DEPLETION OF THE DIRECTOR'S CEILING RESERVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP57-00042A000100020005-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 8, 2002
• Sequence Number: 5
• Content Type: MF

Approved ror Release 2002/08/22: CIA-RDP57-00QZ2A000100020005-2
MEMORANDUM FOR : Director of Central Inte111 gence
TRRU: Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
Deputy Director (Administration)
SUBJECT: Depletion of the Director's Ceiling Reserve
1. PROB.U:
How can the Agency best meet the continuing need for a reservoir of
civilian ceiling positions in the face of a diminishing Tirector's
Ceiling Reserve?
2. FACTS tBEAP D~,,; ON 1W,
i kO Lr~L
a. The Agency civilian ceiling as of 11 Au uist 1954 was
eluding the Director's Reserve. Total. civilians on duty a..;ainst
25X9A2 this ceiling amounted to leaving =unused ceiling clots.
Triese i:nused ceiling slots are distributed In a reasonably eoui table
fashion among the six major Agency components.
b. Tab A presents the relationship between civilian cFi.lings and
civilians on rhity subject to ceiling for eleven recent months.
During these eleven months, c?Jlling has increased slip~htly while
the rummer of employees on duty has declined a little. However,
the gap letween ceiling; and number of persons on duty appears fairly
constant and, because of Un perpetual attrition and recruitment
problems, It appears that this gap will not be closed appreciably
under present conch ti ons .
c. An examination of Agency attrition versus replFnishmcnt indicates
that the Office of Personnel is recrult#ng and processing at a rate
which approximates attrition. This conclusion is also evldcnced in
Tab A.
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e 2002/08722 :
d. The Agency's FY 1955 operating budget provides for a total average
25X9A2 employment under ceiling of 0; and our FT 1956 budget con-
25X9A2 templates 0? These figures include an average employment of
60 for the Interim Assignment Branch of the Office of Personnel.
e.' Ceiling increases have been accomplished in the past primarily
through two device6i (1): ,Withdrawals from the Director's Reserve
and (2) An Increase in the Agency ceiling without reference to the
Director's Reserve.
f. As of 5 October 19511 there were two positions in the Director's
Reserve with no known commitments against them.
3. DISCUSSIOI
a. A comparison of the number on duty under ceiling on 31 August 1954
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0
with the FT 1955 average employment budgeted for
indicates that the Agency has an average employment growth margin
of 105 for the current fiscal year.
25X9A2 b. The 31 August ceiling oil ffers a potential for growth be-
yond existing budgetary provisions. However, Agency experience
during the past year indicates a plateau situation with reference
to number of employees on duty. In addition, the Office of Personnel
is in-position to observe and control factors influencing Agency
strength. Thus, in filling up to our budgeted strength, it makes
little practical difference as to whether we absorb unused ceiling
or add ceiling for this purpose. With a ceiling of Q4n excess
of budgeted average employment, the best Inrnediate controls over
the number of employees on duty exist in the Office of Personnel.
2
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the
c. The following methods of coping with/diminishing ceiling reserves
have been considered:
(1) Eliminating the ceiling reserve as such, thereby requiring
major components to live within existing ceilings.
(2) Recapturing all or a part of unused ceiling for replenishment
of the reserve.
(3) Recapturing ceiling allocated to casuals such as those in the
Interim Assignment Branch, Junior Officer Trainees, and those
on leave without pay in order to reconstitute the reserve.
(Li) Replenishing the ceiling reserve and continuing the present
system. The choice of (1) above I s a possibility under any
set of circumstances and could be done in comkInntion with
(2) or (3). Its use exclusively would deny the existence of
an obvious need for an Agency reserve to accommodate small
contingency type ceiling increases.
Utilization of method (2) above would offer all of the
advantages of (1) in that both methods assume the utilization
of unused ceiling. The use of method (2) would be contrary
to the existing policy of having T/O's match ceilings.
Method (3), in effect, is simply an accmtmting trans-
action. It would serve to reduce the Agency's cc;ling
automatically but it would offer the disadvantage of removing
from ceiling control certain employees now subject to ceiling.
Method (1) offers the opportunity to solve the problem
with least disruption to the present system. It would result
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14.
in gradual additions to the present Agency ceiling as the
reserve is used. The governing factor is the number of em-
ployees on duty as related to the budget, and this situation
requires closer control than the ceiling. Thus, method (4)
appears to be the desirable choice because of ease of immediate
application.
d. The Director's Reserve has been used generally to satisfy the
smaller ceiling increases while larger increases have been accomp-
lished through Increases in the Agency's ceiling vri thout reference
to the Reserve. The larger Increases obviously s)-ould be approved
by the Director. However, It does not appear necessary to burden
the Director with formal requests for withdrawal from the Director'#
Reserve. The Director could still maintain control over the Agency's
ceiling by granting to the DD/A a specified reserve allocation to
be approved by the DD/A for use as needed until exhausted.
CONCLUSIONS:
a. The consistent relationship between Agency ceiling and employees
on duty under ceiling Indicates that approximately
of the total
Agency ceiling will remain unused under present circumstances.
b. The most desirable Immediate solution to the problem is through
replenisheent of the ceiling reserve and continuance, for the pre-
sent, of the existing system.
c. Used upon past performance, one hundred ceiling positions in a
reserve may be expected to last at least one year.
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d. Funds are available to tolerate the gradual resultant ceiling
increase provided the Office of Personnel continues present per-
sonnel replenishment and recruitment practices.
e. The Director should allocate to the DD/A one hundred ceiling posi-
tions for satisfying wall ceiling increases. This would eliminate the
numerically extinct Director's Selling Reserve and reconstitute
an Agency Ceiling Reserve under the DD/A.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
It is recommended that the Director's Ceiling Reserve be eliminated in
favor of a reconstituted Agency Ceiling Reserve of one hundred to be
administered by the DD/A until exhausted.
25X1A9A
Chief, Management Staff
Date:
Director of entr telligence
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