INSPECTOR GENERAL S SURVEY OF THE OFFICE OF TRAINING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP93-00791R000100140001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 142
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 9, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 1, 1979
• Content Type: REPORT

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C~~~~~ ~~~AL'
INSPECTOR, GENERAL'S SURVEY
OF THE
OFFICE OF TRAINING
JUNE. 1979
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All portions of this
document are classi-
fied CONFIDENTIAL
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Media Production and Distribution Branch 44
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Introduction
Organizational Chart
Executive Summary
Consolidated Recommendations
Part I
Office of the Director of Training
Services Staff
Plans Staff
Administrative Division
Personnel Branch
Budget and Fiscal Branch
Logistics Branch
Transcription and Processing Center
Training Support Division
Instructional Technology Division
Page
i
Distribution Section
Graphic and Visual Aids
Library
Self Study Center 50
Management Style 51
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Page
Career Trainee Staff 52
The CT Recruitment Process 53
Delays in CT Processing 55
The CT Selection Process 56
The Career Trainee 56
Security Problems 57
CT Training 58
Functional Training 59
The Language School 60
The Management School 61
Communications and Information Management School 65
Information Management Section 67
Intelligence Training 69
Intelligence School 71
General Intelligence Training Branch 73
Seminars Branch 74
Intelligence Production Support Branch 75
Information Science Center
Operations Training
Covert Instruction Division
Problems and Rreas of Concern
Part II
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Page
VIP Visitor Policy
Need for Communication
Operations Training Division
Analysis of Operations Traini
Training of Military Personne
ng
l
Suppo
Technical Support Branch
Instructional Development
Updating and Revision of Trai
Evaluation of Students
Summary
rt Division
ning Materials 118
Rotation/Non-rotational Issue
123
Personnel Branch
126
Budget and Fiscal Branch
128
Resources Management Branch
130
Logistics Branch
132
Public Works Section
134
Procurement and Supply S
Security Branch
ection 139
141
Use of the Student Recreation Building 145
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The Fire Safety Program
A Potpourri of Security Concerns
Telephone Section
Military Branch
Problems Regarding Medical Service
Entitlements
Page
Attachments
The Center for the Study of Intelligence TAB A
Tire OTR Personnel System TAB B
Filling Vacancies B-3
Frequent Turnover of Managerial Personnel B-4
Rapid and Unannounced Changes in Personnel
Assignments g-5
Minority and Female Employment B-6
Rotational Tours in the Office of Training TAB C
The Language School TAB D
OTR and DDA Comment on Initial Draft (with OIG note) TAB E
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INTRODUCTION
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In the period September 1978 through February 1979 a
four-person team from the Inspection Staff, Office of the
Inspector General, conducted the first full component survey
of the Office of Training in more than a decade.
Our scope was the entire Office of Training. Over half
of the people occupying OTR's
(positions were inter-
viewed and many instructional sessions were monitored.
This survey report is organized in two sections. Part
I deals with the OTR Headquarters complex, principally
located in the Chamber of Commerce Building in Arlington,
Virginia.
ments are added at the end of the report.
Our survey is presented by components. We formulate
recommendations at appropriate places in the body of the
report where problems come under discussion; elsewhere,
suggestions are set forth with underlining for emphasis.
Our inspectors were given full cooperation by OTR
throughout the survey and suggestions and recommendations
passed to UTR management during the course of the survey
were well received.
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The attitude of OTR employees as members of a service
organization is excellent. Their work product is appreciated
and highly rated by their customers. The problems discussed
in the pages that follow are largely known to OTR management
which is trying to deal with them.
We find OTR generally in good shape -- doing its
necessary and important work well.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Office of Training (OTR) was inspected by afour-person
team from the Inspection Staff, Office of the Inspector General,
in the period September 1978 through February 1979. Our inspectors
found UTR generally in good shape -- doing its important work
well. Agency and Intelligence Community customers of OTR report
that their employees are being well trained. OTR personnel, by
and large, are well motivated, enthusiastic about their work, and
feel that they are part of a family. Their morale is quite
good.
In regard to its curriculum, OTR is again in good shape --
"tuning" and adding or deleting courses as required. Training
conducted by other components, not covered in this survey,
results in minimal overlapping or duplication. OTR is ready to
respond to all training requirements of the Agency.
This survey report moves through OTR by components, beginning
with the Office of the Director of Training. Part I deals with
the OTR Headquarters complex,
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Attachments concern the Center for the Study of
Intelligence, the OTR Personnel System, Rotational Tours
with the Office of Training, and the Language School.
The OTR Front Office
The inspection was completed prior to the transfer of the
(then) Director of Training to head the Agency's Office of
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Personnel. That officer's managerial talents and interest in his
people elicited high praise throughout the organization. We found
the OTR front office generally aware of problems besetting OTR
components and moving to solve them. The Director of Training
and his deputy functioned well as a team. We believe that the
new team running OTR also represents a good balance of substantive
expertise and the human side of management.
Services Staff
The Services Staff which consists of a Plans Staff and
three divisions -- Administrative, Training Support, and
Instructional Technology -- acts as the basic support mechanism
for the OTR Headquarters complex. The chief of this staff, a
support careerist, has since been transferred and replaced by a
senior OTR careerist.
The Plans Staff is engaged in budget formulation and support
of the I~BO program of the Directorate of Administration, as well
as conference planning, regulation writing, preparation of weekly
reports, and response to FOIA and Privacy Act requests. The
Administrative Division, headed at the time of inspection by the
same officer who served as Chief of the Services Staff, is
divided into five subcomponents: Personnel, Budget and Fiscal,
Logistics, Air, and a typing pool.
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Our first recommendation deals with the need for physical
separation of sections of the Logistics Branch, to improve
working conditions. A second recommendation concerns the need
for a secure telephone link between the branch
In our inspection of the Training Support Division, supple-
mented by talks with the (then) Director of Training, we found
that although TSD is meticulous about proper authorization of
government-sponsored external training, other Agency components
sometimes fail to coordinate such matters with OTR. We suggest
appropriate action to correct this problem and recommend a
review of division workload and staffing levels with a view to
reduction of personnel strength.
In connection with activities of the Instructional Technology
Division, which is moving increasingly into video taping, we
recommend an up-dated Agency-wide study of TV production facilities
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ensure economy and avoidance of duplication. We also recornmend
review of a decision to spend up to $150,000 to produce a motion
picture training film
with a view to substi-
tution of amore economical and useful video tape format for
this production.
The Services Staff as presently organized, while getting its
work done, is cumbersome -- in need of administrative streamlining.
Career Trainee Staff
The Career Trainee Staff administers one of the oldest
recruitment and training proyrams in the Agency - the Career
Trainee (CT) program. We reviewed the staffing of this unit
and the CT selection and recruitment process.*
Two recommendations deal with security aspects of the program,
to protect the identity of candidates and to insure that
uncleared applicants are not exposed to classified information.
Functional Training
The area of responsibility of the Ueputy Director for
F~uncti 1 Training encompasses the Language School, the
Managemen School, and the Information Management School. The
L ge School, OTR's most troubled component, is treated in a
separate attachment. The most salutary development which could
*A separate inspection of all of the Agency's recruitment programs
is now under way.
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be wished for this school would be a material increase in its~~~
The Management School is at the forefront of today's managerial
training methods, but the Agency is making less-than-effective
use of the skills being imparted in this school. In this
connection we note that the recent NAPA report states in part ~~
(on page 22) that: "...there is evidence that orientation and ('
management training is not being fully or properly utilized..."
Sharper guidelines and better implementation of skills and
theories imparted in the courses given by this school are in
order.
The Communications and Information Management School
provides remedial training in communications and reading
skills and is credited by its customers with doing a good job.
We found a problem regarding difficulties in obtaining up-to-date
information from the Directorate of Operations on its records
system and we identify issues which should be addressed.
Intelligence Training
Another of the major deputy directorships in OTR operates
under the Intelligence Training (IT) rubric, covering the
Intelligence School and the Information Science Center.
The officer who headed IT at the time of inspection was praised
by his employees for having a people-oriented management style
workload, a matter essentially outside OTR control.
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akin to that of the (then) Director of Training. He has
since been promoted to Deputy Director of Training where his
enlightened management techniques may have even wider applicability.
We found a sensible interpretation of accountability being
applied in courses in the Intelligence School. Its leaders are
also trying to reverse a trend away from substantive teaching
toward orientation-type courses featuring guest speakers.
The Information Science Center (ISC) is dealing effectively
with new methodologies and their application to current problems,
especially those related to production and management of intel-
ligence. ISC courses and its faculty's professionalism are
renowned in the Intelligence Community. We believe the community
should carry more of the load since it furnishes 60 percent of
the students but only eight percent of the faculty. A recommendation
addresses this situation with a view to achieving a more equitable
balance.
Operations Training
Uperations training is the most important training activity
carried on by the Agency. The Deputy Director for Operations
Training oversees all such activity and serves as the channel
whereby UO needs are translated into training courses.
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it is now buttressed by televised "news" and museum exhibits.
Most trainees find it relatively easy to adapt to this fictional
situation.
In analyzing the courses which make up the operations
training program we found that some students being admitted to
the Introduction to Operations Course and the Operations Course
are not qualified for such training on the basis of experience or
projected assignment. We recommend improvement of the screening
system.
Our inspectors and recent graduates were favorably impressed
with the quality of the instructor staff and with course
content and instructional methods. Up-to-date techniques are
being taught by officers fresh from operational tours. A
constant exchange of views among the instructors guarantees
that all ideas and concepts receive serious, critical examination.
Lesson plans and some course materials, however, are in need of
updating.
OTD management has some trouble accommodating the desires
of various DU components to see their areas of concern featured
in the curriculum, and we suggest consideration of lengthening
the Operations Course to include more classroom time. To
alleviate a situation wherein students often spend an inordinate
amount of time polishing operational reports, we recommend
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scheduled classroom time for completion of such work. We also
include a recommendation addressed to the need for better
planning by guest speakers and calling for furnishing such
lecturers summaries of student evaluations, with a view to
improving their presentations.
We suggest continued attention to discussion of ethical
and legal aspects of clandestine operations and list a number
of topics for consideration by the OTD Academic Council. We
also find a need for a more formalized system of documenting
any inadequacy or inapplicability of operations training.
While finding the quality of instuctors
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absence of minority and female instructors, a problem of which
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Technical Support
The Technical Support Branch (TSB) provides a broad range of
support to UTD programs. Especially noteworthy is the innovative
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use of closed circuit television for practical exercises and in
support of live problems. Notional "news" broadcasts are
woven into training scenarios and convey a sense of continuity
and realism to the exercises. As elsewhere, when we encountered
technical equipment and expertise, we ascertained that no unauthorized
recordings are rnade and that appropriate legal opinions have been
obtained in relation to filming and audio surveillance exercises.
We found that live problem "ponies" -- with considerable flap
potential in case of loss -- were being produced for OTD instructors,
and suggested that this practice be halted.
Updating and Revision of Training Materials
More needs to be done to keep training materials up to date.
We suggest increased use of video capabilities, to replace outdated
training films, and that an effort be made to extend a few
instructors, after completion of their tours, to revise and
prepare new materials.
Evaluation of Students
OTD has a highly structured, effective method of evaluating
student performance. It is a good system which, with minor
revisions, could be excellent. We encountered strong instructor
opposition to the requirement to rank graduates of the operations
courses numerically. Uur inspectors also believe such ranking
is a mistake but that students in the upper and lower sections
of their classes should be identified.
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The Center for the Study of Intelligence
During the period of our inspection the Center for the
Study of Intelligence -- the Agency's "think tank" -- was
largely inactive. Now several DCI Fellows are at work on
research projects in the Center.
The OTR Personnel System
In a special attachment we describe the OTR Personnel System
as structured and in practice. This system elicited strong
criticism among OTR employees, especially insofar as it purportedly
gave to one person too much power. A recent change in chairmanship
of the OTR career board should alleviate this problem.
Other aspects of the system which need improvement relate to
the filling of vacancies, frequent turnover of management personnel,
and rapid and unannounced changes in personnel assiynments.
We found OTR consciously trying to improve its affirmative
action performance -- and doing quite well in this area.
Rotational Tours in Training
Another attachment to this report addresses the longstanding
problem of the career impact, real and perceived, of rotational
assignment to OTR. Most persons on rotation to OTR express
the view that such assignment is career damaging. We suggest
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measures to alleviate this problem. Despite concerns in this
area, we find most employees on rotational tours happy to be
with OTR -- sharing the sense of doing something worthwhile and
doing it well.
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CONSOLIDATED RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation 1: That the Office of Training
arrange to separate the records and registry section
from the logistics section in the vaulted area
occupied by the Logistics Branch, Services Staff, OTR
Headquarters.
APPROVED:
Recommendation 2: That the Office of Training
arrange for the installation of a secure (green)
telephone link between the Office of the Logistics
Branch, Services Staff, OTR Headquarters, and the
Resources Management Branch,
Recommendation 3: That the Uffice of Training
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APPROVED:
DISAPPROVED:
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Recommendation 4: That the Office of Training
ask for a PMCD review of the position of secre-
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Services Staff, OTR, with a
view to upgrading this position.
APPROVED:
DISAPPROVED:
Recommendation 5: That the Uffice of Training
review the workload and staffing levels of the
Training Support Division, Services Staff, OTR,
with a view to possible reduction of personnel
strength in this office.
APPROVED:
Recommendation 6: That the Deputy Director
of Central Intelligence arrange for an up-
dated Agency wide study of existing and planned
television production facilities, both human
and technical, with a view to ensuring maximum
economy and effectiveness a d avoidance of
duplication in the use of ch f cilities.
