ESTABLISHMENT OF A CIA FAMILY LIAIISON SERVICE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP12-00651R000100150002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 41
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 28, 2013
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 29, 1979
• Content Type: MEMO

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UNLT
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
Establishment of a CIA
Family Liaison Service
FROM:
STAT
JIH I
6 F 43
ITO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
EXTENSION
NO.
DATE
STAT 1.
2.
3.
4.
DDO/EEO
2 C 20
C/CMS
2 C 20
90
2
29 October 1979
DATE
RECEIVED FORWARDED
n 197'
9 OCT 179
OFFICER'S
INITIALS
5.
Co.
DDO Registry
7 E 26
7.
ADDO
8.
9.
DDO
1.$
10.
JL
Executive Registry
7 E 12
12.
13.
DDCI
14.
STAT' 5.
b I' 43
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
FORM 61 0 USED7110/17S SECRET El CONFIDENTIAL
3-62 r--1 INTERNAL
USE ONLY 0 UNCLASSIFIED
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DD/0 76--1.11
ED
19 October 1979
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
VIA
FROM
SUBJECT
John McMahon, DDO
, CMS/DDO
EEO/DDO
Federal Women's Program Board
Establishment of a CIA Family
Liaison Service
1. Action Requested: The Federal Women's Program Board
(FWPB) recommends that a Family Liaison Service (FLS) be
established to respond to queries with specific information
or referrals to other CIA, Community, or other government
offices. This FLS will serve on a one-to-one basis for all
family members and all CIA employees, single or married.
The FWPB believes that providing an Agency-wide infor-
mation service will not only benefit Agency employees/depen-
dents by giving them information with which to handle problems
imposed upon them by a transient life but also will support
the CIA mission by addressing problems such as employees'
immobility and inadequate utilization of spouses' skills.
(See Tab A)
2. Background: The Federal Women's Program Board has
determined through extensive research including approximately
250 interviews that there exists a genuine need to provide
CIA employees and their dependents with a great variety of
family-related information. This material is necessary for
them to further adjust to foreign environments and ease
their return stateside. Currently this information is not
provided or provided incompletely or inaccurately. (See Tab B)
Two such offices have been established - one at the
State Department and a limited Family Liaison Office in the
CIA Office of Communications. Both have been very effective.
The FWPB believes that the CIA effort must be ?extended to
provide a similar information channel to encompass the entire
Agency. FLS will not only provide benefits - both professional
and personal - to CIA employees but also will benefit the
Agency as a whole.
STAT
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roma; Fm?i\T:'-rii-AT,
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Specific details as to costs, staffing, and benefits
of an Agency FLS are presented in Tab C. The rationale
in Tab A for an FLS represents the research of both the
FWPB and Ms. Sussman, contract psychologist with the Office
of Medical Services.
3. Recommendation: The FWPB requests that an FLS
be established as soon as possible. The Board is willing
to give its research, time, and effort to help establish
the Family Liaison Office.
Attachments:
a/s
APPROVED:
i'/''Dgput.y Director-of Central Intelligence
DISAPPROVED:
DATE:
CC:
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
19 DEC 1979
, Manager
Federal Women's Program
All portions of this document
are classified CONFIDENTIAL
ganivNois
OFFICIAL
FILE
COPY
"vi ?
IC
CA 3
STAT
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APPENDIXES
Tab A - Discussion
Tab B - Memorandum from CIA Contract Psychologist
Tab C - Staffing and Cost-Benefits
Tab D - Arguments Against A Family Liaison Service
And FWPB Responses
Tab E - List of Identified Information Needs'
Tab F - Memorandums of Support
Tab G - Supporting Information Provided by an
Instructor in the Current CIA Dependents'
Briefing Program
Tab H - Two Successful Family Liaison Offices
Tab I - Report by the Family Liaison Committee
Tab J - Report by the Forum of the Association of the
American Foreign Service Women
Tab K - Supporting Information Provided in the Report
of the Working Group on Working Married Couples
TAB L - Newsweek Article on Family Services
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Discussion
Survey of CIA Need: Because the Association of American
Foreign Service Women (AAFSW) conducted an extensive survey--
literally worldwide, involving thousands of replies--prior to
the establishment of the State Department Family Liaison Office
(FLO), the FWPB sought not to duplicate this survey but within
very limited parameters of time and manpower and the require-
ments of security to gather information specific to CIA from
staff members and non-Agency employed dependents through
individual interviews, directorate-working-group seminars, and
working lunches involving FWPB members and newly-returned or
departing spouses. The resulting information was compared
to the results of the State survey, "Report on the Concerns
of Foreign Service Spouses and Families," March 1977. Some
concerns of Foreign Service dependents were identified as
current and relevant to the experiences of Agency/employees/
dependents. Other problems were found to be unique to CIA
service.
