COMMENTS ON MR. KIRKPATRICK'S 'TEN COMMANDMENTS' FOR OFFICE OF PERSONNEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04718A002000380099-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 9, 2002
• Sequence Number: 99
• Publication Date: March 4, 1955
• Content Type: MF

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!i March 1955
MEMORANDUM FOR: Colonel White
THROUGH Mr. Lloyd
SUBJECT Comments on Mr. Kirkpatrick's "Ten Commandments"
for the Office of Personnel
1. Herewith my reactions to the ten cardinal points advanced by
Mr. Kirkpatrick in his memorandum for Mr. Dulles regarding ways for im-
proving CIA's personnel managements
(1) I agree with Mr. Kirkpatrick's contention that Personnel
should live by the "Rule of Service." However, I do not agree entirely
that Personnel should ignore Civil Service practices in fulfilling its
mission, especially since the Director has several times indicated pub-
licly that he intends to continue his adherence to the Classification
Act of 19119, etc., and because we are not in too defensible a position
if we continue to accept the benefits of Civil Service; i.e., pay raises,
retirement and insurance benefits, etc., while at the same time sidestepp-
ing any responsibilities that may be distasteful. Of course, there is
a happy middle ground.
(2) I agree with Mr. Kirkpatrick's idea, at least in principle,
that a "cross-fertilization" of "experienced and respected officers"
between-Personnel and other parts of the Agency might be profitable, Yet,
it is readily apparent that such a move could not get far without an
order that it be so done, which order would have to come from the Director
himself, Also, I think there is a real question about the interchange
based on this: a Personnel. man may be paid GS-13 for being a specialist
in his chosen field; in DD/P he might be worth only a GS-9, and to force
him into a GS-13 there would be equitable to no one. The converse is also
true, and experience as a Clandestine Services operations expert is no
sure ticket to stepping into the Personnel Office as, say, a GS-13 branch
chief in Classification and Wage Division - at least not without a con-
siderable training period.
(3) The suggestion that a short course in Personnel-Management
be given all supervisors in the Personnel Office is one that has already
been anticipated through the medium of "Curie College" where such material
is currently beagiven, on a required basis evenings, to all Personnel
supervisors and others who wish to attend. Apparently W. Kirkpatrick has
not been advised of this.
(ii) 1r. Kirkpatrick's observations about placement of overseas
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(4) (Continued). The efforts of the various Career Boards
at last seem to be bearing fruit in the matter of advance placement
of returnees; in the Administration Career Board, for exile, cases
are now fairly current up through August of this year.
(5) The elimination of placement by file shopping is an ideal
toward which the Personnel Office should strive, but it can never be en-
tirely eliminated for the simple reason that potential consumers; i.e.,
responsible officials, cannot find the time to conduct the number of
personal interviews necessary to make Mr. Kirkpatrick's suggestion work.
I think that notable progress has been made in this regard; files are also
presently being handcarried by placement officers to potentially interested
supervisors.
(6) I honestly believe that SCAPS in Personnel is doing an
.excellent job of negotiating contracts and of seeing that personnel hired
under them pretty well understand the terms of the contract. However,
as Colonel White noted in this week's staff meeting, there have been in-
stances where the matter of cover salaries appear to have been misunder-
stood. SCAPS presently works closely with the area divisions and with the
General Counsel, and, in addition, the SCAPS management is pretty well
qualified legally too.
(7) I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Kirkpatrick about tighter
control of official personnel files, and centralization of the material
therein, However, much of the responsibility for maintaining separate
personnel files on an individual rests with offices outsde of personnel..
who keep such files on the grounds that they contain "operational
when actually they are composed mostly of items having to do with the status
of the employee or staff agent, and his performance on the job. Again,
Personnel has done considerable work in the past year on tidying up the
official personnel files in the Agency.
(8) Mr. Kirkpatrick's suggestion about placing a senior woman
in the Personnel office as a second Deputy Director of Personnel reflects
his long-standing interest in the recruitment and placement of qualified
women in the Agency. As you know, he chaired a special committee to see
to just such recruitment and placement. As George Meloon often pointed
out - all that Mr. Dullest had to do at any time was to prepare and sign
an action making a woman an Assistant Director. That he has not done so
to date seems indicative of his desire not to disturb the status quo.
(9) Strengthening the Employee Services Division does seem a good
idea, but not necessarily for the reason Mr. Kirkpatrick advances. I do
not envision it as a "propaganda organ" devoting its time to whipping up
enthusiasm for Agency employment. That genuine enthusiasm for the Agency
has to come from within the offices and from the supervisors and senior
officials; it is a representation of working conditions and environment,
and genuine good morale cannot come solely through having any shop in Per-
sonnel or elsewhere engaged in "selling" the Agency to its employees.
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(10) Air, Kirkpatrick's final suggestion that we should advance
the idea of thinking of our people as our most valuable asset is a solid
truism. We have come a long way since 1951 or thereabouts, when people
were actually referred to in written memos as "bodies," and their jobs
exclusively as "slots.n Whether or not we can hope to consistently elim-
inate the ihinworthyru by firing them is a matter not yet settled by any
means; our desire to do so is natural - our inability to bring it off with-
out costly boards, hearings and appeals is debatabiii Until the Agency
is placed by law beyond the pale of Civil Service "Job protection" and the
restraints of the Veterans Preference Act, we will never be able to weed
out people as is done in private enterprise. One solution is intensification
of efforts to produce better recruitment and better pre-employment place-
ment.
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