THE AGENCY UNDERSTANDS THAT THE HOUSE-SENATE CONFERENCE ADDRESSING THE CIA'S SPECIAL RETIREMENT SYSTEM MAY CONSIDER A PROPOSAL FOR NON-CIARDS TYPE CIA EMPLOYEES TO CONTINUE HAVING MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD (MSPB).

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89-00066R000300060014-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 28, 2011
• Sequence Number: 14
• Content Type: MISC

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DRAFT
The Agency understands that the House-Senate conference
addressing the CIA's special retirement system may consider a
proposal for non-CIARDS type CIA employees to continue having
the right to appeal adverse retirement determinations to the
Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The underlying prin-
ciple for this proposal stems from the fact that CIA
employees presently covered by the Civil Service Retirement
System have the right to appeal, to the MSPB, determinations
made by the office of Personnel Management.
This proposal acknowledges the fact that CIARDS employees
do not have appeal rights and espouses the position that
equivalent employees under the new system should not have
appeal rights either. This last position disregards the fact
that not all employees who are under cover or who are per-
forming work of a sensitive nature are under CIARDS. There
is an ever increasing number of CIA employees covered by the
Civil Service Retirement System who would have to divulge
sensitive information if they were to pursue an appeal before
the MSPB and the federal courts.
It has been acknowledged by the intelligence committees
that in order to improve the security of CIA functions, the
CIA should administer all retirement systems as they apply to
CIA employees. We are in agreement. However, we disagree
with the logic that reasons that since non-CIARDS employees
have an appeal right at present that they should automati-
cally continue to enjoy said right. Unfortunately, any
appeal case before the MSPB and the federal courts poten-
tially lends itself to having security information released.
Furthermore, there is an ever-increasing population of
employees nearing retirement age who could appeal retirement
decisions. Among these are independent contractors and
contract agents who might seek creditable service for work
done for the Agency (of a classified nature). Even one case
of a non-CIARDS employee appealing an OPM denial of his
application for disability retirement could prove difficult
from a security standpoint if such employee were in a covert
status, worked for a proprietary or were performing special
functions for the Agency.
In recent years a number of current and former CIA
employees have requested determinations of service credit
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DRAFT
arising out of "non-standard" service for CIA as agents,
contractors, or employees. All of these cases rest on
classified information and facts and circumstances which are
unique to the intelligence community and CIA. Accordingly, a
determination as to whether an individual's service met
criteria for federal employment would, in my opinion, be no
different from a "CIARDS" case, and properly rests with the
DCI. This, coupled with the need to avoid the dissemination
of sensitive information outside of CIA dictates that all
cases which rest on classified CIA information be treated as
CIARDS cases, be reviewed by the DCI, and not be appealable
to the MSPB or the courts.
The issue is not how many cases there might be before the
MSPB which could lead to releases of classified or sensitive
information. The issue is that none of this information
should be subjected to exposure. The need to improve the
protection of the security of our functions extends to
protecting any of our sensitive information from any releases
to persons not aware of security concerns nor who have
developed a security conscious mentality.
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