REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL MANPOWER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R001600210001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 107
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 22, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 6, 1968
• Content Type: MF

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Executive Director-Comptroller
SUBJECT: Report of the Committee on
Professional Manpower
1. The ad hoc Committee on Professional Manpower,
established by your memorandum to the Deputy Directors
dated 13 December 1967, submits the attached report for
your consideration. The report includes a statement of
findings, a discussion of the factors leading to these
findings., and a series of recommendations. The Committee
believes that implementation of these recommendations
would facilitate the Agency's acquisition and retention
of high quality professional personnel.
2. A major conclusion of-the Committee is that the
Agency has been obtaining a high quality of junior
professionals who are well suited to its requirements.
Indeed the critical question is how the Agency can manage
this young.. talent effectively and provide the kind of job
challenge, early responsibility and advancement opportunity
required to assure its retention.
o n is ar s n
Chairman
Committee on Professional Manpower
Attachment:
Report of the Committee on
Professional Manpower
GROUP I
Excluded from automatic
downgrading and
declassification
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THE COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL MANPOWER
March 196$
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Page
INTRODUCTION . . 1
Objective . 1
Membership . . . . 1
Scope of the Study . 1
Techniques of the Study. 2
F I ND I NGS . 3
Genera 1. 3
Position and Selection Standards 3
Recruitment . . . 4
Sources of Junior Professional Manpower. 6
Performance and Potential of Junior
Professionals ? 6
Career Management and Development. 8
Attrition. 8
RECOMMENDATIONS 10
1. Personnel Career Management. 10
2, Professional Applicant Test Battery, 10
3. Employment Incentives. 10
4. Information Feedback to Field Recruiters 10
5. Direct Personnel Recruitment Programs. 11
6. Relationship Between Employee Educational
Background and Job Performance and
Potential. . 11
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7. Midcareer Executive Development
Program 11
8. Identification and Development
of "Comers" . 11
9. Promotion from Sub-Professional Ranks 12
10. Personnel Congestion at Senior Levels in
the Clandestine Services. 12
11. Centralized Personnel Management in the
Clandestine Services. . . 12
12. Accumulation and Analysis of Attrition
Data. 12
DISCUSSION . . 13
Genera 1 . 13
Position and Selection Standards. 13
Recruitment . 15
Sources of Junior Professional Manpower 17
Performance and Potential of Junior
Professionals . 19
Career Management and Development . 21
Attrition . . . 24
A, Charter -- Committee on Professional Manpower
B. Monograph -- "The Succession Problem in CIA"
C. Survey Questionnaire -- "Professional Employee
Rating Form"
D. Table -- Supervisors' Opinions Concerning
Comparative Quality of FY 1963-67 and
pr's-1963 Junior Professionals
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TABS (Continued)
E. Table -- Over-all Performance Ratings of
FY 1963-67 Junior Officers
F. Table -- Percentage of Junior Professional
Employees Estimated to have Senior
Officer Potential
G. Table -- Estimated Over-all Potential of Junior
Professional Officers
H, Memorandum -- "Factors in Student Achievement"
I. Memorandum -- "Characteristics of New Foreign
Service Officers"
J. Memorandum -- "Relations Between.Colle.ge.Quality
and Rated Potential and Performance"
K, Memorandum -- "Recruitment of Quality Professional
Personnel"
L, Memorandum -~."Role of the Female Professional
in the DD/I"
M. List -- Relative Ranking of 36 Top-Rated Engineering
and Scientific Graduate Schools
N. Sample -- A&E Professional Applicant Testing. Report
0. Sample -- Personnel Recruitment Requisition
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Objective: To examine the quality of recent input of
processional officer personnel in relationship to near-
and long-range manpower needs.
Membership: The Committee was composed of a senior
representative from each Directorate: John Richardson,
Director of Training, Chairman of the Committee, repre-
senting the DD/S; Special Advisor to the
resenting the DD/I~
representing
the DD P; an ona am er ain, erector of the
Office o ntelligence, representing the
DD/S&T. Chief, Plans and Review Staff, Office
of Personne , consu ed closely with the Committee through-
out this study. The Committee wishes to express special
appreciation to who acted as our Executive
Secretary, drew up the basic Committee report draft, and
shepherded the report from its beginnings to its final form.
Scope of the Study: The Committee was directed to review
"sources o new o ficer personnel, qualitative standards
applied in their selection, whether these standards are
adequate and are being maintained at suitable levels, the
measures taken to provide for the continuing development
of professional officer personnel, and whether action is
needed to improve the Agency?s competitive position with
respect to attracting and retaining highly qualified
personnel." (Tab A)
The recent input group chosen for this study were those
employees who entered on duty in professional positions during
Fiscal Years 1963 to 196?, inclusive, principally in grades
GS-07 tYirough 12. In the case of the DD/S&T the grade range
was extended to GS-14 because of the comparatively few junior
officers hired by that Directorate.
