LETTER TO JOHN WICKHAM FROM (SANITIZED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01390R000500670012-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: August 7, 1986
• Content Type: LETTER

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release
yg~ay, 1! J (/ v~
TO:
CENT tIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Congressional Affairs
0505
Washington, D.C. 2
Telephone: [phone]
-7 AtrmCt
~.~-. Wickham
Select Sommittee on Intelligence
United s
STAT
Enclosed is the NAPA study entitled
"the CIA Personnel ManagementPieasem".
I appreciate your patience. let
me know if you need anything further.
Enclosure
FORM 1533 PREVIOUS
2-86 EDITIONS.
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MIDCAREER REFERENCE COPY
THE CIA PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Prepared by
THE NATION,,'/':L ACADEMY OF PU31LIC AD/"iNIS T RATION
March 15, 1979
z
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Oh l'UI~'1,1(' AI)MIIN'ISTRATIOX
1220 i.i,unccUcut .vi isw ? N.W. It u~hin;,tuu. D.C. 2111031;
202/G59-91G5
March 15, 1979
Admiral Stan s:ield Turner
Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D. C. 20505
Dear Admiral Turner:
The National Academy of Public Acministration
Team charged with reviewing the CIA personnel manage-
ment system i:: pleased to present its final report to
you. The bas:*-c thrust of the report :.s to provide
a personnel management system for the Agency that will
meet its prest!nt and future needs.
The Team appreciates the opportunity it has had
to. be of serv::ce. The challenges involved have been
unique, and-tale cooperation the Team received was
outstanding.
It is ou:- hope that the report will serve as a
useful basis for long-term adjustment.; that will
enable the Agency and its people to batter gulf ill
the vital CIA mission.
? Sincerely,
I n
Bertrand M. Harding
e
Carol C. Laise
Ricl~?r I~ Chy nan
Enclosure
Good jc S/ lrltll.~~ rai
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THE CIA PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT .SYST. 11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
pages
Executive Summary:
Introduction . . ? ? ?
IX
The Present Sy::tem . .
Conclusions anti Recommendations , . ? ? ? ? ? ? ? IX
Introduction:
The NAPA Tcam' Assignment . . . i
XVII
v
The FocTylkenStudy
The Approach -- methodology? ? ? ? ? . ? ? V
Part I -- The Present System:
vi
1
- 26
Personnel Management in CIA . 27
? ' '
- 35
Services . . . . ? . . ? ? ? '
C
areer.
The
Specific Personnel Management Activiti.._s . .
The Relationship of Executive Leadership
ion
i
36
- 76
ss
and Personnel Management to M
76
_ 83
Accomplishment . . . . ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ' ? ' ? ?
Part II -- Conclusions anc3 Recommendations:
Conclusions Ccncerning the Effectiveness
84
_ 85
stem . . . . . ? ? . . . . ? .
t S
y
of the Presen
ns Should
i
i
o
s
Considerations Upon Which Rev
85
86
be Based . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ccts of the*
A
sp
Proposals Relative to Various
Personne]. Man:ncirment. System . . ? ? ? ? ? ? .
el
86
_ 111
Roles and Relation-ships in Personn
111
11
- 7
13 7
? ?
Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
stem
?
S
l
117
-
110
?
y
.
Cost of Administering ng the Pcrsonne
Implementation on of This Rci~ort: ? ,~ ? ? ? ? ? ?
118
- 119
Appendices: (Listed Separately)
o'tR - P.tkk.0
STAT SECRET
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INTRODUCTION
1. The NAPA Team's Assignment
The National Academy of Public Administration was
.requested to undertake a major and thorough examination of
the CIA's personnel management system. The Academy Team
assigned to conduct this study was requested to include in
its report:
basic: findings concerning the effectiveness
of the present system,
prinr:ipl.es upon which revisions, if necessary,
should be baed,
- basic: concepts for revising various aspects
of the present personnel management ::ystcm and options,
.if and where.*appropriate,
- orgaAzational concepts for any proposed
changes and suggestions for implementing any changes.
The National Academy of Public Administration Team
included Bertrand ]larding, Carol Laise, Richard Chapman,
and George Maharay. The study started on November 20, 197.8
and concluded on March 15, 1979.
2. The Focuc of the Stud
The present personnel management system has served the
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agency well. The calibre of employees in the organization is
considered by Agency managers and NAPA Tean members to be
extremely high and this is tangible proof of the effectiveness
of the system in the past. in every discus:sion the Team
members have had with Agency managers, managers have evidenced
their interest in the personnel management system and rec-
ognize their respon sibil~ties for administering the system.