Recommendation for Family Liaison Service: On the basis
of this survey, the Federal Women's Program Board recommends
the estab1ish4ant of a two-way communication channel addressed
to the needs of CIA dependents and single employees assigned
abroad or returning stateside. The FWPB strongly supports the
implementation of a Family Liaison Service that can respond
to a wide range of questions by providing specific information
or referrals to community services, other CIA offices, and
other government agencies. Up-to-date files will be maintained
so that much information procured for preceding clients can
be provided immediately accessible to dependents without
security clearances who otherwise are refused admission to
Agency buildings, and it will service all family members. As
the concerns of employees are identified, they can be transmitted
to management for mutual solution.
Identification of CIA Need: The FWPB survey found that
inadequately prepared CIA employees/dependents encounter strains
on their family life because of foreign-culture shock, terrorism,
negative US image abroad, and diminished economic benefits due
to worldwide inflation. Upon their return stateside, they
again face adjustment problems due to the increased pace of
daily living, and the rapidly changing US culture. These un-
anticipated adjustment problems can cause severe stress to
family members.
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Such stress diminishes employees'/dependents' ability to
cope, resulting for employees in 1) decreased professional
effectiveness, substantial numbers of returns short of tour,
2) increased reluctance to accept overseas assignments, and
3) increased numbers of resignations or separations from
service; and for families, a rising incidence of divorce and
separations, as well as early returns from overseas tours.
While divorce and other family problems may be considered
personal and private matters for Agency employees and their
dependents, the results in decreased employee effectiveness
are the concern of the employing agency.
Need for Specific Information: Under the present system,
information tailored to an individual family's needs is often
lacking. Information needs are complex for an American family
accustomed to every modern convenience that must adjust to the
simpler, tradition-bound cultures of Europe or the stark living
standards of developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin
America. Often, families have special needs, such as those of
a handicapped child or a wife with an established profession.
The questions of a married career officer with several children
are very different from those of an unmarried clerk-typist.
The type of cover assignment--diplomatic, commercial, military--
drastically modifies information needs. An administrative
ILLEGIB
in a division encompassing as many as 30 countries cannot
LLlL
Lain the large, timely fund of detailed information about
each country that families/employees need to adjust to new
locales with minimum stress and a minimum loss of effective
staff time.
Need to Ease the Period of Adjustment: A need exists to
? ease and shorten the period of adjustment after a change of
station of all family members, as well as for single staff
members by providing information that they need to function
effectively. As an information channel, a CIA Family Liaison
Service (FLS) would not provide solutions to family problems
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but rather would aim to provide specific information in response
to specific questions or to provide sources for such information
in order that staffers and their families can make their own
best decisions on personal and family matters. This infor-
mation provided during transition periods would help all
individuals achieve their personal and professional goals within
the limits of their environment at home and abroad, as well as
meeting their Agency responsibilities of security and cover.
Such information could be the basis for turning family members
into assets rather than handicaps for staff members in their
professional assignments. By improving the quality of family
decisions, such information could assist in assuring the overseas
survival of Agency family units, as well as single employees.
Need to Increase the Number of Mobile Career Employees:
Because many families depend on two incomes, information about
,jobs for dependents would encourage more families to take
overseas assignments. In some cases with knowledge that
special family needs, such as physical therapy or remedial
education, will be provided for, employees/families will make
decisions to serve abroad. Reduced stress during preceding
foreign tours will also persuade more families to continue
to serve overseas.