APPROVED:
DISAPPROVED:
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Recommendation 7: That the Director
of Security revie4r administrative
procedures governing the recruitment
and processing of Career Training Program
applicants with a view to limiting
severely those people, both inside and
outside the Agency, who can gain access
to the names of CT Proy~m applicants
and recruits.
APPROVED:
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Recommendation 8: That the Uffice of
Training arrange for reconfiguration of
the Career Trainee applicant and reception
room in the offices of the CT Staff to
ensure that uncleared applicants cannot
overhear classified conversations or see
or learn identities of other CT program
applicants.
APPROVED:
Recommendation 9: That the Director of
Training initiate and forward through
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appropriate channels to Intelligence
Community member agencies, a request for
rotational positions and qualified candi-
dates to fill such positions in the
Information Science Center, with a view
toward achieving a more equitable balance
between the Agency and other cQmrQunity
members in staffing thi
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Recommendation 10: That the Deputy
Director for Operations Training,
in coordination with the appropriate
officers of the Office of Training
and the Directorate of Operations,
develop a screening system to better
ensure that only those employees who
are, or will be, performing operations
supports tasks be selected for the
Introduction to Operations Course and
that the Operations Course be strictly
reserved to employees who have the
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potential to be, and are scheduled to
become, operations officers.
APPROVED:
Recommendation 11: That the Chief,
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revise the Operations
Course schedule to include specific
time periods for preparation and
completion of contact reports and
operational messages.
APPROVED:
Recommendation 12: That the Deputy
Director for Operations Training,
in cooperation with the Directorate
of Operations, ensure that all DO
officers who lecture to the Operations
Course are aware of the need to be
fully prepared, and that following
guest lecturer presentations, summaries
of student evaluation comments be sent by
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Operations Training Division,
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sealed envelope to DO lecturers, with
a view to improving their presentations.
APPROVED:
Recommendation 13: That the Office of
Traininy ask for PMCD review of the
position of cashier, Budget and Fiscal
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Branch, Support Division,
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with a view to upgrading this
position.
APPROVED:
DISAPPROVED:
Recommendation 14: That the Office of
Training, in coordination with the Office
of Logistics, abolish the position of
Chief, Logistics Branch, Support Division
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Recommendation 15: That the Chief,
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for installation of a computer terminal
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THE OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF TRAINING
The officer who occupied the position of Director of
Training during the period of this survey has recently been
named the Agency.'s Director of Personnel and has been replaced
by his former deputy. We describe the situation in OTR as
it existed in the last three months of 1978 and the first two
months of 1979, before these changes took place.
The (then) Director of Training, D/TR, was held in the
highest esteem by his personnel. Beginning our interviews
with his closest associates and working our way week by week
to the farthest reaches of the OTR organization, we heard
again and again the highest praise for the superior managerial
talents of the D/TR. A solid picture emerged, bolstered by
our own impressions, of a highly competent, intensely interested,
broadly experienced, completely people-oriented professional
administrator. OTR rank and file respected and, perhaps more
importantly, really liked their Chief. They enjoyed working
for him and felt that as long as he was at the helm they
would be watched over by someone who cared. We know of no
other major component chief who has gained in two years such
a strong position in the hearts of his employees.
The front office of OTR consists essentially of the
Director, his deputy (DD/TR), and an Executive Assistant, in
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addition to secretarial support. As a result of a recent
reorganization of OTR, three other Deputy Directors -- for
Functional Training, Intelligence Training, and Operations
Training -- have been named. While these officers oversee
major groupings of sub-components, such as schools, staffs,
and divisions, we were not able to find anyone who could
identify the precise term to describe their components. As a
result we discuss, for example, Functional Training in the
following pages without indicating whether it is a division,
or directorate, or whatever. Some persons in OTR are frank in
pointing out that the layering represented by these Deputy
Directorships resulted from a determination to protect supergrade
positions, not necessarily because the positions themselves
are needed. We find it sensible to have supergrade officers in
charge of major groupings of sub-components, but believe that
some organizational tidying up is indicated lest these floating,
phantom-like chiefdoms be perceived, by some who might challenge
them, as less than necessary.
The (then) DD/TR, an officer of substantive managerial
expertise who well complemented the D/TR, concentrated
on personnel and curriculum matters in addition to
handling the normal duties connected with his position as
deputy. We found a well-structured personnel system and
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were most impressed by the DD/TR's detailed awareness of
the people and activities of the OTR establishment. We
have appended, as Tab B, a separate chapter on The OTR
Personnel System. Although ire found some problems in the
functioning of the system, we also found that OTR people, by
and large, are well rrbtivated, enthusiastic about their work,
and have a feeling of belonging to a family that is doing
something worthwhile. Their morale, collectively, is quite
good.
Regarding the curriculum, another primary concern of the
DU/TR, we found OTR in excellent shape -- "tuning" to meet
changing requirements, adding and deleting courses. OTR keeps
its impressive catalog of courses thoroughly up to date and,
in view of the ready availability of that compendium, we have
not engaged in an extensive listing of courses in this
survey. UTR is ready to respond rapidly to all training
requirements of the Agency.*
At the time of the inspection the position of Executive
Assistant to the Director of Training was occupied by a
senior GS-15 with long experience in OTR. That officer acted
as executive secretary to the Curriculum Committee and made
*This survey is confined to the Office of Training and does
not treat with training conducted by other components. The
authority of the Director of Training to "conduct formal
training courses based on requirements" derives from Head-
quarters Regulation
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available for our inspection his notebook materials for the
annual conference of that body, made up of eight senior OTR
officers chaired by the DD/TR. Perusal of this material
confirrned the favorable impression we had received of the
curriculum in our meetings with the DD/TR. The Executive
Assistant was also wrestling with the problem of building more
accountability into training courses and handling all manner
of ad hoc assignments.
Inspection of the functions and workload of the Executive
Assistant had led us to conclude that a recommendation would be
in order to assign a lower graded officer to this position.
Before we could complete this report OTR had already made
such a change. We suggest that in the future the position be
used for someone at the GS-12 or GS-1~ level and made rotational.
It would seem to be an ideal training slot for persons showing
managerial potential.
We found the OTR front office generally aware of the problems
besetting the many OTR components and moving to solve them.
The D/TR and DD/TR functioned well as a team.
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SERVICES STAFF
The Services Staff (SS), the basic support mechanism for
the entire OTR Headquarters area complex, consists of some
people organized in the Office of the Chief ~ and four
subcomponents: Plans Staff ~ Administrative Division C
Training Support Division ~ and Instructional Technology
The Chief, Services Staff at the time of the
inspection has since been transferred to the Office of Finance
and replaced by the OTR careerist who headed the Career Trainee
Staff when we inspected that component.
Plans Staff
The primary functions of the Chief, Plans Staff (PS) are
budget formulation, principally in response to the program
call, and support of the DDA Management by Objectives (MBO)
program. The incumbent at the time of our inspection was also
involved in planning the annual OTR conference, updating
regulations, and actiny as an editor for the DDA house organ.
He viewed himself being used as the equivalent of a deputy to
the Chief, Services Staff, a position which does not exist on
the OTR Table of Organization.
The second officer in PS handles Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act matters, and produces the
consolidated OTR Weekly Report -- selecting from, editing, and
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adding to the weekly reports submitted by all OTR offices --
writes notices and instructions, prepares letters of appreciation,
and so forth.
The FUTA and Privacy Act workload involves mostly
the servicing of requests from former Agency employees and
academic institutions. Although the volume of requests is
increasing and secretarial support is occasionally lacking, the
staff manages to keep up with its heavy paper workload.
Administrative Division
The Administrative Division (AD), headed by the same
officer who serves as Chief, Services Staff, is divided into
five subcomponents: Personnel Branch, Budget and Fiscal
Branch, Logistics Branch, Transcription and Processing Center,
25X1
Personnel Branch
In the view of the Chief, Personnel Branch (PB) this
office is, in most respects, a "standard personnel shop."
However, overshadowing and transcending the work of PB is an
elaborate, highly structured personnel system, the subject of a
separate attachment, The UTR Personnel System, Tab B. Each PB
staff member monitors and serves as secretary for one of the
OTR personnel panels, of which there are four with plans for
establishment of a fi fth.
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We found PB personnel concerned about impact of the
assignment of non-OTR officers, principally those from the
Directorate of Operations, to rotational tours with OTR. (The
subject of rotational tours, which frequently came up in
interviews throughout OTR, is treated in a separate attachment,
Rotational Tours With the Office of Training, Tab C). PB
was especially concerned about the effect on UTR promotional
headroom caused by a influx of GS-14 and GS-15 officers whose
presence on OTR rolls makes it difficult for PB to project
headroom. PB personnel explained that, from the OTR standpoint,
it would be preferable to seek DO officers in grade GS-13, but
that the DO persists in norninating higher ranking officers. We
believe that in many cases, for reasons discussed elsewhere, it
would indeed be wise to select lower ranking officers for
rotational assignment to OTR.
25X1 Since about half of the
OTR personnel are contract
employees, an important part of the PB workload is contract
administration. Much of this work involves close liaison with
the Contract Personnel Division of the Office of Personnel.
The branch lacks full time clerical help. We suggest an
adjustment of duties and positions within the Services Staff,
without hiring additional personnel, to enable the assignment
of a full-time clerk typist to the Personnel Branch to replace
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would suggest that one of these positions be assigned to the
Personnel Branch.
Elsewhere in our inspection, ~~nost notably in Intelligence
Training, we encountered a diametrically opposed view --
that TAP should be built up again to provide centralized
typing capability for the entire OTR Headquarters complex.
This view was expressed often in connection with discussion of
the role of training assistants (T/As) who are capable of
considerably more than the simple clerical duties which tie
triem down at present. We take no sides in this argument but
believe it would be useful to examine the feasibility of
re-centralizing much of OTR's typing load in TAP, in part to
relieve T/As for more classroom activity. We suggest that
the Director of Training establish a small task force to look
into future structure and utilization of TAP.
f~leanwhile, TAP employees are busy, keeping up with a heavy
vrorkload and producing a quality product.
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Training Support Division
The Training Support Division, (TSD), consisting of 18
employees, manages the Agency's external training program
(training conducted in non-Agency facilities), administers the
off-campus program (university courses taught at Headquarters),
handles registrations for all internal training, edits and
publishes the OTR course catalog, maintains the Agency Training
Record (ATR) files and a centralized statistical and data base
for OTR courses and activities, prepares the Component-Conducted
Training Report, manages allocation of classroom facilities,
and prints schedules, training notes, and special bulletins.
Une division officer acts as executive secretary for the
Training Selection Board which meets periodically to select
Agency candidates for senior level external training.
At the end of 1977, the training registration function was
recentralized in TSD. Soon aftervaard the ATR was redesigned
in computer format to make data in the system more readily
available. Results of these changes have been good. TSD
personnel report improvement in support to OTR "custo-ners,"
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closer communication and working relationships with the compo-
nent senior training officers (STO), and better attention to
ensuring optimum attendance in training courses of all types.
While this division is meticulous about authorizing
gove rnment-sponsored external training, there have been instances
wherein corponents have failed to seek prior OTR approval for
such training, in contravention of Headquarters Regulation
0
0
As recently as November 1977, in Employee Bulletin No
25X1
the Agency's policy concerning sponsorship for external
training was spelled out, but a reminder directed to Agency
components is in order. We suggest that the Director of
Training ask the Deputy Director for Administration to issue an
appropriate notice reminding all components of the necessity to
seek prior OTR approval of external training in accordance with
0
In several interviews in this division we received reports
and admissions, that TSD is overstaffed. We were assured by
several division employees that TSD could perform as well with
fewer people, especially at the "front office" level. Some
question was also raised about the advisability of handling
financial matters within TSD, with assertions that this could
better be done in the Budyet and Fiscal Branch.
While we do not fault TSD's work product, which appears
to be of a hiyh order, we believe that a review of staffing
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requirements is in order, especially in the light of impending
OTR personnel reductions.
Recommendation 5: That the Office of Training
review the workload and staffing levels of the
Training Support Division, Services Staff, OTR,
with a view to possible reduction of personnel
strength in this office.
Additionally, we suggest that OTR review the financial
function now handled by TSD to see if it might better be
handled by the Budget and Fiscal Branch, OTR.
Instructional Technology Division
This division (ITD) theoretically consists of two
branches: the Instructional Development Branch (IDB) and
the Media Production and Distribution Branch (MPDB). IDB
has been decentralized and thus exists as a branch only on
paper. IDB educational technology experts, who teach
teachers how to teach, are being well used and decent rali-
zation of this function appears to have been a sound move.
We suggest that OTR tidy up its structure by eliminating IDB
as an organizational entity.
Media Production and Distribution Branch
All remaining ITD functions, not related to educational
technology, come under the somewhat confusing MPDB rubric.
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This branch is involved in script writing, video taping, and
still photography. It also maintains audio visual and sound
systems in OTR classrooms and supervises the graphics and
visual aids shop, the OTR library, and the self study center in
the Headquarters Building.
At the time of the inspection, MPDB personnel were showing
intense interest in video and automated slide techniques.
Indeed, there is an almost missionary zeal in this shop --
branch members like their work and have strong belief in their
institutional worth and the utility of their product. The
branch is working hard to produce 12 video "packages" in FY
1979 but, aside from the optimistic "front office" staff, our
inspectors found few branch members who feel that MPDB can
realistically attain this ambitious production goal.
