Latest news with #OfficeofDirectorofNationalIntelligence
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A federal judge temporarily halted the firing of 11 U.S. intelligence officers
WASHINGTON — A federal judge Tuesday ordered spy agencies to put on hold for five days the firing of 11 CIA and other intelligence officers who had been told to resign or face imminent dismissal because of their temporary assignments working on diversity, equity, inclusion and access programs. U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga's order gives the Trump administration until Thursday to file its response to a request from the intelligence officers for a temporary restraining order on their firing. The judge's decision allows for the intelligence officers to continue to receive full pay and benefits while on administrative leave. The judge's order was first reported by Reuters. The action pauses proceedings briefly to give the judge more time to weigh the legal arguments but it does not address the merits of the case. The officers are 'nonpartisan' career intelligence professionals who were temporarily assigned jobs on DEIA programs, and the federal government did not allege any misconduct or poor performance by any of the employees, according to the lawsuit filed Monday by former CIA officer Kevin Carroll. The officers' imminent termination is 'arbitrary' and 'capricious' and 'unsupported by any evidentiary record whatsoever,' the lawsuit argued. It also asserted that the officers' constitutional right to freedom of speech and due process was violated by the Trump administration's actions. The 11 officers are among 51 employees at the CIA and the Office of Director of National Intelligence who received calls Friday from their human resources office telling them to report to the visitors center at CIA headquarters in Northern Virginia at 8 a.m. on Tuesday with their badges and without lawyers. The CIA and ODNI did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night. President Donald Trump's executive order to remove all DEIA positions in the federal government did not call for the termination of employees temporarily assigned to DEIA programs, the plaintiffs' lawsuit said. It also argued that although the CIA director and other intelligence leaders have broad legal authority to fire employees if they are deemed a national security risk, that was not the case in this instance and therefore the intelligence officers had to be afforded their rights as federal employees. The officers' firing comes amid a wave of terminations throughout the federal workforce as billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory body, carry out Trump's effort to aggressively shrink the U.S. government. Some of the firings have sparked internal confusion and prompted legal challenges. The Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that it accidentally fired a number of agency employees who had been working on the government's response to the bird flu, and that it was now attempting to reverse the firings. 'Although several positions supporting [bird flu efforts] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters,' a USDA spokesperson said in a statement. Meanwhile, a federal judge last week threw a wrench in the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. The judge ruled Friday that the CFPB for now could not terminate employees without cause. This article was originally published on
NBC News
19-02-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Federal judge temporarily halts the firing of 11 intelligence officers
WASHINGTON — A federal judge Tuesday ordered spy agencies to put on hold for five days the firing of 11 CIA and other intelligence officers who had been told to resign or face imminent dismissal because of their temporary assignments working on diversity, equity, inclusion and access programs. U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga's order gives the Trump administration until Thursday to file its response to a request from the intelligence officers for a temporary restraining order on their firing. The judge's decision allows for the intelligence officers to continue to receive full pay and benefits while on administrative leave. The judge's order was first reported by Reuters. The action pauses proceedings briefly to give the judge more time to weigh the legal arguments but it does not address the merits of the case. The officers are 'nonpartisan' career intelligence professionals who were temporarily assigned jobs on DEIA programs, and the federal government did not allege any misconduct or poor performance by any of the employees, according to the lawsuit filed Monday by former CIA officer Kevin Carroll. The officers' imminent termination is 'arbitrary' and 'capricious' and 'unsupported by any evidentiary record whatsoever,' the lawsuit argued. It also asserted that the officers' constitutional right to freedom of speech and due process was violated by the Trump administration's actions. The 11 officers are among 51 employees at CIA and the Office of Director of National Intelligence who received calls Friday from their human resources office telling them to report to the visitors center at CIA headquarters in Northern Virginia at 8 a.m. on Tuesday with their badges and without lawyers. The CIA and ODNI did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night. President Donald Trump's executive order to remove all DEIA positions in the federal government did not call for the termination of employees temporarily assigned to DEIA programs, the plaintiffs' lawsuit said. It also argued that although the CIA director and other intelligence leaders have broad legal authority to fire employees if they are deemed a national security risk, that was not the case in this instance and therefore the intelligence officers had to be afforded their rights as federal employees. The officers' firing comes amid a wave of terminations throughout the federal workforce as billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory body, carry out Trump's effort to aggressively shrink the U.S. government. Some of the firings have sparked internal confusion and prompted legal challenges. The Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that it accidentally fired a number of agency employees who had been working on the government's response to the bird flu, and that it was now attempting to reverse the firings. 'Although several positions supporting [bird flu efforts] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters,' a USDA spokesperson said in a statement. Meanwhile, a federal judge last week threw a wrench in the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. The judge ruled Friday that the CFPB for now could not terminate employees without cause.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge halts firing of intel agency personnel involved with DEI
