RETURNEE INTERVIEWS - CALENDAR YEAR 1970

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01086A000900090039-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 19, 2001
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: January 18, 1971
• Content Type: MF

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18 January 1971
MEMORANDUM FOR: Executive Director-Comptroller
SUBJECT : Returnee Interviews - Calendar Year 1970
1. During the past year this office interviewed - employees
returning from overseas, distributed as follows:
We endeavored in these interviews to find out how the employee viewed
his work overseas, how he felt about management, and what if any
complaints he had. We made no attempt to develop precise statistics
nor did We employ a check list in the conduct of the interviews.
2. The interview reports reflect very widespread satisfaction
with overseas service. One small group of operational personnel can
be described as positively enthusiastic about their work, and another
as feeling that circumstances overseas had prevented them from doing
the kind of job they would have liked to have done.
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reporting to suggest something other than good morale.
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3. The stations and bases overseas that appear to have the
least appeal. to operational people are:
Reports on these places are by 25X1A
no means uniformly negative, but there is just enough negative
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are well regarded.
4. We paid a lot of attention to Vietnam. Our findings there
are almost entirely positive. Ted Shackley is mentioned frequently
and always favorably. His efforts to reorient the station, his
emphasis on results, and his even-handed management of people
are subjects commented upon.
5. The Agency's record in the field of language training is
compared unfavorably with that of the State Department by a number
of officers returning from the Far East.
6. Almost all of the stenographers, clerks, registry people,
and junior communications officers had had a good work experience;
a few had complaints about housing or about some aspect of support.
Senior communicators and TSD technicians coming back from the
larger technical installations abroad are perhaps the least enthusiastic
group with which we talked. For the most part they are good soldiers;
but they had been through it all before and are inclined to talk a little
bit more about the negative side of overseas service than are operators
or younger people.
7. Apart from a few specific complaints which can be traced
to unusual circumstances, there was practically no significant talk
about administrative support. Very little was volunteered on travel
arrangements, pay, reception at the point of destination, housing,
provision of appliances, and routine medical support. Persons assigned
to remote areas are mildly critical of medical support provided by
the State Department, but on the other hand they are well impressed
by the Agency's willingness to evacuate anyone in serious difficulty.
8. The selection and screening of individuals to serve overseas
appears to be handled most competently.
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9. A number of CS officers spoke of the low morale at
Headquarters. We again heard a good deal about overstaffing,
overbureaucratization, and lack of challenge in SB Division and
China Operations. These are the views of a minority, but a
vocal and important one.
3ordon M. 5tewar
Inspector General
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SECRET C_...3
8 January 1971
MEMORANDUM FOR: Inspector General
SUBJECT: H I P for,CY 1970
1. Inspectors talked to some out of a population of ?
employees who had been with the Agency for ten years, were based in
headquarters at mid-year, and had achieved the grade of GS-9 or above..
Among those who were not available for interviews, some had resigned,
were PCS overseas, or were in training elsewhere.
2. Comments of general interest were in two broad areas which
will be touched on briefly below. My overall observation is that a
significant vitality is reflected in the interviews with this group.
Important as their grades and promotion opportunities are to them,
their interest is their work, its importance, and ways to do it better.
They are, generally, committed to their work and to this agency.
3. Careers. Individually, most thought they had been treated
very well; they had progressed at a reasonable rate in promotions and
assignments and believe they have reasonable expectations for the
future. They consider the Agency to be a ,good employer, concerned
with the welfare of its employees, and'superior to other government
organizations. They find the work interesting, the people good to
work with, the job important, and they intend to make their careers
with the Agency.
4. Some individuals advanced specific worries about careers
which apply to small and unique groups. First, higher grade techno-
logical specialists in three components believe that their further
advancement is limited because the need for their expertise is satis-
fied by very small offices in their parent organizations (e.g., an
electronic engineer in the 0/Communications). They find little oppor-
tunity in their components for the broadening experience required for
executive officers, or in rotational assignments to other directorates
which resist the assignment of non-careerists. Second, retired
military personnel who were hired on five-year contracts and told they
would automatically be given regular employee status are uneasy about
their future tenure and promotion prospects. No one gives.them a firm
answer. Third, some personnel in NPIC believe that hiring college
graduates with art degrees for illustrating work as GS-7s in GS-9 slots
has led only to problems. Technical school graduates could be trained,
they believe, and hired as GS-5s with potential headroom up to GS-9.
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S E C R E T
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And last, one young and able TSD officer said that he believes it will
become difficult in the future to persuade men with families to accept
the constant PCS rotation system. He is tired of dragging his young
family about, and the "goodies" are being pruned away that used to
make this pattern of living acceptable.
5.' Management. There is generally a high opinion of the Agency
and of the quality of the work it is doing. Several components and
offices were given high marks for management, for the freedom given
officers to exercise their creativity, and for opportunities to advance.
But, in spite of the overwhelming feeling that the Agency is a good
place to work, there was an undercurrent of attitudes among some per-
sonnel from several offices that management had become bureaucratic and
was stifling rather than assisting productive work in the Agency. These
attitudes encompassed the following: managers have become conservative
and delay making decisions; management is reluctant to respond to new
requirements or proposals and is less action oriented than formerly;
coordination excesses delay work at every turn; paperwork has increased
for no productive purpose; and young talent, as a result of the
obstacles to direct participation in the real concerns of the Agency,
is leaving. the Agency.
Orig. - Adse.
1 , REG Chrono
S E C R E T.
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:,Li4 ?E(:`!. (Optional)
G Y 1970 Reports of Ret
OUTING AND RECORD SHEET
X039-3 LECRET
urnee and Headquarters Interview Programs
-ROM:
)u ?i)_)ti'C1"i)1,' C;t.`nt;2':L1 PDATE
TO: (ORlcer dosignation, room number, and
building)
a ?E;>ecutive'Director-
Comptroller
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11)111
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OFFICER'S
INITIALS
18 January 1971
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.).
SECRET ^ CONFIDENTIAL ^ U EE ONLY ^ UNCLASSIFIED