In FY 1978, with active support from OTR top management,
MPDB purchased $385,000 worth of television equipment. The
branch now has ample resources to produce first class video
products. We found in MPDB, however, a measure of concern
about what is perceived as a lack of guidelines -- or, as one
MPDB video expert put it, the need fora "charter" -- on audio
visual materials, especially video. We were informed in our
interviews in this branch that there are at least five mini-TV
studios in the Agency (at MPDB,
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the Office of Data Processing, the Printing and Photography
Division of the Office of Logistics, and the Office of Communi-
cations.) While much of this activity is outside the OTR
purview of this survey, and we are uninformed regarding the
non-OTR aspects of the matter, we share the belief of MPDB
personnel that an Agency-wide look at this burgeoning field is
in order and that some harnessing of the Agency video effort
may be necessary, especially in view of Administration efforts
to curtail USG expenditures.
Recommendation 6: That the Deputy Director
of Central Intelligence arrange for an updated
Agency-wide study of current and planned tele-
vision production facilities, both human and
technical,.with a view to ensuring maximum
economy and effectiveness and avoidance of
duplication in the use of such facilities.
In preparing a video presentation on the mission of the
DU, tentatively titled, "Alleys and Avenues," MPDB personnel
lamented that they were unable to film scenes in downtown
Washington, D.C, and were forced to back off from this idea to
film the story on the less suitable grounds of Headquarters and
the Central Building complex. It developed that MPDB video
producers were concerned by the prospect of delays which might occur
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if they requested permits for filming scenes in Washington.
We suggest that MPDB contact the DCI Assistant for Public
Affairs in order to enhance the quality of its product.
In several interviews in MPDB and elsewhere in OTR, we
encountered strong sentiment against the projected expenditure
of some $150,000 by the Office of Medical Services to produce
in 16 millimeter motion picture format, a training film about
25X1
Branch personnel,
with considerable expertise in both motion picture and TV
production, believed the Agency could save most of this amount
if video production facilities were used. We decided to
ref rain from recommending DDA review of the decision to produce
this film, upon receipt of information that video equipment
available in many areas of the world is not compatible with
tapes produced on equipment manufactured for the American
market. Since our inspectors report that personnel at many
overseas stations are viewing recent American TV productions on
equipment available to them, we suggest that future decisions
on format for training materials should be made in the light of
the increasing availability of corpatible video playback
r.~
equipment.
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25X1
25X1
Distribution Section
This section of MPDB handles a wide range of audio visual
support activities. Staff personnel conduct workshops on
machine and equipment operation for OTR instructors. They also
set up equipment and perform minor maintenance at Headquarters
The secretary of this section, a part-time ernployee
who enjoys being kept busy, has reviewed and prepared synopses
of all motion picture films and video tapes held by OTR. She
has prepared an impressive catalog of, and keeps inventory
records on, all such materials including those on loan to
0
Insofar as we could determine, no unauthorized recordings
of guest speakers have been made in this technical unit, nor
have film copyrights been violated. We found the technicians
alert to such concerns.
Graphic and Visual Aids
The Graphic and Visual Aids Section consists of three
illustrators who support OTR instructional units and are pre-
paring art work for some of the video productions planned by
MPDB. Observations in this art shop and interviews elsewhere
in OTR revealed that it is producing good quality art work for
the entire OTR Headquarters complex and that the three artists
respond wel 1 to customer requi rernents.
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Owing to a space reduction at the expense of this shop,
we found the illustrators laboring in crowded conditions with
inadequate storage units. They lacked a proper cutting table
and the adjoining work shop/storage room was in a disorderly
state. We were informed that new furniture and storage units
were on order and that, with the arrival of these materials,
working conditions for the artists would be greatly improved.
We suggest that ITD management seek to improve working condi-
tions in this shop as soon as possible.
The chief illustrator is often assigned to photograph
award presentations and other ceremonies for OTR management.
While he in no way views these assignments as an imposition,
indeed, he enjoys them, we suggest that it would be better to
use an experienced photographer from MPDB to handle such
tasks, thus giving the chief illustrator more time for his art
work .
Library
The library represents a consolidation of the former
OTR and language libraries, a sensible move which has produced
good results. Staffed by two people, this consolidated library
handles text book requirements for language students, distrib-
utes language cassettes (some 30,000 tapes are on file), and,
in general, devotes approximately 50 percent of its effort to
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language school matters. The book section of the library is
well used, with about 5,000 check-outs in the last fiscal year.
Slack time, which usually occurs in the summer months, is
devoted to purging.
Self Study Center
The Self Study Center, originally known as the OTR Media
Center, was established in January 1975. Located in the
Headquarters Building (Room GJ-68), this facility makes avail-
able video and audio self-improvement materials on a wide range
of subjects including management and supervision, clerical
skills, data processing, speed reading, effective writing, and
languages.
Sign-in sheets show a steady rise in use of this facility
which is open 24-hours daily and supervised during working
hours by one GS-09 employee. The Center is presently visited
15U to 200 times each week. Mid-day usage is especially heavy.
Ndditionally, tape cassettes are made available to approximately
50 people in other buildings.
The Center fills a definite need, especially for employees
who are unable to schedule formal classroom instruction to
fit thei r worki ng hours.
Owing to the workload of technicians in the Distribution
Section of MPDB, it has occasionally been necessary to send
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Center equipment to commercial facilities for repair. In the
interest of economy, we suggest that MPDB try to keep such
outside repairs to a minimum.
Management Style
In our inspection of the Instructional Technology Division
we sensed a lack of positive, active administration. It
appears that the "doers" in the various branches are moving
without much control and those who need to be led, or prodded,
are scarcely moving at all. We believe the abundant talent in
this division, properly administered, can be more productive.
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CAREER TRAINEE STAFF
The Career Trainee Staff (CTS) of UTR administers one of
the oldest structured recruitment and training programs in the
Agency -- the Career Training Program. This program dates
back to the Trainee Pool of 1948 and was formalized in 1951 as
the Junior Officer Trainee Program. It was designed to select
and train bright, capable young professionals with the potential
of becoming the Agency's future managers. As presently consti-
tuted it also provides a means for employees already on Agency
rolls -- "internals" -- to attain professional status. Over
the years the CT Program, originally furnishing talent for all
directorates, has become the major recruiting vehicle for the
Directorate of Operations and in recent years it has principal-
ly served DO needs, with about two-thirds of new career trainees
going to that component. A few DO-bound CTs have been incorpor-
25X1
ceived by the CT Staff as better suited for the Pilot Program
or tide DU non-official cover program are forwarded to the DO
for selection and processing by that directorate. The size of
CT classes, which normally form up twice yearly, has varied
considerably. Demand is now on the increase, largely owing to
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the impact of involuntary separations and retirements in the
The CT Program is administered by a small staff in OTR
Headquarters, consisting of a GS-15 or GS-16 Chief and four
Program Officers (POs) at GS-13 and GS-14 levels. These officers,
including the Chief, review files, conduct interviews,and make
recommendations for acceptance or refusal of candidates. Three
of the Program Officers concentrate on DO needs; one deals
with needs of the other directorates and NFAC. These officers,
theoretically, also act as counselors until CTs are formally
placed on component rolls. In fact, however, the pace of the
CT selection process affords the POs little, if any, time to
truly act as counselors, a situation criticized by the CTs.
POs coordinate with many Agency components and conduct many
interviews outside the Headquarters area. We found CT Staff
relations with other Agency components excellent. Administrative
support is furnished by two Training Assistant/ Secretaries and
one Personnel Assistant, assisted by two part-time employees.
Additional personnel will be required in the CT Staff as
greater numbers of applicants are generated by the recruitment
system.
The CT Recruitment Process
External applicants for the CT Program are processed in normal
Office of Personnel channels; candidates are usually interviewed by
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area recruiters or OP officers in Rosslyn, Virginia. Frequently,
Program Ufficers frorn the CT Staff assist in these initial
interviews. OP recruiters who service hiring requirements of
the entire Agency often have only limited time, at best, to
interview CT candidates. Additionally, they generally lack
the expertise, especially in DO requirements, that CT Staff
Program Officers possess. In mid-1978, in an effort to increase
the knowledge of recruiting officers, OTR, in conjunction with
the Office of Personnel, brought the recruiters to the Head-
quarters area for briefings on DO requirements and then took
them for a "mini-operations"
course. We suggest that OTR continue this sensible practice in
an effort to keep field recruiters fully up to date on CT
Program requirements.
Job application and personal history forms regarding CT
candidates, if properly marked for CT Staff action, move fairly
rapidly to that Staff. But others may take as long as six
weeks to process through the Office of Personnel to the CT
Staff. CT Program Ufficers assume primary responsibility for
processing of CT applications at this point, reviewing files,
deciding whether further interviews are in order, coordinating
with the Office of Security for background investigations,
arranging with the Psychological Services Staff of the Office
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of Medical Services for psychological testing, and so forth.
The average CT Staff Program Officer peruses at least twenty
applicant files, interviews twelve people, and puts three
applicants into administrative and clearance processing for
each CT eventually hired. Consequently, to meet a DO quota of
120 CTs in 1979 almost 2,500 applicant files would have to be
examined.
Delays in CT Processing
Aside from occasional belated arrival in the CT Staff of
paperwork on prospective CTs, other delays are caused by
psychological testing and security investigation. The Psycho-
logical Services Staff (PSS) has difficulty in keeping up with
testing requirements although it has accorded top priority to
the drive to increase the number of CTs. It appears that PSS
is processing as possible CTs too many applicants who are not
really qualified for the CT Program. Reinstitution of the
practice of administering the full Professional Applicant
Test Battery (PATB) in the field, instead of just the first
part, would help cut this workload, as would increased attention
by recruiters to indicators which identify persons lacking
proper CT qualifications.*
*A separate OIG inspection of Agency-wide recruitment processes,
including the CT program, is now under way.
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The CT Selection Process
Given favorable medical and security clearance for CT
applicants, except for those destined for other directorates,
the decision to accept or reject candidates rests on the
judgment of DO officers including those who constitute the
Junior Officer Board (JOB). This board, which advises the
Career Management Staff of the D0, was established to screen
all those who wish to enter the DO as operations officers. In
essence, it checks and validates CT Staff assessments.
Each CT applicant for DO assignment is interviewed by one
or rnore JOB members. But, the heaviest responsibility in the
selection process still lies with the Program Officers of the
CT Staff. We found these officers dedicated, competent, hard
working, mindful of their heavy responsibility, and sufficiently
humble to seek the advice of their colleagues regarding candidate
suitability.
Perhaps the best tactic the DO can take to ensure accession
of high quality CTs in the future is to continue to make
available top quality DO officers for assignment as Program
Officers on the CT Staff.
The Career Trainee
The overall quality of today's CT is good. The program
is, as before, acquiring bright young people with impressive
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qualifications and experience who represent all geographical
areas in the United States. Some sixty percent of all persons
who have gone through the CT Program or its predecessor programs
are still on Agency rolls, and many senior officials throughout
the Agency are graduates of the program. We believe it is a
sound program which should be continued in line with the
present model although further investigation is required to
validate the administrative set up in which so much CT-related
activity is divided among different components.
An area requiring renewed attention is the relative
inability of the CT Program to attract and acquire members of
minority groups despite frequent exhortations by Agency leader-
ship to all concerned to do better in this respect. The record
of female recruitments, while improving, also merits attention.
Security Problems
As presently configured, the administrative procedures of
the CT recruitment process and the physical set up of offices
of the CT Staff do not ensure adequate protection of the
identities of CT Program applicants. In the latter case,
Agency secrets may also be subject to compromise.
Recommendation 7: That the Director
of Security review administrative
procedures governing the recruitment
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~ ~ ~t
and processing of Career Training Program
applicants with a view to limiting
severely those people, both inside and
outside the Agency, who can gain access
to the names of CT Proyram applicants
and recruits.
Recommendation 8: That the Office of
Training arrange for reconfiguration of
the Career Trainee applicant and reception
room in the offices of the CT Staff to
ensure that uncleared applicants cannot
overhear classified conversations or see
or learn identities of other CT program
applicants.
We suggest that OTR support the Chief, CT Staff, in his
request for the installation of additional secure telephone
lines or extensions in his office.
CT Training
The process of training members of the CT Program is
covered in other sections of this report.
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FUNCTIONAL TRAINING
Functional Training (FT), a major OTR subcomponent under
the Deputy Director for Functional Training (DD/FT), has some
2 5X1 Demployees and is divided into three organizational elements --
the Language School, the Management School, and the Communications
and Information Management School. The incumbent DD/FT, an
experienced, capable GS-16 officer, is the third person to
occupy that position in less than two years. A former chief of
the Language School, who had been reluctant to leave that
assiynment, we found him well aware of many problems facing
that school. In our interviews in FT we found that the DD/FT
is very well thought of by his employees. His avowed management
style is to set up goals, assign responsibility, and then get
out of the way.
At the time our inspection of FT began the DD/FT was on
his third assignment in nine months. The Chief of the Management
School had occupied two different positions in the same time
frame. The Chief of the Communications and Information Management
School had assumed his duties within the year. The Chief of
the Language School had been in position one week. We heard
many adverse comments in FT about rapid managerial turnover, a
matter covered in separate discussion of the OTR Personnel
System.
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CONFIDENTIAL
The Language School
Established in 1951 and now one of three components
25X1
reporting to the Deputy Director for Functional Training, the
Language School is made up of over0employees including
part-time and intermittent personnel. It exists primarily to
teach Agency employees to speak, read, write, and/or understand
a variety of foreign languages. A secondary mission is to
test the language proficiency of Agency employees.