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Techniques of the Study: The Committee obtained a number
o recent stu ies w is were pertinent to this effort;
compiled, distributed, and analyzed the results of a survey
questionnaire (Tab C) which was comp eted by more than 300
Agency supervisors on approximately ~ professional
officers falling within the group under study; received
briefings by selected Agency representatives; retrieved
selected data from the Agency's records system; reviewed
files of personnel in the study group who have since
separated from-the Agency; acquired certain data from the
State Department on Yts~junior Foreign Service Officers
Corps; and obtained the opinions of supervisors throughout
the Agency.
Each Directorate produced a separate contribution to
this study. Our Committee report is a collation of the data
and findings contained in the individual Directorate reports,
copies of which are held by the Committee and are available
for your review.
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1. The major conclusion resulting from this study is
that the Agency, with few exceptions, has been able to hire
the quantity and quality of junior professional officers
needed to accomplish its mission. Their on-the-job
performance and estimated. potential appear to preclude both
a near- and long-range succession problem.
2. Instead, the critical personnel question I.s whether
'the Agency will be able to manage this talent effectively
and to assure long-term tenure and experience by p~?oviding
training, adequate job challenge, responsibility, and career
advancement opportunities, for professional officers at all
levels, including junior professionals.
Position and Selection Standards
1. Position standards in the Agency have been
maintained at consistently high levels. These standards
normally are developed by supervisors who oversee the
positions described. In many instances, position; standards
have been raised as a result of professional growth within
the Agency, or of scientific and technological developments
which affect Agency activities.
2. Selection standards appear to have been maintained
at a high level, at least in the sense that recent junior
professional appointees, as a group, have received very
favorable performance ratings from their supervisors.
3. Generally, the Agency has allowed positions to
remain unfilled rather than lower selection standards, but
there are exceptions. In the Office of Computer Services,
selection standards have been relaxed because of the Agency`s
inability to compete with private industry and other employers
for the services of trained computer technicians. Instead,
less qualified people have been selected and an i,n-house
training program established to bring recruits up to job
standards.
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STAT
4, Within the DD/I, four offices report an inability
to get sufficient numbers of the kind and quality of people
desired -- the Central Reference Service; STAT
Office of Current Tntelligencey an
~.ce o- Economic Research.- There are also indications
that women are being hired increasingly because sufficient
qualified men have not been available to the Directorate.
5. Diverse manpower requirements make meaningless any
stereotyped concept of "the" junior professional candidateo
Even in the generalist category, upon which both DD/P and
DD/I depend heavily, the variables of native intelligence,
personality characteristics, educational background, level
of maturity, breadth of experience, and other intangibles
are too complex to be reduced to simple patternso
6o All Directorates appear to have the kind of
personnel input and development needed to provide the man-
agers and executives of the future.
7. The Agency's Professional Applicant Test Battery
(PATB), designed to measure intelligence, personality,
attitudes, interests, background characteristics and other
factors, is administered to all Career Trainee candidates.
The CS now proposes to administer the PATB to all candidates
for professional positions, For the other Directorates, the
PATB is administered to applicants for professional positions
on a selected basis, either as a result of stipulation in a
recruitment requisition (~'~,b 0) or at the discretion of the
field recruiter.
8. The nature of the relationships between scores on
Agency Professional Testing and job performance measures has
not been fully explored. Experience with the Career Training
Program suggests strongly that there is a useful correlation.
The Assessment and Evaluation Staff of the Office of Medical
Services currently is conducting an in-depth study of this
subject.
Recruitment
i. The Agency's competitive position with regard to the
recruitment of professional personnel remains generally
satisfactory, except in certain specialized categories --
communications engineers, graduate economists, computer
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technicians, and experienced personnel for some very
senior DD/S&T positions -- where industrial competition
is stiff ,
2, While we have no basis for evaluating its future
significance for the Agency, we have noted concern among
supervisors and recruiters about recruiting difficulties
created by the war in Vietnam and other factors,
3. Other government agencies and departments have
matched or surpassed some of the employee benefits which
once were considered exclusivel~r the Agencyas -- e.g.,
pre-employment travel authorization, insurance benefits,
sponsorship of academic studies. The impact on our
recruitment effort does not seem serious,-except possibly in
the DD/1.