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the CIA and the Office of Director of National Intelligence from firing 11 people whose jobs were eliminated to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to end federal diversity programs. U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga issued an order Tuesday pausing the firings after a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, in response to a lawsuit filed by intelligence officers who said the dismissals violated their constitutional rights and federal law. Trenga, an appointee of President George W. Bush, issued an administrative stay directing the agencies to keep the employees on administrative leave while barring any effort to cut off their pay or fire them. The brief written order from Trenga doesn't give a detailed reason for the stay but says he wanted 'clarification as to what Agency regulations are implicated in this case and the potential irreparable harm' to the plaintiffs, who were fired as part of Trump's efforts to end DEI programs in the federal government. A lawyer for the intelligence officials, all of whom were identified by pseudonyms in the lawsuit, welcomed the ruling. 'We're very gratified by the judge deciding to do an administrative stay for a week, basically, while the government answered some of his questions,' attorney Kevin Carroll said. Carroll said his clients began getting messages over the weekend to report Tuesday to a visitor center with their official identification, a request he said typically signals a looming dismissal. He said the employees received notices specifying Trump's executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs as the reason. 'They say this is to comply with the executive order, which is really dumb because the executive order talks about ending DEI functions. It doesn't say you have to fire DEI personnel. And nobody is hired into the CIA to be a DEI guy. It's a rotational duty, like you have in the Army or anywhere else,' Carroll said. 'So, they can simply just reassign these people back to being an analyst or scientist or case officer, whatever they did before instead of firing them. It's arbitrary and capricious.' Spokespeople for the CIA and ODNI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. One looming legal issue in the case is the breadth of the government's power to dismiss intelligence agency employees without recourse to the courts. Notices given to some employees who sued said they were being dismissed under the CIA director's authority to dismiss anyone whose employment is deemed by the director not to be in the interest of the United States. However, Carroll said that provision can be invoked only for individuals deemed unsuitable on national security grounds and not for other reasons. 'The paperwork from the CIA is relying solely on this subsection of the National Security Act, which says the director can do whatever he wants, which the Supreme Court has made clear applies only to national security,' the attorney said. Trenga set another hearing in the case for Feb. 24.
Politico
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Judge halts firing of intel agency personnel involved with DEI
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the CIA and the Office of Director of National Intelligence from firing 11 people whose jobs were eliminated to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to end federal diversity programs. U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga issued an order Tuesday pausing the firings after a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, in response to a lawsuit filed by intelligence officers who said the dismissals violated their constitutional rights and federal law. Trenga, an appointee of President George W. Bush, issued an administrative stay directing the agencies to keep the employees on administrative leave while barring any effort to cut off their pay or fire them. The brief written order from Trenga doesn't give a detailed reason for the stay but says he wanted 'clarification as to what Agency regulations are implicated in this case and the potential irreparable harm' to the plaintiffs, who were fired as part of Trump's efforts to end DEI programs in the federal government. A lawyer for the intelligence officials, all of whom were identified by pseudonyms in the lawsuit, welcomed the ruling. 'We're very gratified by the judge deciding to do an administrative stay for a week, basically, while the government answered some of his questions,' attorney Kevin Carroll said. Carroll said his clients began getting messages over the weekend to report Tuesday to a visitor center with their official identification, a request he said typically signals a looming dismissal. He said the employees received notices specifying Trump's executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs as the reason. 'They say this is to comply with the executive order, which is really dumb because the executive order talks about ending DEI functions. It doesn't say you have to fire DEI personnel. And nobody is hired into the CIA to be a DEI guy. It's a rotational duty, like you have in the Army or anywhere else,' Carroll said. 'So, they can simply just reassign these people back to being an analyst or scientist or case officer, whatever they did before instead of firing them. It's arbitrary and capricious.' Spokespeople for the CIA and ODNI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. One looming legal issue in the case is the breadth of the government's power to dismiss intelligence agency employees without recourse to the courts. Notices given to some employees who sued said they were being dismissed under the CIA director's authority to dismiss anyone whose employment is deemed by the director not to be in the interest of the United States. However, Carroll said that provision can be invoked only for individuals deemed unsuitable on national security grounds and not for other reasons. 'The paperwork from the CIA is relying solely on this subsection of the National Security Act, which says the director can do whatever he wants, which the Supreme Court has made clear applies only to national security,' the attorney said. Trenga set another hearing in the case for Feb. 24.