In view of the extent and complexity of problems confronting
the Lanyuage School, necessitating rather lengthy treatment, we
cover this in a separate attachment, The Language School, Tab D.
CONFIDENTIAL
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CO~~:,~"~~ ~ ~L
THE MANAGEMENT SCHUUL
The Management School (MS) teaches technical, administrative,
and interpersonal skills to Agency employes, ranging from those
showing managerial potential, through first-line supervisors,
to senior executives. Management skills are conveyed in
formally scheduled courses and tailored instruction. Workshops
and other special programs deal with more narrowly focused
aspects such as performance evaluation, counseling, and financial
management courses.
Ideally, Agency managers progress through a basic program
beginning with Fundamentals of Supervision and Management, for
first-line supervisors, and ending with the Management Seminar,
for second-echelon managers. Paralleling these administrative
courses are interpersonal skills courses, beginning with
Leadership Styles and Behavior, designed to help employees
decide if they wish to be managers, the Program on Creative
Management for senior-level managers, and the Levinson Executive
Seminar on Leadership for supergrade executives.
There are twelve instructors in the Management School,
supported by three clerical employees who also function as
training assistants. The Chief is a GS-14 officer who spent a
considerable portion of his career in the Directorate of
Operations. His subordinates acknowledge that he has brought
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a welcome predictability and structure to the scheduling
of instructor assignments while eroding a "pecking order" which
earlier existed.
The MS instructors are committed to their work, trying to
devise and run the best possible training courses, and cooperative
and supportive of one another. Most are cross-trained and
capable of taking leading roles in several courses. One of
their prime concerns is to obtain better feedback from students
and Agency managers on how their courses might be improved.
In terms of theory, the Management School is at the
forefront of today's managerial training methods. However,
instructors believe their school lags the state of the art in
that aspect of managerial training which seeks to match skills
gained by students to job assignments and opportunities for
practical application.
The basic mission of this school, other than to prepare
and present courses of instruction, is ill-defined. We encountered
in the school a widely-held, somewhat despondent perception
that top Agency management endorses expansion of management
training courses primarily to "improve communications downward
and enhance loyalty upward." But, Management School instructors
believe their school should be teaching and participating in
1l
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what they term "organizational development." This concept,
widely theorized and practiced in the business world, would
have managers and management consultants--in tf~is instance MS
instructors--work together to restructure Agency components in
accordance with enlightened management techniques and recent
developments in the behavioral sciences. Given full leeway,
these instructors would assist components in assessing management
training needs, design appropriate training to fit these needs,
and guide component managers into improving (i.e., changing}
their management styles.
While we commend the zeal of the MS Staff, we recognize
that in the "real world" Agency components are not likely to
invite management "experts" in to restructure their organizations.
Nor are old-line managers likely to welcome theories which go
against their grain. And, we do not recommend that tf~e Management
School be given license to overhaul the Agency. We do believe
that the school needs more guidance and support.
Instructors cite unreasonable expectations in what they
perceive as a conscious effort by top Agency leadership to view
management training as a panacea for shortcomings in personnel
management and leadership in the Agency. We found considerable
uncertainty among MS personnel regarding what senior managers
want Agency employees to gain from management training.
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We suggest that the Director of Training consult with the
Deputy Director for Administration to develop more precise
guidelines for the Agency's management training program.
We suggest, also, that top level management take appropriate
steps, suitably reinforced by notices or regulations, to
support and encourage implementation of managerial skills and
theories imparted in approved Management School training
courses.
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COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SCHOOL
The Cornmunications and Information Management School
(GINS), formally designated a school in November 1978, provides
remedial training in communications and reading skills. It
also trains Agency employees to handle information, especially
that generated by the Directorate of Operations, in a secure
and efficient mannner. CIMS meets an obvious need for Agency
employees to be capable of organizing and presenting intel-
ligence data, orally or in writing, and to develop reading
skills necessary for dealing with documents related to the
production of intelligence. The continuing proliferation of
documents has also created a need to manage paper in terms of
quick retrieval, appropriate retention time and levels, legal
requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy
Act,interpretation of Executive Order 12036, and adoption of
micrographics. Some 15 CIMS courses address such needs.
Headed by a GS-14 OTR careerist, with fifteen years
of experience as a civilian instructor with the US Army, the
CIMS personnel complement consists of ten instructors and one
training assistant who also doubles as secretary.
The CIMS Chief is the fourth person to ocupy the position
and, not surprisingly, we encountered employee comments --
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frequent elsewhere in OTR -- about unsettling and disconcerting
reorganizations and personnel reassignments. On the whole,
however, CIMS employees like the informal, friendly environment
of their school and give their chief high marks for leadership,
citiny his willingness to go to extra lengths to maintain good
relations in his shop.
Work tasks are fairly routine because CIMS instructors are
conveying standardized packages of information to students who
realize that they need to improve skills in order to progress
in their careers. CIMS courses are, with few exceptions, well
attended and instructors take special pride in the tangible
improvement in student communications skills which they are
able to bring about. CIt~iS courses are often plagued by last
minute cancellations of enrolled students and a disquieting
number of students enter classes without prerequisite training
or, as in the case of the Intelligence Briefing Course,
without projected assignment where the skills taught might be
utilized. Instructors also grumble a bit about ad hoc require-
ments from Agency rnanagers, expecially in connection with the
Effective Written English course. But, they try to comply with
customer requirements and are generally credited with doing a
good job by their customers.
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r
,, ,
Information Management Section
Two CIMS instructors comprise the Information Management
Section (IMS) which exists solely to support DO needs. A
vacancy notice has been issued fora training assistant for
IMS, a new position which will lighten the heavy workload of
the single TA/secretary now on duty in CIMS.
IMS has some problems needing attention. It is physically
isolated from the rest of the school owing to reported inability
of the GSA to complete reconfiguration of space allocated to
accomodate the small IMS staff. But, the most vexing issue
facing IMS is the difficulty of keeping current with changes in
the UO information management system. Although the DO has
been insistent that its employees be trained in records manage-
ment -- and is on record with OTR as desiring centralized
information management training for DO employees at various
stages in their careers -- there has been a diminishing enrollment
in the basic Operations Records I and Operations Records II
courses. OTR has coped with this by reducing the number of
scheduled runnings of these courses. And the Chief, IMS, fears
his course content is outdated owing to inability of the
section to obtain from the DO up-to-date information on changes,
modifications, plans, and other actions in the DO records system
A dialog is underway with the Information Management Staff of
the DO to correct this situation.
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Since a dialog is already under way, we see no need for a
formal recommendation addressed to the DDO. However, we
support IMS in its desire to bring about the following
improvements:
-- Training in records management for mid-level officers
to discourage them from setting up records systems at
variance with the DO regulatory records system.
-- Support, by senior DO officers, of the efforts of
lower-level employees to use proper records management
procedures in which they have been trained.
-- Discontinuance of the use of 201 files as principal
repositories for information on operational activities.
-- Encouragement of maximum utilization of micrographics
at field stations to reduce paper holdings.
-- Furnishing of prompt and complete information on a
continuing basis to CIMS/IMS on the DO records system
and related training needs.
CONE~~~~".A.a
~~~.
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INTELLIGENCE TRAINING
Intelligence Training (IT), a major OTR subcomponent under
the Deputy Director for Intelligence Training (DD/IT), has a
complement of forty employees and is divided into two organiza-
tional elements--the Intelligence School and the Information
Science Center. The Intelligence School, comprised of three
branches and twenty-three employees, conducts twenty-eight
courses with several runnings each year of each course. Among
these are such well known courses as the Advanced Intelligence
Seminar, the Senior Seminar, the Midcareer Cours~;'China After?
. _ _ --
Mao International Economics, and Intelliyence Analysis. The
f rmation Science Center, with twelve employees, conducts ten
courses for the Agency and the Intelligence Community and
supports the curricula of other community members. These
courses stress the application of information science and
systematic methods of analysis in collection and analysis of
intelligence, and in management, operations, and support
functions.
Intelligence Training is well organized with clear lines
of delegated responsibility and authority. There is positive
evidence of good management control and communication both
downward and upward. IT leadership encourages creativity and
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initiative. Reflected in many interviews of IT employees was
a sense of accomplishment and effectiveness, unusually high
morale, noticeable esprit, positive motivation, and a unanimously
favorable reaction to the similar management styles of the
(then) Deputy Director for Intelligence Training and the
Director of Training. We were advised by employees of long
tenure that this relatively new management team was like a
breath of fresh air and that considerable credit was due to the
Director of Training for "turning around" what used to be a
stagnant, less-than-challenging activity.
In almost every case, officers on rotational assignment
with IT from other Directorates are happy with their assignments
and feel that they are making valuable cont ributions to the
Agency mission. But, we also noted a strong perception here,
as elsewhere, that rotational assignments are career damaging.
We found in IT a comprehensive and effective mechanism for
course evaluation by students, and our review of student
evaluations revealed consistently positive reactions to course
effectiveness and usefulness. To make an independent check, we
contacted twenty-five Agency graduates of Information Science
Center courses and received a very positive reaction. These
findings were passed on to OTR.
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Intelligence School
The Intelligence School (IS), recently reorganized,
comprises three elements--the General Intelligence Training
Branch (GITB), the Seminars Branch (SB), and the Intelligence
Production Support Branch (IPSB), the latter created in response
to a requirement for more substantive training for NFAC analysts.
At the time of inspection, the newly-appointed Chief of the
Intelligence School, a veteran and highly respected OTR
officer, was in the process of switching from substantive
teaching to a management role. We found his school functioning
smoothly and effectively with IS employees working nicely as a
team.
A sensible application of student accountability to all
courses has been implemented, including the broadening orienta-
tion courses such as the Midcareer Course and the Senior
Seminar which pose unusual problems in applying accountability.
Initial difficulties resulted from an overly narrow and restric-
tive interpretation of what was meant by student accountability,
which led to considerations of incorporating tests and examina-
tions into these exposure-type courses--with attendant, valid
fear of damaging course objectives. A broader interpretation
of student accountability prevailed and is successfully being
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applied i n the form of more student partivc~, ati on rpa ~ ~;,,,,~
--------r---
writing, group problems and discussions. Testing is reserved
for the more substantive courses.
There is some concern in IS regarding the student selection
process as carried out in the parent components. The perception
exists that too often student selection is based upon employee
availability rather than need. That there is some validity to
this view is borne out by the candid admission of one Directorate
Senior Training Officer (STO) that it is sometimes necessary
to produce last-minute students, known as "stuffers," and not
always qualified, to fill spaces in OTR courses. OTR and its
customers are well aware of this practice which is not confined
to courses of the Intelligence School. We believe the sort of
close contact now maintained between OTR and the STOs is the
best insurance that'ihis practice will be held to a minimum.
With a few exceptions, we found staffing in the Intelligence
School tight but adequate. Additional courses or additional
runnings of established courses should probably not be atttempted
at present staffing levels. Because of the very recent reorgani-
zation in IS, its branches are still in the process of sorting
out responsibilities and assignments.
For various reasons including staffing constraints, there
has been a trend from substantive teaching of the sort
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exemplified by the China After Mao course. Replacing such
substantive training has been the orientation-configured course
r--~------- - -------~_. _r _ ~ _ ~ ~ .~
l~~ j,,'
a particular field or'discipline.* Some moves back in the
direction of more substantive teaching are already underway as
in the case of the new Intelligence Production Support Branch
which deals with intelligence analysis and international
economics. We were also informed that OTR is keeping a weather
eye out for substantive instructors as new hires.
General Intelligence Training Branch
The General Intelligence Training Branch (GITB), with
eight employees, handles ten orientation-type courses ranging
from Introduction to CIA to the Midcareer Course and the new
Perspectives for New Supergrades. GITB has recently taken
over responsibility for the CIA Today and Tomorrow course. On
the average, the Branch trains some 1250 employees a year in
36 runnings of its scheduled courses.
*This trend has led to the emergence of what one senior OTR
officer termed "instructors with clip boards who spend their
time in the rear of classrooms," who schedule and introduce
guest speakers rather than instruct. It has also given rise to
charges that training assistants should be paid salaries more
in line with those being paid to "instructors" who do not
instruct, but, rather, function essentially as T/As.
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t ~o-~~i~
Frequently GITB courses are the initial orientation Agency
employees receive regarding the nature and business of intel-
ligence in general and the Agency in particular. Thus, they
are both an acculturation and a substantive learning experience.
GITB is constantly revising the content of its courses to
ensure that its presentations are factually accurate and that
the selection of topics is current. The Branch has also been
revising its courses to provide for greater student participation,
and a parallel effort is being made to increase the degree of
actual teachiny participation by the Intelligence School staff.
We found in GITB a very thoughtful and positive perception of
student accountability and its application.
Specified runnings of the Introduction to CIA have been
given with "signers" to facilitate the training of deaf employees
and special considerations have been made for the participation
of the blind.
Seminars Branch
The Seminars Branch (SB), with a staff of six, is responsible
for five seminars--the Advanced Intelligence, Ambassadorial,
Chiefs of Station, Deputy Chiefs of Mission, and CIA Senior
Seminars.
In large part because of the additional workload connected
with increased student accountability -- Senior Seminar reading
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material preparation alone, for example, has tripled in volume --
clerical staffing in the branch was found inadequate. The
full-time training assistant and part-time clerical employee
cannot handle the workload during peak load periods. A similar
clerical overload was noted with support provided two briefing
officers who report directly to the Chief, Intelligence School,
and under peak load conditions in the Information Science
Center. Because of such clerical staffing shortfall and its
cyclical nature among components, we suggest a "swing" clerical
employee be made available to IT to help whatever component may
be in need.
