Federal judge temporarily stops the firing of 11 U.S. intelligence officers | Law Enforcement Today

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Tuesday, February 18th, a federal judge ordered the CIA and the Office of Director of National Intelligence to halt the firing of 11 CIA and other intelligence officers for five days. The issue comes after the officers were told to resign or face immediate dismissal because of their temporary assignments of working on programs that involved diversity, equity, inclusion, and access.

According to NBC News, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga's order gives the Trump administration until Thursday, February 20th 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 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 lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, February 17th by former CIA officer Kevin Caroll, states 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. y any of the employees.

The lawsuit argues that the officers' imminent termination is "arbitrary" and "capricious" and is "unsupported by any evidentiary record whatsoever." It also asserts 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 on Friday, February 14th from their human resources office telling them to report to the visitors center at CIA headquarters in Northern Virginia at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday with their badges and without lawyers.

The lawsuit also states that 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. It also argues 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.

According to Fox News, the officers were given three options that they were ordered to accept by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 19th: retirement by October 1, resignation effective on Tuesday or termination on May 20th, as noted in copies of unclassified documents the officers were given and reviewed by Reuters. 

The officers' firing comes amid a wave of terminations throughout the federal workforce as DOGE, an advisory board to Trump, works to carry out the president's effort to aggressively shrink the U.S. government and purge government waste. Some of the firings have sparked internal confusion and prompted legal challenges.

On Tuesday, the Department of Agriculture said 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 is actively trying to reverse the firings. A USDA spokesperson said in a statement, "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."