While many agencies are increasing their number of furloughed workers, CIA is recalling employees and putting them back to work — but there’s no guarantee they will get paid.
On Oct. 9, CIA recalled furloughed employees it deemed necessary to carrying out the agency’s core missions of foreign intelligence collection, all-source analysis, counterintelligence and covert action.
The decision was made because of the “potential adverse cumulative and unseen impact on our national security,” according to CIA Director John Brennan, who added keeping employee numbers so dramatically reduced for an additional week would threaten the safety of human life and protection of property.
CIA can’t recall all furloughed employees, only those directly involved in core missions, Brennan said in a release Tuesday evening. As the shutdown continues, agency managers will continue to decide who will be recalled under the revised staffing plans.
Brennan cautioned recalled employees won’t necessarily get paid under the new guidance.
“The past week certainly has been a challenging one for CIA as well as for other U.S. government departments and agencies, and we enter a second week not knowing when we will be able to return to normal operating conditions,” he said.