Intelligence Production Support Branch
The recently-established Intelligence Production Support
Branch (IPSB), with five employees, handles thirteen courses
ranging from intelligence analysis to international economics
and specialized area division seminars. We found IPSB focusing
on the design of a new group of courses in response to a
requirement for more substantive analyst training. The main
difficulty seemed to be lack of clearly defined requirements
for these courses intended to improve the intelligence production
process. Conflicting NFAC views were encountered -- one
tending toward external training and field experience, the
other emphasizing internal substantive training in the analytical
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process, the mechanics, and the methodology of production. A
senior NFAC professional is needed, and has been requested by
OTR for rotational assignment to IPSB to lend stature and
credibility in implementation of the proposed curriculum. As
of this writing progress is being made in definition and design
of the new course package, with a scheduled first running in
June 1979.
~S ~`
v
Information Science Center
s ~~ r
The Information Science Center (ISC) was oriyinall,~`
located at the Defense Intelligence School, remaining there
until 1972 when it was relocated to the Chamber of Commerce
Building. The Center is equipped with 34 remote control
terminal devices connected to computers at Headquarters, other
Intelligence Community Agencies, and commercial time-sharing
facilities.
The Center offers ten courses, ranging from the applications-
oriented Information Science for Managers to the more theoretical
Systems Dynamics, dealing with relatively new methodology and
its application to current problems, especially those related
to production and management of intelligence. Other courses
emphasize the application of quantitative analytic techniques,
such as statistical analyses, probability functions, operations
research techniques, and simulation. The popularity and renown
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of these courses and of ISC prof essionalism are widespread in
the Intelligence Community, itself ISC's major reservoir of
talent.
As noted earlier, Agency graduates of ISC courses, when
questioned for their views on the usefulness of this specialized
and sometimes controversial curriculum, were highly positive
in their appraisal. A question concerning direct applicability
to the jobs held by these former students evoked a less positive
response, but future potential was seen as promising. Our
interpretation of these results suggests ISC training is
especially useful in that it exposes people to the availa-
bility and possibilities of automatic data handling. Whether
or not components or management can fully appreciate automatic
data processing at this time, ADP is now accepted as fundamental
to the future of intelligence collection and production.
Credit is due to the Chief, ISC for his role as catalyst in the
acceptance process. He is an innovative and untiring missionary --
a "t rue believer" in this important methodology.
Sixty percent of the students attending ISC courses are
from non-Agency elements of the Intelligence Community. And
pressure continues from community members to expand this
important training further into the community although ISC is
strained to the limits of prudence. Of the ~taffers and
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community background prior to joining the Agency--we found only
one non-Agency rotational provided by the Intelligence Community.
We believe this eight percent resource contribution by the
community to be inadequate relative to its sixty percent
student attendance and additional training support provided by
ISC to community elements.
Recommendation 9: That the Director of
Training initiate and forward through
appropriate channels to Intelligence
Community member agencies, a request for
rotational positions and qualified candi-
dates to fill such positions in the
Information Science Center, with a view
toward achieving a more equitable balance
between the Agency and other community
members in staffing this center.
We found ISC with almost no headroom for its highly
specialized technical professionals. Rotation or assignment
out of ISC into other OTR elements, or in the reverse direction,
is difficult because of this specialization. Furthermore, some
of the more recently hired ISC professionals had to be hired at
the GS-13 grade level which the Deputy Director for Intelligence
~~
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Training and ISC management, alike, feel is below that commensu-
rate with the qualifications and capabilities of these employees.
In addition, we noted in ISC some uneasiness concerning personnel
evaluations, counseling, and career development, which may be
heightened by perceived separation of ISC from the main body of
UTR. This latter problem appears to result in large part from
the unique technical specialization of ISC personnel and the
Center's orientation towards the Intelligence Community, as its
major customer and source of talent, rather than the Agency.
All of these factors reduce to a future potential morale
problerri for ISC. We suggest that UTR continue actively to seek
PP~iCD upgrading for ISC professional positions.
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We suggest that Chief,~~ hold similar meetings about
twice a year and that he give employees who may be reluctant to
speak out an opportunity to submit questions or topics anonymously,
in writing.
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The Training Assistance Staff (TAS), provides clerical
support and successfully -- indeed, almost miraculously --
handles the immense amounts of written material generated by
the training process. Its training assistants provide essential
continuity, easing considerably the breaking-in of newly
assigned instructors. Each training assistant works under the
direct supervision of a specific course coordinator, but
fitness reports on all training assistants are prepared by the
Chief, TAS, with verbal input from the instructors. We suggest
that the Chief, Operations Training Division, assign the
course coordinators as fitness report rating officers for
training assistants, and ensure that job performance input
from the Chief, Training Assistance Staff is included on those
aspects of the work of training assistants which are not
directly overseen by course coordinators.
Analysis of Operations Training
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Instruction in clandestine operations is very good.
Students of the December 1978 OC graduating class cited the
experience, dedication, and teaching ability of their instructors.
And our inspectors monitored numerous instructional sessions.
The instructors convey up-to-date operational techniques as
actually ernployed in DO field installations. The currency of
course content is ensured by the presence on the staff of so
many instructors fresh from operational tours and determined to
"tell it like it is."
Integration of tradecraft instruction with operational
and intelligence reports training is first rate.
We were favorably struck by tine constant exchange of views
and ideas among the instructors, within and between branches,
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thus guaranteeing that all ideas and concepts receive serious
and objectively critical examination, leading in some cases to
implementation in the courses. The instructors, in most cases
armed with lesson plans and having participated in joint
planning sessions with their colleagues, were well aware of the
basic points to be conveyed to the students. Lesson plans
which need updating, as a number do, are compensated for by
instructors who are, by experience, in most cases thoroughly up
to date.
The informal yet highly effective collegial process operating
in the instructor staff was particularly impressive during the
course of our inspection as OTD wrestled with its new Operations
Management Seminar, a replacement for the defunct Senior
Operations Course. This course was constantly being critiqued,
revised, and improved on a near-real-time basis during its
first running. And, since its student body was largely made up
of officers with extensive experience, their views were welcomed,
given full consideration, and melded into the revision process.
The Operations Training Division is still plagued with an
old problem which arises from the understandable desire of DO
cornponents to see their areas of concern featured in the
training curriculum. As a result, OTD management constantly
must seek to balance the time available for training against
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revise the Operations
Course schedule to include specific
time periods for preparation and
completion of contact reports and
operational messages.
the desires of UO managers. We find a consensus among the
instructors that at least one week should be added to the OC.
Lengthening of this course, however, would impact on the
scheduling of the Career Trainee Program. Recognizing the need
expressed by the instructors for more time, we suggest that the
Chief, OTD and the Chief, Career Training Staff consult on the
matter to see if, and how, the OC should be lengthened.
We looked carefully into the frequently stated view that
OC students are being overworked nd did not find this to be the
case. But, many of them are often, by choice, working on
written assignments into the
early morning hours. And several instructors mentioned
that students sometimes fall asleep in 8 a.m. training sessions.
Students spend an inordinate amount of time rewriting and
polishing contact reports and operational cables. Such intensive
redrafting is not in line with field reality.
Recommendation 11: That the Chief,
Operations Training Division,
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Lectures by officers occupying senior positions in the
Directorate of Operations form an essential element in operations
course instruction. Students avidly look forward to such presen-
tations, which should have both instructional and motivational
value. We are concerned that in recent appearances a few of
these senior officers have not been adequately prepared. Others
are ineffective speakers. This situation leads to lectures which
are neither instructional nor motivational. And there is,
naturally, reluctance to "bell the cat" -- to inform any senior
official that his performance was rated poorly by the students.
Recommendation 12: That the Deputy
Director for Operations Training,
in cooperation with the Directorate
of Operations, ensure that all DO
officers who lecture to the Operations
Course are aware of the need to be
fully prepared, and that following
guest lecturer presentations, summaries
of student evaluation comments be sent
by sealed envelope to DO lecturers, with
a view to improving their presentations.
We further suggest that OTR and the DO review whether it is
better to put before the UC senior DO officials who may not be
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-- Whether enough emphasis is being placed on impersonal
communications training (as previously mentioned in
this section)
-- Relative emphasis on accepting and training students
regardless of their operations potential versus
tougher assessment during training and weeding out of
those who lack such potential (as mentioned under
Evaluation of Students).
-- Whether it would be more effective to schedule interim
desk assignments of DO-bound students after completion
of the OC instead of continuing the present practice
of inserting such assignments between two phases of
operations training. (Some instructors believe the
students would learn more in an uninterrupted course.)
We are impressed with efforts of OTR to obtain feedback
from graduated students and their supervisors in the field on
the adequacy and relevance of operations training. But these
efforts are sporadic and informal, and results are often
received too late. We suggest that the Deputy Director for
Operations Training and the Senior Training Officer of the
Operations Directorate work together to develop a more systematic
method of documenting any inadequacy or inapplicability of
operations training and ensure that information along these lines
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is forwarded promptly to OTD for review by the Academic Council.
The instructors in OTD are fully aware of their responsibility
to improve training in any way possible.
Our inspectors devoted a great deal of attention to the
quality of the officers who teach OTD courses.* We found
overall quality high, and supervisory officers in both OTR and
the DU expressed their commitment to continue efforts to
improve instructor quality, mindful that future effectiveness
of the DU will depend to such a large degree on the quality of
training given to the Agency's new operations officers. We
note, also, that senior officers in the DO and OTR are aware
that minority and female operations officers, with abilities on
par with those of the current instructional staff, are needed
in OTD. The absence of such instructors has been a subject of
continued concern, but little effective action has resulted.
Minority and female students look for like persons among the
instructors and find none. All students would benefit from
interaction with such officers in the training cycle.
It is evident that improved selection procedures are
responsible for the acknowledged improvement in the quality
of OTD instructors. We find, however, that these instructors
are concerned about their evaluation and career progression,
*The OIG team n served as an instructor and Tradecraft
Branch Chief in the period 1959-1963.
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issues treated elsewhere under Rotational Tours With the Office
of Training.
0
*Not to be equated with the Introduction to Operations Course
which is for junior Agency personnel.
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Despite a standing policy that 10-days lead time should be
allowed for art work, the artists who work in the visual aids
section, TSB -- a very competent crew whose work is highly
appreciated -- receive too many crash requests for instant
cartoons, charts, posters, slides, and so forth. We suggest
that the Chief, TSB, with the support of Chief, OTD arrange to
log in all work requests levied on this shop and, working back
from data reflected in the log, i.e., by interviewing the
transgressors, seek to cut to an acceptable minimum the volume
of hurry-up art work requests. The artists, themselves, lack
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managerial clout, and it would be unfair to expect them to
resolve the situation. One solution might be to require all
requests for instructor aids to be approved by the OTD Instruc-
tional Development officer.
Instructional Development
An Instructional Development Officer, formerly attached
to the now-decentralized Instructional Development Branch at
OTR Headquarters, is assigned to the OTD front office
complex. Describing himself as a quality control officer,
this officer sees his job as ensuring that OTD is teaching
the right things in the right way. We believe he should
concentrate on developing teaching skills of the instructor
staff, and on course design and construction, leaving course
content to others with more experience in intelligence work.
This officer was not well used in his early months
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His theoretical approach to instructional technology found
little understanding and acceptance. Niore recently his
expertise has been well applied to instructor training and
efforts to improve the Introduction to Operations Course and
the Operations Management Seminar. He should also be
enlisted in the necessary campaign to update and improve
lesson plans and other instructional materials. We suggest
that OTD instructors and course coordinators be encouraged
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to make maximum use of the talents of the Instructional
Development officer.
Updating and Revision of Training Materials
A problem of long standing in operations training, which
applies in OTD and the Covert Instruction Division, alike, is
the need to keep training materials up to date. Unfortunately,
instructors who are actively involved in teaching rarely find
enough spare time to update such materials. In OTD an effort
has been made to improve lesson plans, with some success.
More needs to be done along these lines. When our inspection
was underway constant complaints, emanating from instructors
and students, were made about the Tradecraft Notebook, or
TCNB, which is supposed to set forth the "how to" of the art of
clandestine intelligence collection. We were assured that the
TCNB, was being revised or about to be revised. We were also
told that this revision was long overdue, that the task has
been neglected. Our review of the TCNB confirmed that
revision is necessary.
We also encountered frequent complaints about out-of-date
movies which some instructors are reluctant to show. We
suggest that the video capability of the Technical Support
Branch, and the OTR's Instructional Technology Division, well
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employed, could produce adequate replacements. In a few cases
this has already been accomplished.
Having heard that the OTD library maintains in its vault a
classified memory bank of training materials used in earlier
courses, we checked on how often this collection was consulted
and found that it is rarely used.* We did not check on other
training materials from the past which are archived
Uur concern, echoing that of a number of instructors, was that in
frequent. and necessary changes of training courses some valuable
training materials with timeless validity might be lost sight
of and, ultimately, forgotten. We believe that along with its
quest for new cases and other up-to-date materials, OTD would
be well advised to review materials used in past courses.
We suggest that OTD seek to hold on to two or three veteran
instructors, after completion of their training tours, and employ
them full time for up to six months to determine training
material needs, review materials used in previous courses, and
revise and prepare new materials as required. We believe that
'f
if U~tD could resist the temptation to use such veterans in the
classroom or in live problems, they could make a major contribution
to improving training materials.
*The library itself, a first-rate facility, is well run and well used.