Need to Improve Efficiency: The current system's method
of providing information to only one member of the family unit,
the employee/head-of-household is inefficient. He may have
to return several times to the same office or search out
which of several offices in or outside the Agency can provide
answers to his questions during the busy time when he is
winding up one job, training and processing for another. Often
answers are incomplete. Queries to the field may be ignored,
answered inadequately, or given such low priority that there
is no response before the employee's departure time. Maximum
return on the expensive administration staff time used
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to gather the information can be lost since the information,
once obtained, may not be used again. Through referrals,
compilation of information, and staff expertise, an Agency-
side FLS can provide answers to a wider range of questions,
questions often left unanswered under the current system. An
Agency employee and his family can find in one location, through
a minimum number of contacts, information that the employee
now seeks--often unsuccessfully--in a series of visits and
several locations. By providing information quickly and con-
veniently from a variety of CIA, Community, and other govern-
ment agencies' offices, a FLS can save time for employees and
help to eliminate frustrations of family members. Once obtained,
much information can be added to FLS files, kept undated, and
reused.
Need to Serve Lower-Level Employees: Examples of employees
who are not getting necessary information include the ops
support assistant going out on a first assignment, the clerk-
typist newly arrived in Washington from a small, Midwest town.
These and other inexperienced employees are often hesitant to
take the time of busy, higher-grade administrative officers
or they are given minimum interview time. They may be ignorant
of what questions to ask, what information they need to know.
A FLS staff geared to provide information on a one-to-one basis
can give the information requested by the junior employee,
as well as offer guidance on topics the staff has identified
as essential.
Need to Reduce for Emergency Assistance: Based upon the
information available and specific to their families' needs
prior to their departure for a foreign assignment, some
employees may make the decision not to go abroad. Undoubtedly
these employees will include those with families reluctant
or hesitant to face difficult assignment, families without
the mind-set necessary for successful adaptation to foreign
challenges. Still, other employees will be better prepared
to meet the tasks ahead, thus reducing their chances for
failure. And some employees, previously reluctant to meet a
foreign assignment with too many family-related questions
remaining unanswered, will make the decision to become mobile.
The Agency will benefit, the FWPB believes, by reducing the
numbers of dependents and staffers needing emergency evacuation
and crisis treatment (both expensive processes that can be
seriously damaging to the success of the Agency's overseas
mission).
Need to Improve Employees'/Dependents' Morale: Establish-
ment of a FLS would demonstrate the Agency's recognition that
dependents are worthwhile, responsible members of the CIA team.
Cooperation of all members of family units is essential for
maintaining security with cover limitations during the long and
often difficult years of overseas assignments.
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Need to Reflect the Changing Role of Women: The changing
role of women in American society is adding urgency to the
need for change in the current method of providing information
to CIA's transient families. As American marriages typically
become a pay check partnership (particularly the well-educated
wives of the intelligendfe, well-educated career officers the
Agency aims to recruit) both spouses expect to assume more
responsibility in making decisions for the family unit.
Recognition by CIA of this changing female role is basic to
recognition that the free exchange of family-supportive infor-
mation with dependents is vital to maintaining a mobile cadre
of high-caliber career officers (both male and female) and,
in turn, to the successful fulfillment of CIA's mandated mission.
Need for Dependents to Communicate with CIA: Both the
report by the Association of American Foreign Service Women
(AAFSW) and the FWPB survey identified a need for an information
flow from dependents to the agency employing their heads-of-
household. An increased awareness of dependents' concerns by
CIA is necessary to foster a new and more productive relation-
ship.
Need Reduce Demands for Logistical Support: With more
accurate assessment of their needs abroad, an Agency family
or single employee could procure and include in an initial ship-
ment of household effects a maximum number of the basic items
that they will need overseas. Purchases made at stateside
prices generally mean substantial savings to the employees/
dependents and eliminate the personal stress of doing without
essential goods.
Need to Help,Maintain Comfort and Health for Employees/
Dependents: Adequately informed, they can take across-the-
counter medications such as antihistamines and the antibacterial
soaps so necessary in tropical climates, supplies for regimens
of allergy injects, or the names of medical professionals
sufficiently skilled to carry on orthodentry or physical therapy
programs already begun. These are only a few of the many
health maintainance needs identified in the FWPB survey.
Need to Minimize Setbacks and EasS-Transition for School
Age Children: School supplies procured in advance of departure
can equip parents to tutor their children along the way and
during the first weeks of a new tour until the youngsters are
enrolled and adjusted in new schools.
