HOUSE VOTES INCREASED CIA WORKER BENEFITS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP71B00364R000500220013-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 21, 2000
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: October 19, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Relea 20 0/09/ 4 : CIA-RDP71 B003 4RO0500 0 J
FEDERAL TIMES, 19 October 1966
''The Weekly Newspaper for Civilians in Government"
V-. use Votes IncreaSe
_ Worker Benefits'..,
By Bill Andronicos
WASIIINGTON - The IIouse has passed a bill which
would give Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employees ce -
twin benefits similar to those Servi etandeotl other tain benForeign
efiper-
sonnel. The measure now goes to
the Senate.
The bill-designated as II. R.
116306 and titled "Central Intel-
ligence Agency Act Amendments
of 1966"-amends the CIA Act of
1949. In its 20 sections-mast of
which are unrelated to each other
-the measure includes many var-
ied provisions.
In summing up the functions of
proposed CIA legislation during
discussion on the house floor, Rep.
Philip J. Philbin (D., Mass.) de-
scribed it as a bill designed-to do
one single thing and that is, at-
tempt to place CIA people in the
same position as other government
employees who live and work un-
der substantially the same condi-
tions.
Actually, nine of the bill's see-.
tions do nothing more than bring
the. CIA Act into conformity with
appropriate modifications which
have been made to the. Foreign
Service Act, and four sections
.-merely conform the CIA Retire-
ment Act to recent changes made
in the Civil Service Retirement
Act. Another section provides for
the settlement of claims overseas..
One, new authority. permits. the
r' Agency to pay the travel ex-
penses of officers and employees.
of the Agency and members of
their families while traveling for
rest and recuperation from a
st ip post to an area having
hardsh
re
different environmental condi-
tions. Such travel Is limited to
one round-trip during any con.
tinuous' two-year tour, and two
round trips during any' contin-
uous three,-year tour. The For-
eign Service Act already includes,
such authority for Foreign Serv-
Ice personnel.
,Under the new bill, the Agency
will pay the travel expenses of the
family accompanying, preceding,
or following an officer or employee
if-while enroute to his Post of
assignment-he is -ordered tem-
porarily for orientation and train-
ing or is given other temporary
duty. This authority, too,
Pro
vided In the Foreign Service Act,
for Foreign personnel.
Not Infrequently, assignment of
CIA employees to their permanent
pasts of duty requires a deviation
from the most direct route to an-
other Agency post in order to pro-
vide orientation and training. Un-
der. existing law, the family of the
CIA employee must either wait in
the United States or proceed ahead
of him to the permanent post.
Section 105 of the bill thus would
permit the payment of travel ex-
penses for the family to accompany
him to the interim stop-off point.
Another important change in the
bill concerns home leave. Existing
law grants authority to the CIA
to order employees home leave
upon completion of two years' con-
tinuous service abroad. Section
108 of the new measure would
raise this to three years for posts
which are somewhat comparable
to the United States, and would l
authorize ordering an employee for
home leave at 18 months in the
case of hardship posts.
TILE BILL also ,changes the
policy concerning travel expenses
of, employees who suffer Illness or
injury abroad. Under the present
law, the Agency is permitted to
pay expenses for such employees
where a suitable hospital exists.
However, hospitalization some-
tines is not required, but medical
care is needed. Consequently, Sec-
tion 107 would eliminate the limita-
tion of hospitalization and sub-
stitute "medical care." This benefit
is also extended to dependents.
The same section also provides
for. the payment of the cost of
treatment for such illness or injury
of an employee-not the result of
"vicious" habits, intemperance, or
misconduct-and, in the case of
dependents, pays the cost of treat-
ment, but with a $35 deduction .
and a maximums limitation of 120
days of treatment. ,
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 ..
roved For Relea_ 200 09/1 CIA RDP71 B00364RO0,050022-00-13-75--
limitation, however, does
This
not apply where it is determined
that-the illness or injury is caused.
by the fact of location of the de,
pendent in the-foreign area. The
extension of both travel and treat-
ment expenses to dependents Is
new.
Another provision of the bill.
would permit necessary orienta?
tiori and language training for
members of an employee's family
where this is considered neces-
sary because of the particular
duties of the employee at the
new assignment post. Normally,
this training would be restricted
to the employee's wife. ,
Insofar as policies on advisory
personnel are concerned, the CIA
currently uses the National Secu-
rity Act of 1947 to appoint advisory
committees and other advisory per-
sonnel. Under Section 109 of the
new law, this authority would be
placed in the CIA itself, and at
the same time, would remove the
limitation of $50 per day. .
Payment under the new, tan--
guage in Section 109 would in-
crease the limit to $100 a day, thus
matching the amount paid in sim-
ilar situations by such agencies as
the Atomic Energy Commission,
the Federal Aviation Agency, and
the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration.
Section 110 would provide a new
authority for the Agency which
would permit an individual to
transfer from another department
or agency to CIA for a specified
time, agreed upon by the two
agencies, and upon completion of
the assignment, afford the individ-
ual statutory protection in reem.
ployment.
Testimony. before a ? House com-
mittee indicated that this authority
would he of considerable assistance
in filling critical engineering and
scientific positions . during emer-
gencies.
ANOTHER new authority within
the bill-provided within Section
111-relates to the settlement of
claims abroad. Today, CIA has no
authority to settle claims for loss
of, or damage to, real or personal
property or for personal injury or
death. This section would provide
that authority to a limit of $10,000.
This kind of authority-in one
form or another-is available to
the State Department, as well as
to the military departments.
. The sections under Title II of
the new bill deal entirely with
the Central Intelligence Retire-
ment Act. It should be understood,
however, that the CIA, has two
retirement systems: the regular
civil service retirement for the.
vast majority of its employees and
its own CIA retirement system, for
a relatively small number of em-
ployees.