4. Agency field recruiters frequently deplore the lack
of feedback with regard to the reasons why their candidates
were or were not hired. Despite guidance received in the
form of recruitment requisitions (Tab O), weekly status
reports from the Office of Personnel, annual conferences,
and exposure to substantive personnel from Headquarters who
participate with them in field recruitment, the recruiters
apparently are at a disadvantage in not having firsthand
experience with the jobs for which they are recruiting, or
with the kinds of people that supervisors regard as successful
within the Agency environment,
5. Most of the Agency4s recruitment effort is conducted
by the Office of Personnel, but a number of operating
components, notably the DD/S&T, certain offices of the DD/1,
and the Office of Security, engage in their own recruitment
programs. (Tab K) On campus, field recruiters typically
deal with placement or administrative officials, while
di~?ect recruitment seeks to work through particular teaching
departments or faculty members. The latter approach makes
possible the recruitment of specially qualified and experi-
enced personnel who tray not have manifested to the placement
office any interest in Agency employment.
6. Field recruiters and supervisors frequently cite
the lengthy waiting period before :firm job offers can be made
as a serious impediment to the employment of large numbers of
highly promising prospects.
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Sources of Junior Professional Manpower
1. The importance of the four principal sources of
junior professional personnel -- direct hire, internal
Agency transfer, the Career Training Program, and promotion
from sub-professional ranks -- varies by Directorate, by
individual office, and by specific function. Promotion
from sub-professional categories generally appears least
satisfactory.
2, The Cooperative Education Program has produced a
number of communications engineers for the Agency and
although it is small -- only about a dozen prospective
careerists are presently enrolled -- the program looks
promising for meeting the Agency's needs for certain
technically-trained personnel.
3. The Agency has not had sufficient experience with
the Summer Intern Program to judge its effectiveness.
Performance and Potential of Junior Professionals
1. Of Agency supervisors who were surveyed,
more 86% of those who expressed an opinion --
be ieve the FY 1963-6? group of junior professionals is
equal, or superior, in quality to the group which entered
on duty prior to 1963. The 14% which judged the FY 1963-67
group inferior in quality was limited to two Directorates --
DD/1 and DD/P. In DD/S and DD/S&T, every supervisor who
expressed an opinion believed the FY 1963-67 group to be
either equal or superior. (Tab D) In addition, the Heads
of all Career Services in the DD/S were unanimous in
believing that the FY 1963-67 group is superior.
2. More than half of all junior officers evaluated
in this study were rated "Strong" or better, (Tab E) These
independent ratings, which were not shown 'to the officers
being evaluated, closely approximated fitness report ratings.
3. The performance median for junior officers evaluated
in this study is "Strong" in DD/I, DD/S, and DD/S&T. In the
Clandestine Services, it is between "Strong" and "Proficient".
The Committee noted the very small percentage of CS officers
who were rated "Outstanding" on over-all performance as well
as the lower median point on performance ratings. We believe
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that the assigned ratings reflect a more conservative
evaluation by CS supervisors of junior officers in the
early stages of their careers.
4. Growth potential for this group of junior officers
was judged excellent. In DD/I, whose supervisors' judgments
were least optimistic, it was estimated that better than two
out o~ve have the potential to attain GS-15 rank, one of
six supergrade rank. In DD/S&T, whose supervisors were most
optimistic, it was estimated that three out of four have the
potential to reach GS-15 level, and two of five to achieve
supergrade rank. DD/S supervisors estimated that two out of
three have the potential to attain GS-15 rank, better than
one in four supergrade rank. In the Clandestine Services, it
was estimated that three in five have the potential to reach
GS-15, and better than one in five to achieve supergrade level.
(Tab F)
5. Supervisors estimated that more than 65% of this group
of junior professionals have "Above Average" potential in
terms of job performance and contribution to the Agency effort.
(Tab G)
6. Preliminary results of a study by the Assessment
and Evaluation Staff of the Office of Medical Services indicate
a correlation between graduation from certain quality-rated
undergraduate colleges, approximately 100 in number, and
estimated potential of the junior officers evaluated in this
study. DD/S&T data was not part of this study. (Tab J)
7. In the DD/S&T, however, a correlation emerged from a
study of the relationship between attendance at 36 top-
ranking graduate engineering and scientific schools and
subsequent performance in the DD/S&T, One-third of all new
employees (GS-07/14) entering the DD/S&T during FY 1963-67
held graduate degrees. Half of the graduate degree holders
attended one or more of the top-ranked schools (Tab M); half
attended unranked graduate schools. An analysis of supervisor
ratings reveals that those officers who attended the top-ranked
graduate engineering and scientific schools received distinctly
superior performance evaluations compared with those who attended
other graduate schools.
8. In the DD/I, among junior professional officers 25X1
hired directly from universe y campuses, the incidence of
"Outstanding" performance ratings was twice as high for
graduate degree holders as for bachelor degree holders. This
confirms the finding of an earlier DD/I study in November 1967.
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Career Management and Development
1. Generally, individual career planning is not
practiced in the Agency. Even the five-year career
plans that were a conceptual aspect of the Midcareer
Executive Development Program have not been implemented,
except possibly within the DD/I. The Midcareer Course
has come to be looked upon by supervisors as a battery
recharging experience for large numbers of middle-level
officers. Operating components do make an effort to
nominate suitable candidates for the Course and, in that
sense, engage in some qualitative screening of middle-
level officers.