Need to Provide Financial Bene
I ? - - ? - s ? - ?
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Knowing
more about overseas posts, am_ les wou ? avole nappropriate
purchases., and make a maximum number of purchases at stateside
prices.
All portions of this document
are classified CONFIDENTIAL.
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STAT
MEMORANDUM TO:
FROM:
RE:
DATE:
Office of Medical Services
Program Board
Chairman, Federal Women's
or women
3 October 1979
s Memorandum, "Changing Role
The Federal Women's Program Board requests a copy of---and permission
to use memorandum prepared in 1976 "The Chang-
ing Role of Women."
The Board wishes to include this memorandum in its report to John McMahon,
Deputy Director for Operations, and Don Wortman, Deputy Director for
Administration, recommending that a Family Liaison Service similar to
that of the US State Department be established for CIA. In her memorandum
identifies services that would benefit Agency dependents, as
determined through her work with CIA families. Because these are similar
to those the Board is recommending that an Agency FLS provide, the
(I)
inclusion of this memorandum, the Board believes, is appropriate and
supportive to its report.
Federal Women's Program Board
Family Liaison Service Study Group
CC.
DDO Ad Hoc Working Group
Manager,
CIA Federal Women's Program
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
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MEMORANDUM FOR:
4 October 1979
Women's Program Board
STAT
Chairman, Federal
FROM
STAT
Chief, Psychiatric Division
Office of Medical Services
SUBJECT
Memorandum, Dated
STAT
30 November 1976, Re: The Changing Role
of Women
1. A copy
of memorandum was forwarded
STAT
on 3 October 1979,
prior to the receipt of your request.
2. The Psychiatric Division is pleased to forward
observations, which she as an individual has
made, although they do not necessarily represent a
Medical Office position.
This Document Is Not Classified
STAT
STA
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MEMORANDUM FOR:
FROM
30 November 1976
STAT
With the changing role of women which has been a slow but
steady ascent toward individuality and self, unlike the supportive
traditional role of the past, -I predict a monumental change for
married male employees who receive overseas assignments.
The change could have serious adverse effects on the Agency's
.overseas performance unless planning and action are taken in.
advance.
This memo is an exploration of positive ways to respond to
the changing role, based partly on data received from interviews
with Agency wives and Agency personnel, and my own personal and
professional interest in the subject.
Interviews with personnel were informative and interesting.
One said how pleased she was that someone was interested in
Agency wives, because the problems they face overseas are
numerous and difficult; there is a general feeling that the, _
wives'positibn-iS apparently discounted.
The following thoughts resulting from the interviews may?
be helpfulan,formulatingplans and
? 1. When the Agency sends a married male-emplOyee overseas-
with his family; the entlre family is involved in the employee's
representation of the country and the cover organization (and in
some ways, the Agency). In many cases the wives unofficially
assist their husbands in performing operational,tasks at no pay.
2. The pay scale is discriminating and poor to Agency wives
who becomecontract workers. Provision should be made for wives
who alreadylhave CivilServiceirank of .staff .status 'to-work over-
seas as staff, not as contract employees. ?As staff they can
Oa-
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maintain their status, transfer it overseas, and transfer it
back. whether as staff or contract wives, work should be paid
fairly. otherwise there is an exploitive implication that wives
feel. Perhaps one day the Agency may have to pay wives to
accompany their husbands overseas!
STAT
STAT
(STAT
STAT
?
3. Wives are beginning to refuse to entertain overseas.
For example, one way a family worked out the problem was when
husband entertained at home, wife left for the evening. Husband
took guests out to a restaurant at other times.
4. Wives are beginning to say in response to a two year
tour requirement: "Goodbye, I'll be here when you get back."
They have established their careers and refuse to abandon them.
As time progresses, it will probably be even rarer to find wives
without careers of their own. 'Our culture is now urging women,
to "do their awn thing", to be responsible to themselves and to
shed their dependency.
5. Pill popping and alcohol are common overseas problems
for women. while there are similar problems here in the States,
these problems are often magnified overseas. We can wait for
and accept the obvious repercussions in time, or else try to
avoid them through a combination of screening, orientation, and
overseas employment.
