Employees of the Central Intelligence Agency have been told to resign or get on board with President Donald Trump's plans for espionage operations aimed at traditional allies of the United States..
The offer, reported by CNN and the Wall Street Journal, comes as the Trump administration is gearing up for potential military action in Mexico, having just declared the drug cartels there to be foreign terrorist organizations.
Cting a CIA spokesperson, the Journal reported that the intent is to purge agency personnel who are unwilling to help the administration carry out espionage operations "targeting countries not traditionally considered adversaries of the U.S." In particular, according to the outlet, the CIA will be used "to give Trump extra leverage in his trade negotiations, potentially spying on Mexico's government amid the ongoing trade spat."
The offer also comes as Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, head of the extralegal Department of Government Efficiency, are seeking to downsize the federal government and slash spending in ways that legal experts say violate the U.S. Constitution.
Earlier this week, Trump and Musk dismantled a congressionally mandated federal agency, USAID, ending humanitarian aid across the globe and provoking protests from Democrats and legal experts. New York University scholar Peter M. Shane told The New York Times that the efforts to arrogate Congress' power of the purse can be summed up as "programmatic sabotage and rampant lawlessness."
It is not clear if CIA agents have received the same offer as other federal employees, who per an email sent from Musk functionaries have been promised pay through the end of September if they quit before implied layoffs on Feb. 6. Critics have noted that such payments have not been authorized by Congress, with federal employee unions urging members to disregard the offer, which they are challenging in court.
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