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Evaluation of Students
OTD has a highly structured and generally effective method of
evaluating student performance. Evaluation forms, or "blue
sheets" in OTD parlance, are prepared on each student performance
by instructors who play the roles of operations officers and
agents or agent candidates. At the end of the long courses, OC
and MOTC, final evaluation sessions, sometimes lasting a full
day, take place. At these sessions -- we sat through those
for both courses -- instructors who serve as counselors for
individual students read to the assembled instructor staff the
final evaluations they have prepared on the basis of the total
assessed performance of their student charges. Since all
students will have had their performances evaluated at some
time by most instructors, a synthesis of the "blue sheets,"
blended with other information available to the instructor
counselor, yields a quite thorough and generally objective final
evaluation report. Each report is discussed, revised as
required, and consensus is usually reached. In a few cases
students of questionable fitness for operational careeers have
squeaked through despite the objections of some instructors --
Academic Council consider giving more attention to the weeding
out process versus the "train what we get" approach. And, as
we have also set forth in our suggestions to the Academic
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Council, there is strong opposition (9 to 1 in a poll in the
Tradecraft Branch) to assigning a numerical class ranking to
students. We believe such ranking is a mistake but that there
is merit in identifying those students who clearly fall in the ~
upper and lower sections of each class.* We also believe that
any student shortcomings should be addressed forthrightly in
final narrative evaluations.
The evaluation system is quite good as it stands. With a
modicum of improvement it could be excellent.
Summar
Operations training as conducted 0 is, in the opinion
of our inspectors, top rate -- a jewel in the OTR panoply for
which many deserve credit and can justifiably take pride. The
quality of leadership in OTD and of the instructors who are
charged with training new generations of operations officers is
most impressive. We believe that the entire
OTR generally are largely justified by this program.
*The March 1979 National Academy of Public Administration
report on the CIA Personnel Management System notes (on page
38): "Many supervisors whose employees are so ranked have
indicated that the system is not capable of being that finite,
that rankings are not needed for the middle group, and that the
anguish involved is not worthwhile for either employees or
supervisors."
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CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF INTELLIGENCE
The Center for the Study of Intelligence (CSI), although
not a training activity is satellited as a staff element under
the Office of Training and occupies cornfortable, appropriate
quarters on the tenth floor of the Chamber of Commerce Building.
The CSI -- the Agency's "think tank"-- is dedicated to
the proposition that intelligence as theory, process, and
profession merits vigorous study. Under its present guidelines
the Center's mission is defined by the following parameters:
-- study and development of long-range issues
of professional doctrine and institutional
policy
-- documentation of institutional memory with
systematic rationalization of experience
-- constructive use of informed dissent
-- professional enrichment of the individual
officer through research, reflection, and
articulation of ideas
The small permanent staff of the CSI is augmented by DCI
Fellows on rotational assignment who produce monographs on
intelligence topics in a form suitable for publication. The
Center also sponsors seminars and conferences and prepares
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special studies on request for the DCI and DDCI. The quarterly
journal Studies in Intelligence has been brought under the CSI
wing with its editor now assigned as Deputy Director of the
Center. The Editorial Board of this journal serves concurrently
as the Board of Advisors to the CSI.
At the time our inspection began the new Director of
the Center had been in place only eleven working days and the
Center was bereft of DCI Fellows. More recently its marching
orders have been sorted out and a new crop of fellows has
arrived after half a year of relative inactivity during which
only one 12-page paper on the Agency's history program was
produced for the new DDA. As of this writing several DCI
Fellows are busy at work on research projects in the Center.
While there is some question regarding the wisdom of
placing the CSI under OTR, since it is not a training activity,
we recognize that a unit of this sort has to be satellited on
some component in order to receive administrative support. In
view of the excellent office space made available by OTR and
the relative isolation afforded by the Chamber of Commerce
Building -- conducive to the sort of research activity to which
the CSI is dedicated -- we believe the present configuration
makes sense. We suggest that the OTR front office take special
care to facilitate an unhindered flow of paper to and from the
Center.
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THE OTR PERSONNEL SYSTEM
The OTR Personnel system, managed by the Deputy Director
of Training at the time of the inspection, is a highly
structured, formal system which functions reasonably well in
practice but which falls short of enthusiastic endorsement
by UTR personnel. The principal complaint about the system
voiced to our inspectors was that it was run by a "Personnel
Czar." We believe this criticism was overdrawn. We also
believe that a change in chairmanship of the Career Board,
effective 1 May 1979, will cause such criticism to abate.
Under thie system an MT Career Service Board, chaired by the
DD/TR, evaluates, ranks, and recommends for promotion OTR profes-
sional personnel (except contract language instructors) and
technical personnel at grades GS-lU and above. This board also
prepares the OTR Personnel Development Plan (PDP). Technical
and clerical personnel in grades GS-06 through GS-09 are evalu-
ated by the MT Career Subgroup Panel as are clerical employees in
grade GS-05 who have been in the Agency at least three years.
Additional panels have been set up for contract language instruc-
tors,
and DO careerists on rotational assignment to OTR. All personnel
are ranked twice yearly and promotion recommendations are made at
that time.
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Under the career counseling program, an important part of
the system, each employee is counseled at least once a year.
Letters of Instruction (LOI) are updated at the time of prepara-
tion of annual fitness reports and, at the same time, employees
are told where they stand in the rankings and what adjectival
"descriptor" has been assigned to them. A memorandum is prepared
on each counseling session and copies are supplied to supervisor
and employee. Supervisors, as well as designated OTR career
counselors, are charged with counseling responsibility. A
series of OTR instructions, setting forth the details of the
system, has been well circulated.
We found this system working quite well although there is
some slippage. A number of employees complained of inadequate
counseling, especially following receipt of Fitness Reports
indicating need for performance improvement. We suggest that
all supervisors in OTR be reminded of their responsibility to
counsel employees whose performance needs improvement on a more
timely basis -- perhaps quarterly -- in line with OTR Instruction
20-1 of 7 March 1978 which reads, in part:
"counseling by supervisors with respect to
performance. .should not be generally
relegated to a single discussion at the
time of the annual Fitness Report."
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In a very few instances we detected some tendency to ignore
"problem" employees rather than to seek to help them. The system
needs some improvement in this area.
Most persons who expressed views on the subject did agree
that the present personnel system is much better than what
proceeded it -- and they rightly credited the (then) DU/TR as
the one person most responsible for the improvements.
Filling Vacancies
OTR Instruction 20-4, 14 September 1976, sets forth
OTR policy on filling vacancies. The mechanics of this
system are well thought out and fair. Yet, there is a widespread
perception among OTR personnel that vacancy notices are not to
be taken seriously. Indeed, they are all too often dismissed
as "a joke." Furthermore, in some OTR components we received
complaints that vacancy notices are seldom seen or that they
arrive too late to be of any use.
The prevailing "corridor wisdom" is that the vacancy
notice system is largely a sham and that, more often than. not,
before a notice circulates a decision has already been made by
OTR higher ups as to who will occupy the available position.
This cynical view is unfair; our inspectors met several persons
who obtained their present UTR positions by responding to
vacancy notices. Yet, there is an element of truth in such
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charges as was brought home graphically when our inspectors were
informed, by the chief of a major OTR component, precisely who
would be assigned to a vacant position -- and were then told by
the same officer that his office would, of course, "go through
the motions of advertising the position" by issuing a vacancy
notice. Several disgruntled employees subsequently charged,
after issuance of the vacancy notice, that it had been "tailored"
to favor one person -- the same one the component chief had told
us would be given the job.
Cynicisrn about vacancy notices is not just an UTR problem;
indeed, we have seen it worse elsewhere. And we can formulate no
specific recommendation that will solve this problem.
Frequent Turnover of Managerial Personnel
When a component of the proportions of OTR is subjected to
a major reorganization, a number of people are inevitably moved
to different positions. The domino effect of such movements is
recognized and accepted. Nevertheless, we encountered throughout
OTR strong criticism of the extent and rapidity of managerial
turnover. Repeatedly employees and managers alike pleaded for
more continuity in managerial assignments. Such expressions
were particularly pronounced in Functional Training. While
sympathetic with top OTR management's desire to put the best
available people in key positions, we suggest that further
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shuffling of component chiefs be held to a minirnum. Having
taken the necessary time to learn their units and identify
problems to be solved, managers in OTR need time to run their
components and address the problems. Employees, too, need the
security of some continuity in their front offices.
Rapid and Unannounced Changes in Personnel Assignments
Another problem with the OTR Personnel System relates to
the rapidity of personnel changes and the fact that they have
been decided upon without the knowledge of the personnel
involved. We heard many complaints, particularly in the OTR
Headquarters complex at the Chamber of Commerce Building,
that people are often assigned to different positions without
prior warning of those concerned, including their supervisors.
In several cases we were assured that it is not uncommon for
someone to be informed on Friday that he or she is to report to
another office on the following Monday. The reported incidence
of such cases is probably exaggerated, but the prevalence of
corridor wisdom about such transfers is proof that OTR employees
believe it is common practice. We suggest that the planning
which must go on before transfers are effected should include
notification of the employees concerned as well as their present
and contemplated supervisors, and, insofar as is consistent
with the needs of the organization, that employee transfers be
made with the approval or acquiescence of those concerned.
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Minority and Female Employment
OTR management is conscientiously trying to improve its
affirmative action performance. The moderately high levels of
minority and female employment are in part serendipitous --
owing to the high percentages of women, Orientals, and hispanics
in the Language School
the working relationship of blacks and whites
OTR has sought to elevate the levels of responsiblity of female
and minority employees but recognizes it can do better. To its
credit, OTR has brought ten of its fifty black employees onto
its rolls in the last two calendar years.
We found no evidence of discrimination but did note that
minority employees are reasonably pleased with the affirmative
action program expressing their belief that OTR management is
trying to improve opportunities for advancement.
Most
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ROTATIONAL TOURS IN THE OFFICE OF TRAINING
A problem of long standing derives from the strong
perception, in many cases firm conviction, that a rotational
tour in the Office of Training is not career enhancing;
indeed, that it is positively career damaging. Such feelings
are especially pronounced among DO officers, although our
inspectors found similar views echoed in interviews of
employees from other directorates serving rotational tours
with OTR. The most common, simplistic expression of the
problem was, "Out of sight, out of mind." And the perceived
result was lack of promotion. '
Despite these feelings, we found rnost employees on
rotational tours happy to be with OTR, sharing with the
majority of OTR careerists the sense of doing something
very worthwhile and doing it well. The typical DO officer
in operations training finds his work satisfying and assign-
ment as an instructor its own reward. We believe, however,
that many DO officers who have much to offer, avoid assignment
to OTR, and thus lose out on this exhilarating experience,
owing to the prevailing wisdom that their careers will
suffer.
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Recent promotions of a high percentage of eligible DU
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are bound to help, given the effective-
Hess of the DO grapevine. And we strongly endorse the policy
of the present DDO/ADDO team to carefully screen all candidates
for instructor assignment and send "eminently promotable"
officers to OTR. The crop of new instructors in the
Operations Training Division appears to meet this description.
We believe that officers of similar qualifications should
be steered into the Covert Instruction Division wi~ich seems to
be even more "out of sight."
Many measures to deal with real and imagined drawbacks of
rotational assignment with UTR have been considered through
the years, and in setting forth the following we are aware
that our ideas are not necessarily original. We suggest,
however, that OTR and the DO (and other directorates as
applicable) apply the following measures:
-- Formalize as an optional consideration
for promotion, completion of a rotational
tour with the Office of Training. (An idea
proposed as far back as 1973 by the then
Chief, WH Division, DO)
-- Assign qualified officers to OTR tours
as soon as possible following promotion
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(to lessen concern about marking
time away from the parent directorate)
-- Limit rotational tours to no more than
3 years, preferably to 2 years to keep
instructors from going stale and from
incurring a competitive disadvantage
-- Assign officers who have completed
rotational tours to good field or Head-
quarters positions, which represent a
step up.
-- Place in the official personnel file
of each officer who has successfully
completed a tour in OTR a written testi-
mony of achievement and appreciation
siyned by the Director of Training and
the appropriate Deputy Director.
Some instructors suggest a promotion quota be established
for DO officers on rotational training assignments. We do not
believe this would be wise. We do believe, however, that
the DDO and ADDO should continue to ensure that their personnel
evaluation panels are imbued with the view that training
future generations of DO officers is as important as any other
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assignment a DO officer can hold. When possible, representatives
instructor staff, or officers who have
served there in the past, should be named to the panels.
Finally, we believe it would be wise to select more
lower ranking officers, say at the GS-12 and GS-13 level, for
assignment
Such officers would be closer in age to
their students, perhaps better equipped to "relate" to them, a
matter of special concern to today's young. Furthermore,
officers of this grade level would have less serious impact on
OTR's personnel headroom problem than those at the GS-14 and
GS-15 level. They would, accordingly, be more welcome.
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CQNFII~~l~I~Ir
THE LANGUAGE SCHOOL
Established in 1951 and now one of three components
reporting to the Deputy Director for Functional Training, the
Language School is made up of
employees including
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part-time and intermittent personnel. It exists primarily to
teach Agency employees to speak, read, write, and/or understand
a variety of foreign languages. A secondary mission is to
test the language proficiency of Agency employees. In addition
to the Office of the Chief, with some nine employees, there
are three Language Departments -- Romance, Slavic and Germanic,
and Near East and Asian. Each has its own Chief, Deputy, and
Training Assistant.
We encountered some opinion that the school does not
belong or fit in Functional Training or, for some, even in OTR.
In part, such views result from a sense of alienation rather
than from any organizational shortcoming.
The Language School is the most troubled component in OTR.