6. Husbands (employees) going overseas have less of an
adjustment than anyone else in the family because he is going to
a-piece of the Agency transferred.
,The enormous...
adjustment is for wife and children. They do not have the
structure theirthusbands.land?lathersLthave?-and, therefore must.
make a total,adjustment. ,For_wlves who.haVe_left,good Jobs '
all that is familiar:,--one?bah-easily see-they probleMS..that'may?
ensue.
7. "Post reports" should be written largely by the wives of
post heads.?The_information. would be more realistic, addressing.
itself to dlotheSfortheclithate:;iandSpecial:Information-that
wives settling a household Would 'appreciate and need.
2
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9. The overseas orientation program doesn't always reach
wives; it is only available to those wives whose husbands
communicate the schedule.
10. The notion of fostering dependency if we cater to
overseas personnel has been raised. Actually, some dependence
is going to work to the Agency's benefit. There is a certain
profile of a career Agency person - dedication, service, alleg-
iance, etc. We wish to retain and attract more people with that
profile, which itself suggests interdependence, with both the
Agency and the person having some mutual dependence. Why not
look at some dependency as preventative and humane, rather than
as dependency which carries with it negative overtones.
11. The question of "invasion of privacy" of an employee's
?family is always raised. However, when one spouse is hired, the
entire family is involved, especially if the family goes overseas.
The potential danger to the family could outweigh the risks
associated with the "privacy" threat. Moreover, the Agency has
already clearly involved itself in the lives of an employee's
family members when it:
a. Makes the necessar'y.andunusual?demands.Dn=the
-employee in both his regular job activities, plus any overseas
moves and travel.
. -
b. undertakes initial and subsequent securxty investi-
gation of both" emplbyees and family.
?
The aforementioned-material_is made in an effort to
stimulate thoughtd-arid,-ideas:about,thow,the-changingsole,of
women may affect male Agency employees, and to suggest some changes,
STAT
Social Worker
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UUNtilitH I IAL
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SUPPORT NEEDED
Staffing
1. The Family Liaison Committee recommends that the
DDO assign four positions from its current pool of vacant
operations officer positions to the Office of Medical
Services to provide staff for two Agency FLS offices. It is
recommended that the slots remain with the DDO and that the
positions be assigned to OMS for administrative purposes
only. The FLC recommends that the DDA approve hiring two
part-time contract employees at the GS-03 to GS-05 level to
provide a total of one man-year in clerical support divided
between the two offices.
Required Space
2. Two small offices--one in Headquarters and one in
the Ames Building 1/--are recommended. They should be
located near the Office of Medical Services to be easily
accessible for employees/dependents processing for new
assignments and to utilize the reception areas to which
dependents without security clearances already have access.
3. A minimum amount of secure storage is required.
Since much of the information to be provided will be overt
and a substantial amount of work is to be referred to other
Agency and community services, a minimum amount of infor-
mation--still less that is classified--will need to be
stored.
Costs
4. Personnel cost is estimated to be five man-years
for the first year. Grade levels for the professional staff
should range from 7-13 2/ and the two part-time clericals,
GS 03-05. Space costs will be minimal as the two small
2. This range of grade-levels is suggested as suitable to
deal with professional staff throughout the Agency. The
grades are not so high, however, as to eliminate as
qualified applicants dependents who have been abroad
for some years.
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offices will be adjacent to already established reception
areas. Eventually, as informational needs are established,
some simple printing projects can be anticipated, such as
color pamphlets and folders on topics such as local schools,
interim housing, etc. 1/
Benefits
5. Balancing costs will be substantial benefits from
the anticipated reduction in the number of families return-
ing stateside short of tour, the smaller number of people
requiring emergency evacuation or crisis care, and the
increased number of families available for overseas rotation.
Another benefit is the increased efficiency of mobile staff
members able to concentrate more fully on their professional
assignments. Other benefits will be the man-hours of pro-
fessional time saved as dependents take over the information-
gathering assignment, the increased efficiency of the infor-
mation gather process itself as a fund of common knowledge
is accumulated and administrative/logistical/training staffs
have fewer requests for difficult-to-obtain information.
These benefits will be increased if job placement and con-
tract guidance is given to dependents through the Family
Liaison Service. By expediting a second income to family
units, undoubtedly more families will be willing to accept
over-seas assignments.
