement age, according to the New York Times report.  

Carroll, a former CIA officer and a lawyer representing 21 intelligence officers who have sued to stop the new firings, said that about 51 officers working in diversity and recruiting had their positions reviewed.

Carroll said that none of the officers the agency wants to fire are diversity experts. He and other former officials said the officers had been ordered during the Biden administration to take the posts because of their skills at persuasion and recruiting, abilities that, in some cases, they honed while working as spies overseas.

"No one joins the CIA to be a diversity recruiter," Carroll said.

Some officials previously said they hoped that the agency would be spared diversity-related firings and that officers would be able to return to their old jobs of recruiting spies overseas.