Court orders Trump administration to rehire fired intelligence officers

National SecurityCourt orders Trump administration to rehire fired intelligence officersThe administration fired 19 officers of the CIA and the National Intelligence Director’s Office who had been assigned to jobs promoting diversity.Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00CIA Headquarters. Charles Ommanney / Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJuly 2, 2026, 11:32 PM EDTBy Dan De LuceA federal appeals court has ordered the Trump administration to rehire intelligence officers who were fired over their temporary assignments working on diversity issues, saying spy agencies had to uphold the employees’ constitutional right to due process.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.The CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence failed to abide by their own regulations when they fired 19 career intelligence officers, the three-judge panel ruled in a 2-1 decision.The intelligence officers previously argued their firings were “arbitrary” and “unsupported by any evidentiary record whatsoever.” They also maintained that they should have been reassigned to new duties instead of being penalized for jobs a previous administration ordered them to carry out.Attorneys representing the government argued that the head of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, and the director of national intelligence had unfettered authority to terminate employees with or without cause. Kevin Carroll, the lawyer representing the intelligence officers in the case, welcomed the court’s decision.“We are gratified by the Court of Appeals upholding the District Court’s injunction. Intelligence officers have due process rights, too,” Carroll said in a statement.The CIA director and the acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, now “ought to get these good Americans back to work for our country,” Carroll said.The judges’ ruling said the key question before the court was whether the intelligence agencies’ termination...