Suggested Procedures
6. Check-out procedures for employees and their
dependents assigned abroad or returning stateside should
include a stop at one of the Family Liaison Service offices
in Headquarters or at Ames. In this way many of the current
problems of communicating with a dependent spouse will be
avoided. These include the fact that many wives are work-
ing, others have small children and can't Qet away for a
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As a result, courses scheduled for
spouses are trequentiy cancelled because of lack of response
so even the few wives who could have come to class receive
no training. One-to-one conferences between FLS staff and
1. This will be worded carefully to avoid suggesting 1)
that they are recommended by CIA and 2) that their
staff members are cleared and witting. An example of
such a pamphlet is the list of centers for aiding women
in crisis situations. This pamphlet is now being pre-
pared by the FWPB with the support of OTR and OMS.
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CONFIDENTIAL
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ULIPI HUM I ML
dependents will establish the basis for continuing communi-
cation, provide answers to specific questions and suggested
referrals, as necessary. Succeeding communication can be by
telephone, additional conferences, or correspondence from
the overseas post.
7. The CIA Family Liaison Service can call upon an
informal support network of Agency personnel stateside and
abroad to update post reports, to answer individual queries
by telephone or letter or through CIA communications chan-
nels. Through formal liaison, the FLS can tap an informa-
tion network in other agencies--the State Department FLS and
Skills Bank, the Foreign Service Institute, the Association
of American Foreign Service Women--to obtain easily and
efficiently complete and up-to-date information vital to the
successful overseas adjustment and return stateside of
Agency employees and their dependents. Once the information
is gathered, it can be used, with updating, for other depen-
dents. The question of one family will indicate areas of
information needed by another family; these facts can be
pointed out to succeeding families with similar assignments.
8. Consideration can be given to building a peer
suppo? system?at stations and in this country. An inter-
25X1' viewee suggested a "buddy system." The
AAFSW has established a hospitality committee to assist
dependents newly arrived or accompanying spouses on TDY
assignments. Dependents medically evacuated to this country
or home on other personal or family-related emergency leave
are particularly needy.
Suggested Information Materials.
9. Some nonclassified handout materials--printed,
cassette, and other audio-visual aids--should be prepared.
Suggested topics useful to returnees include: convenient
and modestly priced motels/hotels for temporary housing,
community medical services, public and private schools, and
a list of responsible baby sitters so that parents can get
on with family business, including training courses for
dependent spouses. For dependents going overseas, topics
could include ways to identify and handle culture shock,
basic vocabulary of the language guidance on maintaining
family health of the country of assignment. Loose-leaf
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STAT
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pages could be prepared to update post reports.
While not providing recommendations, descriptions of
any services should be specific to dependents' needs beyond
that provided in telephone books. Services should be
grouped by community area; schools should be identified as
providing the kinds of remedial work required by students
who have attended a variety of foreign schools, missing
essential basic studies.
10. Other materials for transcient families could
include reading lists on the country of assignment, language
tapes and records, checklists for preparing household goods
for shipment, and guidance on maintaining family records
such as medical histories, school reports, and lists of
valuables for insurance purposes.
Required Expertise for FLS Staff
11. The essential expertise required for each staff
member is a sensitivity to the demands a transient life
places on other family members as well as on Agency em-
ployees. This expertise can only be gained through personal
experience in one_prfliore_tours abroad,. Each FLS staff
member should be generally knowleWible about the mission
of the Agency, its operations, and how it is organized.
Skills should vary with individual staff members, but each
office staff should include as broad a spectrum as possible
of training in communication, psychology, and education.
Communication skills should include verbal-ranging from
effective one-to-one communication to group presentations--
and visual, creating, designing and writing informational
publications and other audio-visual materials. Organiza-
tional and interpersonal relations skills should be demon-
strated, for example, by volunteer experience in community
programs. Specific expertise can be obtained from head-
quarters staff regarding personnel procedures, financial
guidance, language and other training and medical services,
including psychological evaluation.
FLC interviews determined that many dependents are
willing to volunteer their services. Within the limits of
security, these people should be recruited to staff com-
munity relations desk providing basic community information
and referrals. 6/
6. State Department provides a similar service in its
Foreign Service Lounge where its information desk is
manned by dependents and Foreign Service retirees.