They also are acut:?ly aware of the importance of balancing the
needs of the Agency and the needs of employees.
There are a variety of factors which we believe will
affect the Agency in the immediate future: These in-
clude: (1) the present attempts to define the Agency's role
!nd methods of operation, i.e., charter legislation; (2) the
limitations on personnel and dollar resources that is af-
fecting all government agencies; (3) continuing publicity
about CIA and Freedom of Information demand::,; (4) changes
in methods of collecting intelligence, and (5) the changing
leadership due to the large number of persons retiring who
entered the Agency service in the late forties and early
fifties.
In the light of what we'see forthcoming in the'Agency's
future; the central issue we sought to address was whether
the personnel structure and management system as it has
evolved in the Agency is conceptually sound and flexible
ii
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C
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enough to meet bot'i the changing needs of a highly important
and unique national security agency as well as to adjust
to societal change; and a shrinking resource base.
Other foreign affairs agencies have, in general, tried
to solve the complex task of organizing and managing a world-
wide component and a domestic component through dual person-
nel system -- Foreign Service and Civil Service -- centrally
managed. The CIA, unlike the other agencies, has had the
latitude, by virtue of being designated an excepted
servicel to adapt the Civil Service system to accommodate
the distinctly different requirements of a disciplined mobile
worldwide service and.a stable domestic system. At the same
time, the personnel management function has been largely de-
centralized to line managers with the prime responsibility
residing, since the 1973 reforms, with the heads of the
Directorates. The Office of Personnel is assigned an almost
entirely servicing role, some monitoring, and administration
.of the classification system.
Keeping in mind top management's desire to achieve
greater coherence in the system as a whole, to strengthen
its own personnel management role, and to improve executive
development, the Team took a hard look at possible 4
alternative systems. We have concluded that the basic
concepts on which the CIA personnel system is built are
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both sound and capable of adaptation'to clanging needs.
The goals which tcp management seeks can be accomplished
within this framework.
In other worts, the Team supports: ('.) The concept of
a single rank-in-person personnel structure for both do-
mestically based and worldwide available personnel so long
as it is recognized that the different conditions of employ-
ment will require different application of common policies
and principles. Though more expensive to administer
than is the normal Civil Service system, it affords the
Agency a surer sy:.tem of identifying and rewarding merit
and a more flexible one for assignments. (2) The principle
of decentralizing as much personnel management to the
line operators as possible with the Personnel Office playing
a servicing and monitoring role. Fixing responsibility
is the key to program results and line officers must
be held accountable for the management and performance of
their people. While this concept necessarily means that
career ladders for the bulk of the personnel will be within
their parent organization,.this is, after all, in accord
with the realities. The strengthening of the executive
policy role, the necessary correctives to parochialism,
the career development of leaders with breadth and vision
as well as professional compL?tence, and the requirements
of equal opportunity and clue process can all be met through
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other measures. These are set forth in the body of the
report.
3. The Approach Taken -- Methodology
The basic approach taken by the Teary was tq consider
personnel management in a broad sense -- i.e., the utilization
of human resources of CIA to accomplish the Agency's mission.
Within this broad definition, the Team attempted to look at:
(1) the personnel management system of th3 Agency, and (2)
how it is being administered.
Every effort was made to obtain' a variety of perspectives
on the subject fzom many levels within. the organization and
from as many as possible who are directly involved in admin-
istering the system. The Team talked with 95- key people in
CIA, all five MACs, the DCI Senior Secretarial/Clerical Group,
the EEO Advisory'Grpup, the Federal Women's Advisory Board,
the NFAC Review Staff, four former Agency executives, and
personnel at several field stations, and six employees
who dropped in on their own. A complete list, exclusive
of the last six is contained in Appendix A.
In addition, volumcs.of studies, regulations, reports,
and files were made available to the Team. There was complete
cooperation from everyone in the Agency in making information
available.
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f/ ..
The Report
The report of the NAPA Team has been put together with
the following considerations in mind in its organization and
presentation: "'-
- The first is to start with a basic under- r
standing of the present system and how it'is being
administered. l,-
L. a -,U.->LO J1 jig
while recommending changes which would help to meet r
Agency needs; changes which can be-dealt with in-
r
crementally, based upon internally established priorities. t.
- The third is to recognize Vie importance of
adhering to a systems approach which takes into
account the impact of changing any one aspect of
the system upon the total system.'
c
lighting good points and problem
areas.
Part II - Conclusions and Recommendations.
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The report is presented in two parts, as follows:
Part I - A description of the present
personnel management system, high-
r_