An exodus of CIA personnel is overloading the agency’s retirement system, as part of a larger trend of government personnel leaving their positions during the second Trump administration.
Former intelligence officials and internal documents viewed by the Washington Post said that retiring agency personnel could have to wait as many as nine months for their first full pension check, given the number of people retiring and the downsizing of the Office of Personnel Management. The problem, the worst in recent memory, caused the CIA to plead for patience in a letter to agency alumni.
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“The Retirement Branch is currently processing an unprecedented number of retirement cases, and is working diligently around the clock to expedite these cases,” the note said. “We appreciate your understanding and patience as we navigate this challenging period. Rest assured that our team is committed to processing your annuity payments as efficiently as possible.”
A CIA spokesperson told the Washington Post that the agency was committed to ensuring retired officers were taken care of and received “their hard-earned benefits as quickly as possible.”
The agency representative also pointed to positive metrics that showed some growth at the agency.
“Under Director [John] Ratcliffe, CIA is focused on returning the Agency to its mission of recruiting spies, and recently hired our largest class of operations officers in two decades,” the spokesperson said.
Former officials described the downsizing of the CIA as the largest since the 1990s, when its size was cut due to a lack of need following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The actual numbers are classified but appear to be substantial.
The cuts and exodus have led to rare grumbling by current and former CIA personnel, who typically maintain a culture of silence due to the nature of their work. Some called out the double standard between the military and CIA, whose work often overlaps.
“If military retirees were told they had to wait a year or more for earned pension benefits, Washington would be apoplectic,” a former senior U.S. intelligence official told the Washington Post. “Intelligence officers serve in the shadows, and their discretion should not become a shield for institutional failure. If agency and congressional leaders were not aware of this problem before, they are now.”
Democrats have seized on the issue and painted the problems as part of a wider pattern of President Donald Trump mistreating U.S. government personnel.
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“The men and women of the CIA protect our country and make Americans safer every day, often without any acknowledgment or recognition,” Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner (D-VA) said. “The least our government can do is ensure they receive the benefits they deserve when they decide to leave.”
“Again and again, this administration has mistreated our public servants, including those in the CIA. And whether it’s incompetence or disrespect that is creating the delay, the administration needs to figure out how to fix it,” he added.
The cutting of government personnel peaked last year when the Department of Government Efficiency was given wide authority to cut down the size of the federal government. Over 330,000 government personnel left last year.