When it became clear early in the inspection process that
something was amiss in this school, we decided to station an
inspector there full-time to interview at least 50 percent of
the employees, and be available and attentive to volunteers --
persons not chosen at random for interviews. In this endeavor
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we had the full cooperation of the Chief, Language School, who
brought the inspector into the family, arranging for attendance
at staff meetings, "all-hands" meetings, and other activities.
Once the word spread through the employee grapevine that the
inspector -- initially thought by some to be a Position Manage-
ment and Compensation Division officer -- was a person who
could be trusted, we had a steady stream of persons wishing to
be interviewed. Many, apparently irnpressed with the attention
paid to their concerns, came back repeatedly for follow-up
interviews. These people had a lot to say; they unburdened
themselves. In the pages that follow we set forth many employee
perceptions -- for that is clearly what they are -- because of
their prevalance and the extent of employee conviction that
they are accurate, and because we believe management awareness
of such views is essential to addressing problems in this
School.
Some Language Training Statistics
A major problem is the shortage of full-time students.
According to the annual report of the Language Development
Committee, from which we borrow heavily in these paragraphs, in
FY 1978 the number of students enrolled on a full-time basis
decreased 21.6 per cent from FY 1977 -- to 171, the lowest
level in the last five years. This decline was particularly
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evident in Chinese, Greek, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Thai, and
Turkish. There was an increase in German and Portuguese.
Enrollments in part-time language training, conducted at
Headquarters, increased 3.6 per cent over FY 1977 levels.
A trend toward shorter periods of training for beginning
full-time language students continued. Many components enroll
students for periods less than the course length advertised
in the OTR catalog of courses. Of the 101 full-time beginning
level students who "completed" training, only one quarter
remained for at least 85 per cent of the advertised course
length, compared with more than one third in each of the
previous two years. Completion of part-time training is also
a problem. Only 58 per cent of those enrolled in the liead-
quarters Language Program remained in training long enough to
receive training reports which are given after 10 or more hours
of i nstructi on.
In the Language School today the average full-time student
load is fewer than two per instructor. Some instructors have
no students. In many cases we found a one-to-one instructor-
student ratio. And we found some employee resistance to
language training. Some DO employees are convinced that to go
into long-term language training is to miss out on promotion.*
*The Office of the Inspector General is looking into this
subject separately.
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Others consider that knowledge of foreign languages is a
low-priority career concern, unnecessary for successful
performance of most jobs in the Agency. The DO, which accounts
for 70 per cent of the language training load, is well aware of
these problems. A June 1978 memorandum for the DDO, entitled
Foreign Language Skills Requirements of the Operations Directorate,
states, in part, that "the reduced ceilings of the operating
components and continuing intensive requirements for production
and performance raise questions about the components' ability
to free their people for language (and other) training."
Suffice it to note that the lack of students in language
training courses is, for OTR, essentially an externally gener-
ated problem.
Confusion About the School's Mission
The mission of the Language School is to teach and test,
with emphasis on the former. Yet we found a number of instruc-
tors who feel that the primary mission -- teaching -- has
become less important over the past few years. Several language
instructors said that they had been advised that teaching
accounted for only 35 per cent of the work on which their
performance was judged in fitness reports. After checking
this out with Language School management, which explained that
the correct figure was 50 per cent, we suggested that all
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instructors be informed specifically of the importance teaching
ability is given in panel deliberations and fitness reports.
Instructor Views of the Front Office
We found instructors generally positive in their feelings
toward the Chief, Language School, a newly-promoted GS-16
officer who took over the position in September 1978. Among
his assets are openness, availability, and a puckish sense of
humor. He is a comfortable person to talk with, unassuming,
obviously interested in his people. We suggest that the chief
would be well advised to circulate a bit more in his school and
to arrange private interviews with all of his employees in the
next few months.
The Deputy Chief of the Language School, a GS-13 former
instructor of Spanish at the Foreign Service Institute who has
been at the school since 1970, also receives kudos from the
instructor staff. The fact that he has advanced through the
ranks is seen as a definite plus by instructors who see
some vindication of their importance in such a move.
As beneficiaries of so much employee goodwill, the team
now running the language school is in an especially favorable
position to "bring the troops along" as it addresses problems
besetting the school. As of this writing we believe they
are doiny well in this respect.
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Problems in the Departments
With one exception, the department chiefs and their
deputies, are relatively young people, quite new to the Agency.
All have impressive academic credentials. Although most of the
chiefs and deputies were new on the job at the time of the
inspection, strong negative opinions had been formed about
them. Their ideas regarding teaching methods and testing, their
youth, their alleged flaunting of academic degrees, their
unfamiliarity with Agency procedures, and their perceived
tendency to equate Agency students with college students -- all
have contributed to difficulties in the school. By and large,
when we interviewed them, the instructors held the managerial
capabilities of their department chiefs and deputies in low
esteem.
Department chiefs and their deputies, on the other hand,
expressed respect for the professional competence of those who
teach at the school. The chiefs, aware of factors that might
be offensive to some of the instructors, found themselves in
the awkward position of trying to supervise primarily foreign-
born people, products of various alien cultures, many of whom
are considerably older and have far more experience in teaching.
They recognized that their new approaches to teaching and
testing were bound to be threatening in the views of some
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instructors, particularly the older ones with long experience
at the school. We do not believe, however, that the chiefs or
deputies were aware, prior to this inspection, of the extent of
the instructors' resentment.
We heard a great deal about lack of leadership in the
departments. Some instructors were frank to admit that, in the
absence of leadership and in view of the willingness of depart-
ment chiefs to let themselves be manipulated, the tougher, more
determined instructors frequently win out in the "power game"
in the Language School. Several instructors, who said they
could manipulate their department chiefs, admitted that they
were not happy with this state of affairs.
Charges that no one was in control in the departments led
to statements that instructors could "do their own thing."
"Doing your own thing" seemed to range from being able to
choose any textbook or course materials, to being able to
select or reject the students one wanted or did not want,
refusing to teach more than a certain number of students in a
particular class, being unwilling to teach at Headquarters, or
being able to choose any non-teaching project one wished to
undertake.
A perception held by enough instructors to compel its
inclusion here, is that over the years department chiefs have
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exploited the instructors -- appropriated ideas from them,
promoted and benefitted from these ideas, and then moved on to
better jobs. Repeatedly we heard that the chiefs used the
school as a jumping off place, the inference being that they
were unconcerned about the instructors or students. This
allegation was expressed most often by persons connected with
the Language School fora number of years. We did not find any
evidence to support it.
The departrent chiefs and their deputies were generally
considered by the instructors as ineffective in dealing
with problems of the instructors and students. Some were
allegedly too weak or too eager to please. Others were seen as
aloof, diffident, unable or unwilling to communicate with
instructors or students. Several instances of department
chief ineffectiveness in dealing with problems in their baili-
wicks surfaced in the inspection but are not set forth here.
We encountered complaints regarding favoritism, especially
in connection with external training for instructors. Questions
such as who gets to take classes, which classes, where, what
gets paid for by the Agency, and who gets paid a salary while
taking training abroad were brought up and discussed. We did
not explore these charges but did bring them to the attention
of management. We suggest that the Chief, Language School
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insure that clear guidelines are issued regarding external
training for language instructors and that they be applied
consistently.
Another instructor complaint was that none of the chiefs
or deputies had taught at the Language School before assuming
their present positions. This situation was seen as leading to
treatment of instructors and students as though they were in
college, and chiefs and deputies were seen as incapable of
identifying with the faculty.
We suggest that the department chiefs and deputies use
every method at their disposal to get to know the instructors,
to immerse themselves in the instructors' problems, and to
keep abreast of what goes on in the classrooms. It would
appear that only through getting to know each other better will
the tension between the two groups lessen.
Management Turnover
A frequently voiced complaint among instructors and staff
personnel was that leadership of the Language School had been
changed so often that essential consistency and stablility at
the top was impossible. Most who remarked on this churning of
management felt that the degree of personnel turbulence in the
school requires leadership continuity if it is to be reckoned
with. The so-called "game of musical chairs" is interpreted by
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some instructors as confirmation that they do not count for
much in the overall OTR scheme -- that they really are second-
class citizens. Frequent changes in managment have also been
upsetting to the managers themselves; and the effect of
turnover has been to leave continuity with the instructors.
Constantly having to adjust to new supervisors was specif-
ically pointed out by school personnel as a major factor in
what they, themselves, perceived as low morale in their school.
Instructor Workshops and Projects
Workshops have been instituted by the linguists who serve
as department chiefs and by the Chief, Testing. Among those
constituting a core course for instructors are four on testing,
basic and advanced instructor workshops, and one designed to
bridge the gap from classroom drill to effective communication.
Other workshops are contemplated, including one in effective
written English. Attendance is voluntary; however, some
instructors said they feared that if they did not attend they
would receive lower fitness report ratings. Some said they
preferred to spend their time preparing for classes but that
peer pressure compelled them to attend the workshops.
The newer instructors tend to view the workshops favorably.
Veteran instructors are generally negative, terming the sessions
variously as ridiculous, child's play, a waste of time, in-
sulting to their intelligence, or of very limited usefulness.
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We suggest that in the future instructors be given a chance to
evaluate or critique, anonymously, workshops they attend. We
also suggest that the Chief or Deputy Chief of the Language
School attend the pilot runnings of future workshops to check
on the value of such sessions.
At the time of the inspection, activities of a wide
variety, labeled as projects, were under way in the school.
These included preparation or revision of textbooks and glossa-
ries, updating of tests, and preparation of visual aids. In
most cases there appeared to be no clear focal point for
determining which projects should be undertaken, nor did there
seem to be an effective system for checking on progress.
Some projects seem to be forgotten and quietly die. Others
are completed but have no impact. There is little sharing of
project results -- and scant knowledge of what is being done --
among the three language departments.
We suggest that a better system of initiating, publicizing,
scheduling, monitoring, and sharing of project results be set
up by the Chief, Language School, and that definite time frames
be instituted for completion of projects. We also suggest that
the Language School publish an account of projects completed or
in process and encourage instructors to make use of this
work.
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The Senior Instructor Concept
Initially implemented in the Romance Languages Department,
the senior instructor concept -- long in existence in the
Foreign Service Institute -- whereby one instructor in certain
languages is made pre-eminent, was recently applied throughout
the school. We found considerable concern and confusion
about this innovation, especially since the departments appeared
to differ somewhat in their views of the purposes and proper
uses of senior instructors. In one department, senior instruc-
tors were initially responsible fcr (1) reviewing requests for
training and assigning students to classes, (2) training and
coordinating the training of new instructors, and (3) communica-
ting with appropriate Headquarters offices to bring about an
increase in the number of students. Instructors were told that
the establishment of such positions would enable thern to
participate (1) in the defense of the existing pay grade
structure, and (2) in the process of making the school more
cost effective, especially through recruitment of language
students at Headquarters.
Some instructors were worried that the senior instructor
system would represent a layering of "bosses" between them and
their department chiefs -- and that these new additions to the
hierarchy might be involved in preparation of fitness reports.
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Others saw the senior instructors as mere messengers for the
department chiefs and a means of pushing work down to the
faculty. And some senior instructors, themselves, felt awkward
in the role -- did not like being put above their colleagues.
We suggest that the Language School better define the
need for and the role of the senior instructors and try to
communicate this to the teaching staff and directorate training
officers. We also suggest that the concept be applied on a
trial basis and that its advantages and drawbacks be examined
carefully after a one year test.
The Instructors and Their Career Considerations
language instructors are mostly foreign-
born. Women outnumber men in a seven to one ratio. Many cling
to their native cultures ar~d traditions and work in an "alien"
environment; others have made efforts to become assimilated
into the American scene. The majority of the instructors have
spent all or most of their workiny years in language instruction.
All of the instructors are contract employees, acutely
aware of termination clauses in their contracts. They feel
insecure. Some are afraid of speaking out for fear of being
fired. Many find it difficult to communicate with their
department chiefs who are often seen as incapable of under-
standing the problems that trouble instructors. And management
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moves to grant the instructors more initiative are in some
cases seen as threatening.
Career prospects for the instructors are limited.
Few have moved out of language teaching into other Agency
positions and a realistic appraisal of the qualifications of
most of the instructors leads us to conclude that they will be
best employed if they continue in their present line of work.
The Language Instructor Panel ranks instructors competitively
twice a year. During 1978 only two instructors were promoted;
to date in 1979, only one. The bleak promotion outlook has
been amply reviewed for the instructors by management; indeed,
? some resent being told again and again that they have scant
chance for advancement.
Despite the prevailing gloom in this respect, Agency
instructors are better off than others doing similar work. The
average U.S. government grade for language instructors is
GS-U7/5; in the Agency it is GS-10/3.
Many instructors have fond memories of a personnel officer,
since retired, who was located in the Language School area and
served their career counseling needs. Since the retirement of
that employee, no personnel officer has been assigned directly
to the school, and we found many instructors unaware of the
existence or identity of the personnel officer on the tenth
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floor who is charged with personnel matters for the school. We
introduced this officer to several instructors and have since
learned that word has spread about his interest in helping on
personnel matters. Additionally, the Deputy Chief of the
Language School does personnel counseling, but some instructors
are reluctant to seek help or advice from anyone inside the
school.
Creditable Service Toward Retirement
In early years of Language School operation instructors
were not covered under any retirement plan. According to
several instructors, the aforementioned personnel officer
attempted to remedy this situation before retiring. Forms
setting forth the details of individual cases were forwarded to
the Contract Personnel Division and, according to the Office of
Personnel, were turned over to the Office of General Counsel
for a determination of what service could be credited for
retirement. We talked with a personnel officer familiar with
the problem, who said he telephones UGC from time to time to
ascertain the status of the request for an OGC ruling. We
su est that the Chief, Language School follow up on this
matter and keep the instructors informed of developments.