Concerning retirement systems,
Section 202 does three things:
? Eliminates the requirement
that a child be dependent upon a
parent retiree in order to receive
a survivor annuity. The support
requirement was eliminated from
the Civil Service Retirement Act
by the 89th Congress.
? Raises from 21 to 22 the
maximum age for receiving survi-
vor annuity payments as a student
and increases from four to five
months as the maxinnun absence
from school which may be permii:-
'ted without terminating the sur-
vivor annuity. This will, enable
survivor children enrolled in tri-
mester programs to secure employ.
ment and earn money without los-
ing their annuity.
? Permits a natural child to
share in the distribution of any
money in the CIA retirement and
disability fund. 1.J ll l r the present
Net, a natural child is permitted
to receive an annuity, but it is not
entirely clear with respect to lump-
sum benefits. This would correct
such a deficiency. A similar pro
vision amending the Civil Service
Retirement Act was approved by
the 89th Congress.
Section 203 of the proposed Act
permits. the annuity. of a widow to
continue in the event of remar-
riage. This is similar to the law
applicable to survivor annuitants
under the Foreign Service Act,
and is in keeping with the plan
approved by the 89th Congress for
survivor annuitants under the Civil
Service Retirement Act,
Provision for the commence.
ment and termination date for a
child survivor annuity is made
under Section 204, which also
assures that the survivor annuity
of a student may be resumed.
even though it had previously
been terminated, as for example,
because of military service.: A
similar amendment to the Civil
Service Retirement Act was ap-
proved by the 89th Congress.
Under Section 205, a technical
change is made In the law which
will authorize annuity to start as
soon as the individual enters a
nonpay status. Under existing law,
an annuitant must wait until the
beginning of the month following
his date of separation. This will
conform the CIA retirement sys-
tem to the Civil Service Retirement
System in this respect.
According to present law; an
individual who transfers into the
CIA retirement fund from some
other government retirement sys-
tem can transfer his contributions
from the other fund to the CIA
fund, but there Is no provision for
transfer of the government con=
i tribution to such fund.
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Also, when an Individual trans-
fers from the CIA retirement fund
to some other government retire-
ment fund, there is no provision
for the transfer of either the gov-
ernment's contribution or his own
contribution to the non-CIA retire-
ment fund. However, Section 206
of the new law would correct this
situation.
THE PROPOSED measure also
takes into account the fact that
there is a small group of employees
who cone under the CIA Retire-
ment Act, and that these
employ- ees retire some 10 years earlier
than government personnel under
the Civil Service Retirement Act.
With few exceptions, these re-
tirees will need to seek a second
career. They do not acquire status
in the competitive service and
much of their experience and
competence cannot readily he re-
lated to normal government posi-
tions.
. Consequently, it is probable that
they would have to accept a gov-
ernment position, at least initially,
several grades below their position
in the CIA at'the time of retire-
ment. Section 207, therefore, would
authorize an. annuitant who is re-
tired from the Agency to be re-
employed in the government and
to retain the salary of the new
position, plus so much of his an-
nuity, which when added to the
.new salary, would not exceed his
salary at the time of'retirement,
For example, if a CIA GS-13
earning $12,893-retired with an
annuity of $6,000 and then enter;
other federal employment at the
GS-11 level - salary $9,221 - he
would actually receive only $3,221
`or his services. This section would
hermit the retiree to receive his
earned salary of $9,221 plus $3 652
of his "6.000 annuity brinhin him,
,in to his previous salary level of
'912.?73.
Whatever the case, this sec-
tion of the new law relates only
to a handful of CIA personnel,
and only to those who have
engaged In certain special activi-
ties.
Section 208 will help bring the
cost-of-living provisions of the
Agency's Retirement Act into line
with provision which currently ap-
ply to civil service and military
retirees.
During the first session . of the
89th Congress, the . cost-of-living
provision for military retirees was
amended to gear increases to
quarterly rather than average cal-
endar year Consumer Price In-
dexes. Later in that session, sim-.I
' ilar legislation was approved for.'
the benefit of the entire Civil Serv-
ice System.
 Approved For Releqse 2QQQ,109114 .-CL9-RDP_7aBO036.4F 050W200-1-3
TITLE Ill of the new law deals',
with the CIA pay system. The!
Central Intelligence Agency cur-1
rently is excluded from the Federal
Employees Pay Act of 1945, as
amended, by regulation of the Civil
Service Commission but not by
law. Section 301 would exclude the
CIA by law.
The Agency has developed a
salary administration p r o g r a m
which adheres closely to the prin-
ciples and standards of the Classi-
fication Act regarding the classi-
fication of positions, establishment
of entry salary rates, and the grant
of merit and quality step increases:
The program also conforms gen-
erally to the principles and stand-
ards of the Pay Act regarding pre-
mium pay and hours of work.
During discussion on the pro-
posed bill, another Congressman
who lent wholehearted support to
the measure was Rep: Leslie C.
Arends (R., Ill.).
In urging passage of the bill,
Arends said: "We are helping the
Central Intelligence Agency to
catch up with recent laws which
covered civil service employees
and the Foreign Service employees
of the State Department."
Arends acknowledged that the
CIA has come in for. some bad
publicity from time to time, but
added "the American peopler-be-
ing what they are-=this is to be
expected."'
"Of course a mistake has been
made here and there and I am
sure, that there is no one on the
' floor of the House today who will
not agree that this could also be
said of every other department of
the executive branch," Arends
said.
Insofar as the costs of the new
legislation are concerned, the meas-
ure would cost something less than
$240,000 for its first year, and ac-
cording to Arends, "there is no,
reason to believe that this amount
will be substantially exceeded in
the years to come
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