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rtFuriliniTiAll
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ARGUMENTS AGAINST A FAMILY LIAISON SERVICE AND FWPB RESPONSES
_
1. During its survey, the FWPB interviewed several
professional staff members who were negative to the concept
of a Family Liaison Service. Their arguments--and responses
by the FWPB--are as follows:
2. Establishing an FLS would be pampering and coddling
employees. An FLS provides a fast, efficient channel to provide
to staff members and their dependents all the information that
they need to make their own well-founded decisions on family
matters. Much of this information is not currently obtainable.
3. All necessary information is already ' provided through
Agency administration, training, and medical officers. Inter-
views with dependents and employees show that this statement
is not valid. Among the information areas identified by inter-
views as particularly deficient were education, recreation,
health maintenance, employment for dependents, and teenage
activities.
4. An FLS would be just another layer of bureaucracy.
An FLS would not supersede or duplicate other offices but
rather would supplement them as an efficilint channel of infor-
mation providing referrals to already existing services and a
wide assortment of information not available under the present
system.
5. Establishing an FLS would be an invasion of privacy,
impinging on the rights and responsibilities of the head-of-
household. The FWPB believes that the FLS would better serve
the modern marriage partnership (in which two adults assume
mutually supportive roles) than does the present system of
providing limited information needed by families only to the
employee/head-of-household. The Office of Communication FLO
estimates that only 20-30 percent of married employees carry
information home. When dependents are contacted directly,
over 95 percent state a need and desire to ttilize the service.
The FWPB has determined that lower-level clerical employees
often go without necessary information because they are
reluctant or unable to ask questions of a higher-grade adminis-
trative officer.
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6. Cables to the field provide: all necessary information.
Many employees, going abroad for the first time are unaware of
the information they need to obtain to function successfully
in their new assignment. This is equally true for employees/
dependents returning stateside after several years. The
servicing of "family concern" cables to the field is given
priority below that of cables of operational interest. Query
recipients may be unknowledgeable or disinterested. Delays
in answering beyond the departure day of the employee may
occur. There are too many employees and too many questions
to get all the necessary answers through communication channels
already overburdened with operational messages.
7. Establishing an FLS would lead: to 'breaches, of, security.
The FWPB believes that security will be improved. Because
many questions will have been asked by--and answered for--an
Agency family's predecessors, the FLS will be able to provide
in a single interview answers to many questions from its
established fund of information. This will eliminate a series
of visits outside the Agency in which queries posed through
basic ignorance can "blow cover" easily. By informing staff
25X1 members and their dependents
25X1 the FLS can prepare them to.
assume their new responsibilities unobtrusively, with minimum
stress and exposure risk.
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STAT
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ADMINISTRATIVE?INTERNAL USE ONLY
fiVIP Federal Women's Program
0 NFAC Working Group
23 October 1979
MEMORANDUM FOR: Federal Women's Program Board
Central Intelligence Agency
FROM
SUBJECT
NFAC Working Group
Federal Women's Program
Support for a "Family Liasion Office"
1. The NFAC Working Group strongly endorses the creation
of an office in CIA to assist employees and dependents
in preparing for tours overseas. The concept as described
in an oral presentation to the Working Group is a sound
one that deserves attention at the highest level of the
Agency.
2. The service to be provided by such an office would
be especially beneficial to NFAC employees who, unlike
many of their counterparts in other directorates, are
often unaccustomed to life abroad. They frequently
require more detailed information and a reliable referent
to provide it than is currently available. This will
become increasingly more important as NFAC acquires
additional slots overseas, as has been projected.
3. The Working Group looks forward to this proposal
becoming a reality. It will undoubtedly provide a
service to many that is long overdue.
Chairman, A or ing roup
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CONFIDENTIAL
MEMORANDUM FOR: Federal Women's Program Board
-ROM: Chair, DDO Ad Hoc Women's Working Group
SUBJECT: Family Liaison Service
The ad hoc working group of DDO women supports the concept of a
Family Min Service, a two way informational channel through which
CIA employees and their dependents may 1.) obtain the information they
need to make a successful adjustment to assignments abroad and upon
returning to the U.S. and 2) make known to management their concerns
regarding foreign service.
