A federal judge on Thursday rejected a lawsuit from CIA employees who sued the Trump Administration to keep their jobs.
As we already reported earlier this month, Judge Trenga, a George W. Bush appointee, temporarily blocked President Trump’s effort to purge the intelligence community—specifically targeting agents tied to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives that put leftist ideology over national security.
The ruling follows a lawsuit by anonymous intelligence officers who were temporarily reassigned to enforce controversial Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs. They sued the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the CIA.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, names ODNI, the CIA, and top officials—Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe—as defendants.
The plaintiffs, listed as ‘John Does 1-6’ and ‘Jane Does 1-5,’ argue they were unfairly singled out due to their previous roles in DEIA programs.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga ruled that Trump has the authority to fire CIA employees involved in DEI programs.
As reported by NBC News:
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can go ahead with plans to fire dozens of officers from the CIA and other intelligence agencies who had temporary jobs working on diversity programs.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga said if fairness and morals were the standard on which he had to rule, he might have delivered a different decision. But the law dictates otherwise, he said. “They had the misfortune of being last assigned to a DEI program,” he said, calling it a “difficult situation.”
The ruling could open the way to wider firings at the CIA and across the intelligence community as the Trump administration presses ahead with plans to slash the federal workforce and the size of the federal government. At least 51 CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence officers now face imminent dismissal, according to Kevin Carroll, the lawyer representing some of the officers.
The CIA is planning to conduct its largest mass firing since 1977.
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