The C.I.A. is offering its employees what it is calling “deferred resignation,” an option to quit but continue to be paid through September, as part of the Elon Musk-led efforts to shrink the size of the federal work force, officials said.
National security-related agencies had originally been exempted, at least partially, from the governmentwide “fork in the road” offer to leave their jobs that was extended last week. But John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, pushed to have a version of the offer extended to his work force.
Under the C.I.A.’s version of the program, the agency will retain some say over the timing of any accepted offers to ensure that too many officers working in critical areas do not all leave at the same time. Otherwise, however, the offer is structured in much the same way as what Mr. Musk’s team pushed out across the federal government.
In an email sent on Tuesday, agency officers were extended an offer to leave the agency effective Sept. 30 but continue to be paid without working until then. An aide to Mr. Ratcliffe said the offer was “effectively giving them a buyout and a runway to the private sector.”
The aide to Mr. Ratcliffe, who spoke on condition of anonymity under agency protocol, said the effort was meant to encourage some of the large group of officers who joined in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to take an early retirement.
Mr. Ratcliffe wants to remove underperforming employees while allowing an easier path to leadership jobs to midcareer officers whose promotions are blocked by older employees, the aide said.
A statement from a C.I.A. spokeswoman said the moves were “part of a holistic strategy to infuse the agency with renewed energy, provide opportunities for rising leaders to emerge and better position the C.I.A. to deliver on its mission.”
The spokeswoman said that the offer would ensure that the agency’s work force was responsive to the Trump administration’s “national security priorities.”
The offer was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.
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