DDO women support ybu,in requesting that two offices, one in Head-
quarters and one in Ames Building, be made available for Family Liai-
son Service use for non-staff-employee members of Agency families as
well as for employees processing for reassignment. The offices should
be staffed by personnel with overseas experience
The Family Liaison Service can help provide the broad range of in-
formation not currently readily available - such as on housing, recrea-
tion and schooling, language training and foreign studies It can
also serve an invaluable function of providing job information for
Agency-employed spouses who face the prospect of resigning in order to
accompany the other working spouse overseas.
DDO women recommend that a Family Liaison Service be established
as soon as possible, both to serve the needs of individual employees
and their dependents and to advance the CIA mission overseas by help-
ing make it possible for our employees to function more effectively
in their professional endeavors.
CONFIDENTIAL
STAT
stAV
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24 October 1979
MEMORANDUM FOR: Agency Federal Women's Program Board
FROM: DDS&T Federal Women's Program Working Group
SUBJECT: Proposed Family Liaison Service
A majority of the membership of the DDS&T Federal Women's Program Working
Group supports the concept of a family liaison service in the Agency.
They feel a need for additional assistance to employees and their
families who are posted overseas and think that some services should be
extended to new Agency employees and those being relocated within the
United States. Particular problem areas noted include: finding out
what materials, furnishings and consumer goods will be available at the
new post; informing spouses about conditions in the country; obtaining
ready information and speedy reservations for temporary housing upon a
family's return from abroad; getting data on relocation allowances.
The only qualifications suggested by Working Group members concerned
administrative details of such a liaison service. Channels and personnel
for such a service may already exist, but there is a definite need for
better coordination of these channels. There is also an appalling lack
of information for new employees who are not yet on board.
Co-Chairman, DDS&T Federal
Women's Program Working Group
STAT
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26 October 1979
MEMORANDUM FOR: Federal Women's Program Board
FROM DDA Working Group
Federal Women's Program
SUBJECT: Support for a CIA Family Liaison Office
As described in an oral presentation, such an office
would have files of data compiled from returnees and from
the staff members of CIA and other Federal government and
local community agencies. Employees and family members
would be provided with information that is essential for
their successful adjustment during foreign tours and
upon their return stateside. Because many answers would be
available in one place, CIA Headquarters staff time
would be saved and frustrations avoided for departing
and returning employees and their families.
The DDA Working Group recommends that this concept be
implemented as soon as possible and will provide its
support, as it is called upon. The DDA Working Group
recommends that when this office is established that it
cooperate with the Family Liaison Offices already
established by the US State Department and the CIA
Office of Communications.
STAT
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MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Family Liaison Service Discussion at FWPB
Meeting, August 1979
1. The Federal Women's Program Board recommends
that a Family Liaison Service be established to serve
the informational needs of Agency families assigned
overseas and returning stateside. The current system
of providing information to an Agency employee as head
of household is inadequate because it is inefficient
and the information provided too often is out-of-date
or incomplete. Relying on communication of a single
family member means that many of a family's questions
go unanswered.
2. The FWPB recommends that two small offices be
established adjacent to the Agency medical service
offices. This location would be convenient for non-
cleared family members processing for tours abroad or
returning home. These offices should function as a
clearinghouse for all the information needed by family
units to ease with minimum stress their adjustment to
new environments on topics such as schools, housing,
recreation, foreign culture studies, and health
maintenance.
3. They should coordinate information/services
already provided by the Communications Office, the
State FLO. They should supplement, but not supersede,
services now provided by Ageny offices for admini-
stration, logistics and training.
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0
REPORT TO THE
FEDERAL WOMEN'S PROGRAM BOARD
BY THE
FAMILY LIAISON COMMITTEE
October 1979
Chairman STAT
Pfik11111FMTIM
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UM Max,' 19iLk
SYNOPSIS
The Family Liaison Committee has established that
providing an information channel for CIA similar to the
Family Liaison Office of the U.S. State Department will
benefit Agency dependents by giving them information with
which to handle the problems imposed on them by a transient
life before those problems reach crisis levels. A Family
Liaison Service also will support the CIA mission by
addressing problems such as employees immobility and
inadequate utilization of spouses' skills.
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