DEPARTMENT OF STATE/BUREAU OF INTELLIGENCE AND RESEARCH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00530R000200240013-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 28, 2013
• Sequence Number: 13
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/03/22 : CIA-RDP90-00530R000200240013-5
DEPARTMENT OF STATE/BUREAU OF INTELLIGENCE AND RESEARCH
1. Critical Events: The Bureau of Intelligence and Research
(INR) has more of a history of stability than change. The most
important event in terms of staffing was the Foreign Service Act of
1980. Its "up or out" provision creates an incentive for FSOs to
opt only for those career moves that are most likely. to lead to
promotion. Service with INR is not perceived as such an assignment,
,and few Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) bid for the Bureau's slots.
2. Personnel Vital Signs: Attrition among the 243 civil
service intelligence staff is low - only three to four positions per
year. Attrition for the 93 FSOs is built into the assignment
schedule. Generally, departmental assignments are for up to four
years, or two two-year assignments.
On the civil service side, the Assistant Secretary himself
defines the long tenure of some staff as something that contributes
to the Bureau's reputation for 'staleness.' There is not, however,
an aggressive program to prepare less senior staff to pick up from
these long-time experts when they do in fact retire.
Staff are largely intelligence analysts, intelligence
liaison and intelligence support personnel. INR uses linguists, but
none of other three shortage occupations (engineers, computer
specialists, mathematicians).
Of the 336 total staff, 64 percent are women and 22 percent
minorities. Fifty three percent of the civil service staff are
women as are 25 percent of Foreign Service staff. Twenty five
percent of civil service staff are minorities, as are 13 percent of
the Foreign Service staff.
3. Compensation Benefits Program: Civil Service Staff are
covered by Title 5 and thus adhere to the GS schedule and standard
health and life insurance benefits. The Foreign Service Schedule
is the basis for FSO pay, which was revised upward with the Foreign
Service Act of 1980.
4. Future View of Workforce: INR expects the greatest change
to come from the growing use of automated information handling
systems, which will affect how analysts receive, store and prepare
material. Ultimately, there should be less clerical support needed.
INR has not assessed anticipated skill shifts, and notes
that this is partly because the last five budget cycles have been
times of shrinkage rather than growth. They note that because they
have not been asked to provide justification for new positions, they
have not looked ahead as much as they would have in a growth period.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/03/22 : CIA-RDP90-00530R000200240013-5
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/03/22 : CIA-RDP90-00530R000200240013-5
5. Current Personnel Initiatives:
6. Agency Perspectives on Problems: The Bureau believes it
could alleviate entry-level recruit shortages by maintaining their
own register of intelligence specialists, but State does not plan to
request such a shift from OPM in the near-term.
There are some internal management problems associated with
the performance appraisal system and the lack of similar expectation
standards for similar jobs throughout the Bureau.
The Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research says
INR's biggest management problem is that it controls no overseas
positions and "displays the talents of its analysts largely in an
intelligence community arena where reputations may be excellent but
irrelevant in the next (FSO) job."
7. NAPA Project Staff View of Problems: The question of a
blocked register is one for State's Personnel Director to act on
with OPM, and the Department has reportedly decided not to do so.
All other defined problems could be addressed more proactively
within INR by actions such as: more direct retirement counseling
for senior civil service staff (including coursework in the
subject); concerted effort to train junior staff to develop the
expertise of the more senior employees so there is not a knowledge
gap when the latter do retire; and better management of the
performance appraisal and promotion processes.
The Bureau also needs to more actively define the skills it
will need to meet changing technology of the intelligence field and
the changing demographics of the U.S. workforce.
In general, the issues raised by INR are only marginally
related to the overall thrust of the Intelligence Community Human
Resource Management Study.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/03/22 : CIA-RDP90-00530R000200240013-5