BACKGROUND FOR FOLLOW-UP INSPECTION OF EOD PROCESSING: SUMMARY REVIEW OF PREVIOUS AGENCY EFFORTS ON THIS SUBJECT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86B00154R000100070004-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: January 4, 2017
• Document Release Date: April 17, 2008
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 5, 1983
• Content Type: MEMO

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MEMORANDUM FOR:
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5 October 1983
MEMORANDUM FOR: Inspector General
FROM:
SUBJECT: Background for Follow-up Inspection of EOD
Processing: Summary Review of Previous Agency
Efforts on this Subject
1. General dissatisfaction with the recruitment and proces-
sing of new employees is an issue which has been the focus of
much attention and effort by senior Agency managers over many
years. As our office is about to revisit this problem, we
believe that a brief historical survey would bring a useful
perspective to the major issues involed.
2. Three major studies have dealt with this topic within
the past five years: the N.A.P.A. team survey on Personnel
Management (mid-1978 to March 1979); the IG inspection on
Recruitment (April 1979 to May 1980); and the IG inspection on
EOD processing (July 1982 to January 1983). Each of these
efforts resulted in a published report, and a comparative summary
of their major findings is attached.
3. The N.A.P.A. Report dealt with the entire spectrum of
personnel issues, but contained several major findings and recom-
mendations concerning recruitment and processing. Soon after
this report was released, the IG began a detailed, year-long
survey of the Agency's recruitment system. One of the major--and
most controversial--recommendations of this inspection report was
the establishment of a pilot program to train line managers and
substantive personnel for rotational duty in field recruitment.
The purpose of this approach was to determine whether early
authoritative judgments on applicants in the field would screen
out marginal candidates before they entered the processing pipe-
line.
4. The D/PPPM objected to this proposal on the grounds
that: (a) the existing system was already satisfying almost all
Agency recruiting needs; (b) a roster of substantive officers
from all components had been assembled to assist recruiters with
hard-to-get categories of applicants; and (c) OPPPM was about to
implement a new systems model (designed by to
improve applicant processing. The D/PPPM was subsequently given
a year to demonstrate that his ongoing efforts would actually
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bring about substantial improvements, and action on the IG
proposal was deferred.
5. This inspection also generated a major controversy over
the validity of the PATB test which is used to screen many Agency
professional applicants. Following a recommendation of the
earlier N.A.P.A. report, the IG team contracted the services of
test's internal validity an its use by the Agency. The
th
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Psychological Services Division objected strongly and countered
with a favorable report on the PATB by its own team of
consultants. An acrimonious exchange-of memoranda on this issue
continued for almost a year, with no apparent resolution of the
purported problems.
6. The Executive Committee met in April 1981 to review the
recruitment issue, but there is no record that action was ever
taken on the major, unresolved issues that emerged from this
inspection.
7. In response to (then-departed) Admiral Inman's concern
that our applicant processing system was disaffecting highly
qualified candidates, the IG conducted an inspection between July
1982 and January 1983 which focused on EOD processing. This
survey team found a lack of accountability, ccoordination and
communication among all components dealing with applicants. The
report recommended a combination of procedural and structufral
changes that would (a) overhaul and streamline the processing
system itself, (b) require greater direct involvement and
exercise of authority by hiring components, and (c) consolidate
all processing components under a single authority.
8. In March 1983, the Executive Committee met to discuss
the recommendations of the IG report on EOD processing and to
review the progress of the CT Task Force. Later that same month,
the DCI ordered a thorough reevaluation of recruiting methods--
with particular emphasis on our efforts to obtain Career
Trainees. With regard to the latter point, the DCI expressed a
belief that increased direct recruiting by line offices was
necessary because "personnel officer types are not likely to do
well at this."
9. In May the DDCI forwarded his decisions on the EOD
Processing Survey, in which he deferred action on the major
recommendation outlined above (para. 7), and also on a
recommendation to transfer the Psychological Services Division to
the Office of Personnel. Final decisions on these issues were to
be contingent on the findings of an IG review of progress in EOD
processing at the end of the year. In a related move, the DDCI
ordered the D/PERS to reduce the number of field recruiters and
to rely increasingly on TDY recruiting efforts from Headquarters.
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10. It is also worth noting that the questions surrounding
the Agency's use of the PATB test for applicant screening--
although not a major issue in the EOD survey--have still not been
resolved. In response to an informal query from the Deputy
Inspector General, the General Counsel's Office submitted an
opinion that the absence of clear guidelines governing the use of
the PATB test leaves the Agency open to charges of non-complia.nce~
with EEO "uniform guidelines" in hiring procedures. PSD now also
agrees, in fact, that the PATB is not validated for all of the
positions for which it is used as a screening device. The
technical complexities of these questions are so great, however,
that we do not plan to address this issue in our follow-up
examination of EOD processing.
SUMMARY
11. A sense of frustration is the single, unifying. theme
that appears to be shared by all who have studied or tried to
improve the Agency's recruitment and processing of applicants.
It is true that our overall quantitative EOD objectives are being
met (except for CTP and hard-to-get categories); but the cost of
the system, in terms of inefficiency and disaffection of quality
applicants remains high.
12. How could so much effort by so many talented and well-
intentioned people have failed to produce major improvements in
the system over the past several years? All evidence to date
indicates that the fragmentation of resources and authority is
the fundamental source of inefficiency.
-- Even at the basic stage of planning, there is no coherent
authority to establish, and enforce recruiting goals.
-- The multiple lilies of authority and communications among
processing components are a source of inefficiency which
cannot be overcome by improved technology alone. It is
difficult to generate a sense of teamwork and shared
achievement among all participants in such a system.
-- The system thus also lacks a unified reward structure,
either for the achievement of clearly understood goals or
for the generation of new ideas.
-- Many hiring components, despite having ultimate hiring
authority, participate only marginally in the whole
process. This lack of assertiveness creates a basically
passive system.
-- The lack of coherence is communicated all too clearly to
many applicants, who have no single source of authorita-
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tive information. The applicant calculates his "time in
process" from his initial contact, whereas processing
components are focused only their slice of the pipeline.
13. Our follow-up inspection will focus on measuring the
demonstrable results achieved in applicant processing in the past
six months, as seen from both the applicants' and the processors'
viewpoint. We should, however, have little to add to the list of
detailed prescriptions and remedies that have been put forth in
previous studies. If clear signs of progress are not evident, it
would appear that-efforts at fine-tuning the existing system must
be abandoned in favor of major initiatives toward four goals:
consolidation of recruiting/applicant processing
resources
establishment of unified authority at the office level,
over those resources, and accountability for their work.
requirement of more active and authoritative involvement
of hiring components.
establishment and enforcement of recruiting goals, and
development of a reward structure and sense of teamwork
that will ensure achievement of those goals.
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