FERS SPECIAL RETIREMENT FOR SPS OFFICERS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06560719
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: February 11, 2019
• Case Number: F-2015-01565
• Publication Date: January 15, 2008

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4. Subject
(U//FOU0) Permitting Security Protective Services Officers to Retire After 20 Years Under FERS Special
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SECRET/720321120
15 January 2008
MEMORANDUM FOR: Associate Deputy Director, CIA
FROM: � Scott D. White
Director for Support
SUBJECT:
(U//FOU0) Permitting Security Protective
Service Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20
Years Under FERS Special
REFERENCE: A. (U) CIA Retirement Act, 50 U.S.C. 2001
et seq.
B. (U//AIU0) "CIA Retirement
and Disability System"
C. (S) Memorandum of Law,1
1. (U//FOU0) Action Requested: That you authorize
retirement benefits for Security Protective Service (SFS)
officers under the Agency's FERS Special program at a 25 percent
accrual rate, thereby permitting the Agency to establish and
maintain a more viable career path for these federal police
officers. This accrual rate will provide a retirement option
substantially equivalent to the law enforcement and police
retirement programs available to many other federal agencies.
This request has been coordinated with the Office of General
Counsel, Chief of Human Resources, and the Chief Financial
Officer. In addition, we request that you approve a change to
SECRET1/20321120
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SECRET/ /20321120
� SUBJECT: (U//FOU0) Permitting Security_Protective Service
Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20 Years Under FERS
Special
Agency policy to allow qualifying service accrual rates of 100
percent for overseas service and 70 percent for domestic
protective service for all Protective Operations Division (POD)
officers serving on protective details.
2. (U//FOU0) Background: SPS officers do not meet the
current Title 5 definition of "law enforcement officers" because
they do not have as a primary duty the investigation,
apprehension, or detention of suspected criminals, although
these are components of their responsibilities. They otherwise
perform essentially the same duties as a "law enforcement
officer." The physical security of the Central Intelligence
Agency (Agency) facilities and personnel has received increased
emphasis in the post-9/11 era. The primary responsibility for
this security falls upon the SPS, whose officers are authorized
by statute to exercise federal law enforcement authority.
Individuals charged by the SPS are tried in federal court in the
Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA).1
3. (U//FOU0) The Office of General Counsel (OGC) has
reviewed the Agency's legal authority to create the proposed SPS
FERS Special benefit. This legal analysis is set forth in an
OGC memorandum of law,
z
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SUBJECT: (U//FOU0) Permitting Security Protective Service
Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20 Years Under.FERS
Special
3
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�SECRET//20321120
SUBJECT: (U//FOU0) Permitting Security Protective Service
Officers (S2S) to Retire After 20 Years Under FERS
Special
* * *
* * *
2 See attached addendum for further details regarding the hazards posed to SPS
officers and their specialized training requirements.
4
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SUBJECT: (U//FOU0) Permitting Security_Iprotective Service
Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20 Years Under FERS
Special
As noted above and consistent with all local, state,
and federal law enforcement agencies, SPS officers are
armed while on duty and are required to respond to all
emergency situations that arise in their presence or to
which they are directed to respond. Similarly, SPS
officers perform the full range of law enforcement
functions:
� Police response and patrol
� Investigation and enforcement
� Security and protection
� Specialty services
5
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SECRET//20321120
SUBJECT: (U//FOU0) Permitting Security ProtectiVe_Service
Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20. Years Under FERS
Special
d. The proposal must be consistefit with the 'statutory
retirement contribution rule that only authorizes the
greater retirement contributions to commence after the
employee is admitted into the FERS Special plan:
This requirement pertains to the contributions the
Agency and the employee make to the Civil Service
Retirement and Disability Fund (FERS Fund) to fund a FERS
annuity. To fund a standard FERS annuity, the CIA, by law,
contributes an amount equal to 11.2 percent of the
employee's basic pay to FERS Fund. In contrast, the Agency
contributes 23.8 percent of a FERS Special employee's basic
pay to FERS Fund. The larger employer contribution funds
the increased actuarial cost of the more generous FERS
Special retirement benefit. FERS Special employees also
contribute more to the FERS Fund from their basic pay -
1.3 percent versus 0.8 percent.4 The CIARDS Act requires an
employee to complete five years of qualifying service
before he or she can be accepted into the FERS Special
plan. See 50 U.S.C. �� 2013 and 2152. Until an employee
is accepted into the FERS Special retirement system, the
Agency does not possess the legal authority to make Agency
FERS Special contributions to the FERS Fund on behalf of
that employee, or to withdraw employee FERS Special
contributions from the employee's pay. Accordingly, if
FERS Special participation is authorized for SPS officers,
they (and the Agency) will continue to make the lower
contributions to the FERS Fund until they fulfill the five-
year qualifying service requirement and are admitted into
the FERS Special plan.
4(U) In contrast, Agency and employee contributions to the CIARDS Fund are not
greater than Agency and employee contributions made to the FERS Fund for CSRS
employees. SO U.S.C. � 2021.
6
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SECRET//20321120
SUBJECT: (U//FOU0) Permitting Security Protective, Service .....
Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20 Years Under FERS
Special
(b)(3)3)
(b)(5)
(b)(1)
(b)(3)
4. (U//AIU0) Both Congress and the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) have identified concerns over federal law
enforcement retirement benefits. In 2003,. Congress required OPM
to conduct a comprehensive comparison of pay and benefits among
law enforcement officers throughout the government. In its 2004
report to Congress, OPM argued against a piecemeal solution and
urged the creation of an OPM-administered government-wide system
for law enforcement pay and benefits, including retirement
benefits.5 Congress has not yet acted on this recommendation,
but has authorized other agencies to adopt individual law
enforcement retirement programs and, as noted herein, by virtue
of the FERS Special statute Congress has already provided the
Agency with the necessary general authority to adopt the
recommended accrual rate for SPS officers.
5 OPM, "Federal Law Enforcement Pay and Benefits: Report to the Congress,"
July 2004.
7
SECRET/120321120
(b)
(b)
(3)
(5)
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SECRET//20-321120
SUBJECT: (U//FOU0) Permitting Security_Protective Service
Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20 Years Under FERS
Special
5. (U//FOU0) Management Objectives: In addition to
meeting the FERS Special statutory criteria discussed above, the
creation of this retirement benefit for the SPS would meet
management objectives. We have been very successful in
recruiting well-qualified candidates into the SPS. Most of our
officers graduated at the top of their Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center class. A corollary of this success, however, is
that our officers are recruited by other law enforcement
agencies. Many SPS officers who leave for other law enforcement
agencies do so in part because of enhanced retirement programs.
In addition to meeting the FERS Special statutory requirements,
this new program would help to resolve this concern by
establishing a more robust management tool for attracting and
retaining high caliber personnel to meet the specialized needs
of the SPS. Agency equities are best protected by a more
consistent work force which possesses enhanced expertise
developed over time. We realize however that some officers will
desire to leave SPS and some degree of flow-through is healthy
and inevitable. It is likely that by virtue of having earned
some amount of FERS Special credit, a percentage of departing
officers will seek other positions within the Agency that will
allow them to continue to build upon FERS Special credit already
earned as an SPS officer. Approval of this proposal will
positively influence the Agency's broader retention objectives.
6. (U//FOU0) Congressional Notification: Upon your
approval, Congress will be notified before implementation of
this new retirement benefit for SPS officers. Attachment C is a
draft Congressional notification.
8
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SECRET//20321120
SUBJECT: (u/frouo) Permitting Security Protective-Service
Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20 Years Under FERS
Special
7. (U//FOU0) I am also recommending two conforming
changes for other protective staff within the Protective
Operations Division (POD) .6 The first change would provide that
protective personnel, when serving abroad, will accrue
qualifying service at 100 percent, as do all other Agency
personnel. Currently, for reasons that are unclear, POD
officers accrue qualifying service credit abroad at only 70
percent. The second change would permit all members of the POD,
when engaged in the performance of protective duties in the US,
to accrue qualifying service credit at the established rate of
70 percent.7 The current policy permits 70 percent credit in the
US only for the Director's Protective Staff, even though other
members of the POD also engage in equivalent protective
functions in the US for other designated senior officers, e.g.,
the DNI and PDDNI.
8. (U//FOU0) Recommendation: As Associate Deputy
Director you have been delegated the authority to
approve recommendations involving Agency human resource
programs. the C/HR is authorized to approve the
eligibility of all categories of Agency personnel for retirement
benefits provided under the CIA Retirement Act. I am seeking
your approval for C/HR to (1) establish a PERS Special
retirement program for SPS officers at a qualifying service
accrual rate of 25 percent that would be analogous to the 20-
year law enforcement retirement programs established in Title 5
and by other federal agencies for their police officers and,
The 70 percent rate of qualifying service reflects the fact that service on
a protective detail entails both high risk and is a relatively short term
assignment. Unlike the SPS it is not a career track per se.
9
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SECRET//20321120
SUBJECT: (U//FOU0) Permitting Security Protective Service
Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20 Years Under PERS
Special
(2), to authorize the above referenced conforming amendments to
Agency retirement regulations to allow qualifying service
accrual rates of 100 percent for overseas service and 70 percent
for domestic protective service for all POD officers while they
are serving on protective details.
Attachments:
As Stated
APPROVED:
�
Scott D. White
2/16-)001
Assrlate Deput Director, CIA Date
10
SECRET//20321120
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UNCLASSIFIEDHAIU0
SUBJECT: (U//FOU0) Permitting Security Protective Service
Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20 Years Under FERS
Special
CONCUR:
Chief, Human Resources
11
UNCLASSIFIED//AIU0
1-46--oF
Date
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UNCLASSIFIED//AIU0
SUBJECT:
(U//FOU0) Permitting Security Protective Service
Officers (SPS) to Retire After 20 Years Under FERS
Special
OS/Legal/ (10 December 2007)
S:\SEC\PPG\FO\SPS\2007\ Fers Special.doc
Edited by 18 December 2007
Edited by 14 January 2008
Distribution:
Orig - Return to OS/PPG/F0 for Retention
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