The Yellow Badge Problem
About 1969 certain instructors who were needed to teach
language classes at Headquarters were issued Staff-type clearances.
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The practice has continued with the result that some instructors
have internal or "I" clearances and blue badges, like most
Agency personnel; the rest hold external or "E" clearances and
yellow badges. Herein lies a major morale problem in the
Language School. Yellow-badged personnel feel treated as
second-class citizens, a term we heard so often as to expect it
to come up in any instructor interview. They are confined to
the Chamber of Commerce Building, unless escorted, where they
may go only to the second, third, and fourth floors, the
seventh floor snack bar, or to the Personnel and Security
Offices on the 10th floor. In order to go to other Agency
facilities they must be accompanied by someone with a blue
badge.
At the time of inspection 18 instructors had yellow
badges. Their service with the Agency ranged from 2 to 14
years. One was naturalized 18 years ago. Another was married
to a member of the Career Trainee program. With but one
exception, the yellow-badged instructors interviewed said they
resented not being allowed to have blue badges. One, ashamed
of his yellow badge, routinely puts it into his pocket when he
passes the guards in the morning and leaves it there all day.
Others said they "feel funny" on the elevators and uncomfortable
upstairs, one reporting that she could hardly wait to get back
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down to the lower floors, knowing that she does not "belong"
upstairs. Blue badges have prestige. Yellow badges are seen
as confirmation that the Agency trusts the bearers less. We
heard some grumbing about the "unconstitutionality" of discrimin-
ating between American citizens.
Whenever possible the Language School requests "I" clear-
ance for instructors because such clearance is more convenient
for all concerned. And we note that at the most recent OTR
yellow badged employees were invited
to attend for the first time, a welcome sign to them that they
were moving closer to being full-fledged members of the OTR
fami ly.
We recognize the security problems inherent in hiring
foreign-born language instructors who have relatives in
such countries as the Soviet Union. Eiut those with yellow
badges have many unanswered questions which should be addressed.
Some want to know if they can request upgrading to "I" clear-
ance status without jeopardizing their employment. Others say
they have asked for an explanation of why they were denied
staff-type clearances but have received unsatisfactory replies.
Some "think" (but do not know) that full clearance was denied
because of relatives in Eastern Europe, the Near East and the
Far East. We suggest that the Chief, Language School, working
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with Office of Security representatives, seek to respond to
Language Training
Most foreign language teaching is done at the Chamber of
Commerce Building in Arlington where good classroom facilities
are available. Full-time and part-time classes are held from
Monday morning through Friday noon. As a recent innovation,
Friday afternoons are kept free for students to return to
Headquarters to attend to office business and for instructors
to attend meetings and workshops.
The Language School has the capability to teach 26 foreign
lanyuages. Class size varies from one to seven students.
Job-Related Language Training
The school is working to make its instruction more job-
related. Tradecraft terminology has been introduced in total
immersion courses, and some instructors are now teaching agent
meeting, debriefing, walk-in, and diplomatic scenarios. Other
instructors are developing intelligence glossaries to bring
their teaching more in line with operational reality. Within
the bounds of security, students are encouraged to indicate
special interests, such as economic intelligence, so that more
useful vocabularies can be taught. Amini-operations course
for instructors, to familiarize them with the needs of the DO,
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is scheduled to be held in the summer of 1979. We comrnend this
joint OTR/DO effort.
Headquarters Language Training
Five languages are taught by seven instructors to part-
time students in the Headquarters building: Chinese, French,
Spanish, Russian, and German. Headquarters instructors are
busy and report that their students work harder, are more
disciplined, more serious, and have fewer absences than students
at the Chamber of Commerce Building. (We noted that these
instructors tended to ignore the high drop-out rate indicated
in statistics set forth earlier). One instructor ascribed the
better motivation of these part-time students to the fact that
they are mostly volunteers.
Better morale is apparent among the instructors at Head-
quarters who have plenty of students and are busy teaching.
Total Immersion Training
The Language School has conducted total immersion programs
during the past six years. Only
one such course, a four-week program in French, was held in FY
1978. These programs usually run from three to four weeks and
have as their main objective improving conversational skills.
Uther objectives are to give the students confidence, broaden
their vocabulary, and give them an opportunity to apply the
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language in operations-related exercises and activities.
Ninety-nine students have taken total immersion training; of 69
who started at the S-2 level, 35 (51 per cent) have reached
S-3.* Some instructors consider this program ineffective and
not worth the cost and effort. Students, on the other hand,
tend to rate the program highly, pointing out how useful it is
to be brought up to speed in such a short period, especially
just prior to transfer abroad. We think the program is very
valuable and necessary.
The Language Laboratory
The Language Laboratory, open 24 hours a day, provides a
soundproof, comfortable atmosphere where students can listen
to tapes or make and play back recordings for instructional
purposes. The laboratory is well used in conjunction with
formal classroom training. Students are assigned specific
time periods when they are expected to use these facilities.
The laboratory has reel-to-reel tape duplicators, a cassette
duplicator, and some 20U cassette recorders for use by students
in home-study programs.
The laboratory is headed by a training aids specialist
who supervises three other employees, acts as support officer
and orders materials as
*Students are graded on a standard government scale running
from 1, elementary, to 5, native or bilingual.
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required. The supervisor also serves as control officer for
films belonging to the Office of Central Reference and is
responsible for equipment and tapes in the Self-Study Center at
Headquarters. He is chafing under the GS-09 position ceiling.
During FY 1979 the Language School plans a major switch
from reel tapes to cassettes, a modernization move which will
require about $27,000 in new laboratory equipment.
Training Materials
The school is using inadequate, in many cases outdated,
traininy materials to support some courses. Repeated pleas by
instructors for up-to-date video tapes and motion pictures have
largely gone unanswered. Visits by Language School personnel
seeking video tapes from the FSI have not been fruitful. Now
plans are afoot to secure audio tapes from the Army Language
School. Television programs, which would seem to be easy to
record in foreign cities, have reportedly been promised but
not delivered. We have learned, however, that the school has
recently received some tapes from overseas posts.
Action is indicated in this matter. We suggest that
someone in authority be specifically charged with procuring
current training materials.
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Problems of Planning and Course Discipline
The Language School has always had difficulty planning,
especially in anticipating DO requirements. We heard many
comments regarding the "impossibility" of planning in an
atmosphere of last-minute requests, cancellations, or mid-
course withdrawals of students. Contributing to the problem
is the school's reputation of being willing to do almost
anything at any time for anybody -- a good reputation to have,
in our view.
Lamenting the high drop-out rate, particularly of students
from the DO, people at the school look enviously at the course
discipline enforced in the Defense Language Institute and the
Foreign Service Institute where most students start and finish
in accordance with catalog schedules. We suggest that other
Directorates be encouraged to adopt the recent DO procedure
of requiring joint OTR/Directorate permission for any student
to withdraw from any full-time language training. And we
endorse that portion of the June 1978 DO memorandum on Foreign
Language Skills Requirements of the Operations Directorate
which mentions that "OTR should bring to the attention of the
sponsoring component significant problems encountered with a
student... The necessity for discipline in language training
should be stressed on components as well as students."
~CONFI~~NT~~L
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The Language Proficiency Cash Award Program
Since 1971 the Agency has made cash awards to encourage the
study of languages. In FY 1978 some 84 awards were granted for
a total of $61,450. We encountered strong criticism of this
program in the Language School, centering on charges that
pressure on students to gain a certain proficiency level to
qualify for a cash award -- and on instructors to certify that
proficiency -- interferes with the teaching/learning process. In
some cases the program is seen as unnecessarily rewarding
students for acquiring a tool they would have to acquire in any
event to be successful in their assignments. OTR is attempting
to revamp the Language Proficiency Cash Award Program.
Language Testing
Two kinds of tests are given at the school--proficiency
tests and achievement tests. Proficiency tests evaluate
competence in a given language regardless of where it was
gained, measuring oral and reading comprehension and speaking.
In cases where the school lacks testing capability, Agency
employees can usually be tested at the Foreign Service Institute
(FSI). Achievement tests are given to students upon completion
of a certain number of lessons or textbook chapters.
In FY 1978 over 40 language instructors participated in
internal training courses, or workshops, on test development,
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proficiency testing, and testing techniques. Testing is one of
the most controversial issues in the school; we heard many
complaints of "empire building" in relation to testing. Staff
and instructors disagree on numerous aspects of testing including
whether tests should be given at all, what kinds, how, by whom,
to whom, how they should be graded, and how many persons should
be assigned to work on testing.
All instructors at the school do testing. Some do it
well; others do it poorly. Some instructors allegedly find it
difficult to give other instructors' students good grades.
Some of those who are perceived as unfair testers have not been
called to account by their department chiefs, in some cases, we
were told, because the young chiefs lack courage to confront
older teachers who might become highly emotional if their
abilities are questioned. Many instructors complained that
testing had become more important than teaching, that it
interferes with teaching, and that there are too many people
telling the instructors how to test. One frazzled instructor
assured our inspector that fifteen different persons had tried
to~instruct her how to test.
At the time of the inspection there was a full-time Chief,
Testing with part-time training assistant help. Until recently
the chief had at his disposal approximately half the time of a
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linguist who has since been appointed a deputy department
chief. Another linguist, whose doctoral thesis concerned oral
proficiency testing, is available for testing assistance as
required. Despite claims that the school could use five people
to do necessary testing work, the testing establishment has
dwindled. The position of Chief, Testing has been abolished
but testing will, of course, continue. Avoiding the building
of a testing "empire" in the Agency Language School seems to us
a sensible move.
Proficiency Tests
Two kinds of proficiency tests are given. Oral interviews,
given by two instructors -- or three where there is disagreement
about grading -- normally take from 10 to 30 minutes. Reading
proficiency tests last up to three hours. Test scores are made
a part of the permanent records of employees tested. The
school also has a capability for field testing through tape
recordings. Except for testing of students at the end of
language courses, proficiency testing is done only at component
request. Some 1200 employees are tested each year. In 1978
tests were administered in 31 languages with 70 per cent of the
effort concentrated in four languages: French, Spanish,
German, and Russian.
At this time oral testing is receiving special emphasis,
and "grammar grids," especially useful in non-Western languages,
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are under development. Oral interviews are tape recorded.
Despite allegations to the contrary, none of these interviews
is videotaped except in connection with teaching of testing
techniques--and then only with permission of all persons
involved. We also heard that two-way mirrors are used to
observe interviews, another false rumor. We suggest that
management reassure instructors and persons being tested that
no such activity is indulged in.
Scoring of oral interviews is highly controversial. The
controversy sterns mostly from perceived lack of objectivity or
favoritism on the part of the testers and a tendency of those
being tested to overestimate their abilities. We also heard
charges, which we were unable to substantiate, that some oral
proficiency test results are skewed in favor of higher ranking
officers such as those scheduled to go abroad as Chiefs of
Station.
Written Reading Proficiency Tests
At the time of inspection some 32 written reading profi-
ciency tests were available at the school, some over 20 years
old. Some have not been updated because the instructors lack
time or the school lacks instructors with requisite language
skills. Some of the tests contain outdated information;
some include old-fashioned language forms. Consideration has
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been given to borrowing tests from the Defense Language Insti-
tute or contracting out for development of new tests.
A number of achievement tests are also outdated but
progress is being made on revision. An achievement test
construction workshop was run for the first time in September
1978.
Improvements in Testing
In FY 1978 new reading comprehension tests were under
development in German, Italian, and Spanish, and a French test
was being readied for field testing. In cooperation with NSA
others have been developed for use by Office of Personnel field
recruiters. A prototy pe oral test for use overseas was developed
and scheduled for field testing in two African Stations.
We do not set forth here much of the additional information
on testing, largely controversial, we obtained during interviews
in the Language School. It appears that too much emphasis may
be placed on being able to speak, read, and write languages
flawlessly rather than to conununicate effectively. In this
connection we note that while some of the Agency instructors
cannot speak English well, and a number do not handle the
languages they teach at the native fluency level, they do a
good job of teaching and are able to communicate effectively in
English.
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Customer Evaluation of Lan uage School Effectiveness
Component training officers whom we consulted regarding
the effectiveness of Agency language training were complimentary
about the Language School. In addition to their satisfaction
with language training they lauded the school's cooperation and
willingness to accommodate directorate needs. Mention was made
also of improved performance evaluation and better communication,
especially with the department chiefs. We found the training
officers fully sympathetic with planning, drop-out, and student
shortage problems vexing the school, and anxious to help
alleviate these problems. Several of these officers criticized
the Agency system for identifying language needs and assessing
language capability -- the Unit Language Requirements (ULR)
system -- but did not blame the school for alleged drawbacks of
that system.
The Future of the Language School
We believe that the best course for OTR to take in seeking
solutions to problems in the Language School is a carefully
tailored approach, specifically identifying objectives, assign-
ing responsibilities, and setting forth accomplishment goals
and a timetable for their completion. And we are hopeful that
this chapter will be useful as a point of departure.
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Those who lead the school and OTR face a challenge which
if not addressed promptly, could result in serious deterioration
of employee morale and effectiveness. Such existing formal
entities as the Inter-Agency Language Round Table, the Linguis-
tics Committee, the Language Development Committee, and the
Language School Faculty Advisory Committee should all be
utilized as appropriate in addressing tine school's problems.
Increased utilization would, alone, probably cause many of
the magnified problems besetting the Language School to recede
into relative unimportance.
Co~~g~_?
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