2. The identification and development of junior
professional "comers" is left largely to offices and
divisions in all Directorates. DD/I has established a
centralized system for monitoring "comers" and the CS is
exploring the possibility of moving in the same direction.
3. In the Clandestine Services, limited promotion
headroom has led to the loss of highly promising junior
or midcareer level officers who believe they still have the
time and talent to develop a full career elsewhere.
4. Although professional officers within the Clandestine
Services form a single Career Service, the traditional practice
by which staffs and divisions tend to confine professional
officers to assignments in specific geographic or functional
areas has obstructed the capability of the CS to place, on a
global basis, the best qualified man in a given job at a given
time. In particular, this practice has impeded the orderly
rotation and broadening experience of junior professional
officers which should be a part of the career development
process. Efforts presently are underway in the Clandestine
Services to introduce a more centralized management system
without, however, disrupting the effectiveness which individual
divisions and staffs have achieved within the limits of their
independent resources.
5. Junior officers within the DD/S&T appear. to face
serious disadvantages and limited career prospects in trying
to compete with the very large number of still youthful senior
officers in the Directorate who possess advanced technical
training and business or industrial experience.
1. The over-all separation rate of the junior officers
entered on duty during FY 1963-67 is approximately 28%. The
separation rates by Directorate are:
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DD/T
DD/P
DD/S
DD/S&T
2. Total figures can be misleading, however, as
certain categories of personnel have higher separation rates
than others. In the DD/P, for example, almost two-thirds of
the separations consisted of junior officers in the Records
Integration Division. In the DD/I, the separation rate for
junior male professionals was 29%, but for women officers it
was 50%. Retirement, of course, is not a factor in attrition
among junior officers.
3. Accurate information on the reasons for voluntary
separations is difficult to obtain, partly because many of
those leaving are guarded in their statements, and partly
because the Agency's records system is so designed that over-
simplification results from what typically is a complex
situation involving a multiplicity of factors.
4. The voluntary separation rate in DD/S&T can be ascribed
in considerable degree to a lack of continuing technical
challenge and to limited fields for application of technical
skills. Compounding this picture is a comparatively greater
interest on the part of DD/S&T officers in being scientists,
especially in 'research and development, than intelligence
officers .
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RECOMMENDATIONS
1, Personnel Career Management: that the four
Directorates review an repor o he Director of Central
Intelligence on the primary career management problems of
their Career Services, together with reasonable solutions.
(Ref. page 3.)
2. Professional Applicant Test Battery: that the
PATB, or i s equiva ent, e a ministere o all future
junior professionals as part of the selection process.
In addition to assisting in selection and placement, it
would provide an objective indication of potential which is
an important consideration in identifying "comers". PATB
results would further provide a uniform data base to help
evaluate the quality of Agency professional officer input.
(Re.f , page 4 . )
The DD/S&T feels that the use of the PATB should not
become mandatory for all junior engineers and scientists until
its usefulness with regard to these categories of personnel
has been investigated more thoroughly. This Directorate
believes that the PATB as presently constituted is applicable
primarily to the Career Training Program, and that it will
require modification and testing?~fore it becomes widely
useful when rating DD/S&T junior personnel. DD/S&T is
perfectly willing to work with the Assessment and Evaluation
Staff, Office of Medical Services, toward this objective, but
does not wish to employ the system until it is satisfied that
its use will be beneficial. (Ref. page 4. )
3. Employment Incentives: that such items as pre-
employment trave ream ursement, expenses incurred when
entering on duty, early provision of full-time training,
greater insurance and hospitalization benefits, and
sabbatical leave be examined carefully for possible improve-
ments. This Committee understands that a DD/S study is under-
way in this subject area and expresses the hope that ways can
be found to strengthen the Agency?s competitive position
through legal, achievable advantages in the employee benefit
category. (Ref, page 5. )
4. Information Feedback to Field Recruiters: that field
recruiters a prove a more specs is an ime y guidance on
the reasons for the rejection of candidates. (Ref. page 5.)
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5. Direct Personnel Recruitment Program:
a. that there be increased direct participation
in field recruitment by each of the Directorates, in
cooperation with the Office of Personnel. (Ref. page 5.)
b, that our competitive recruitment position be
strengthened on the campus by a program designed to
facilitate scholarly exchange between faculty members,
graduate students, and Agency intelligence analysts.
(Ref. page 17.)
6. Relationship Between Employee Educational Background
and Job Per ormance an Potential: t at ad itional research
~e irec e tower more u y e fining the relationship
between college quality and rated job performance and potential.
If further study confirms and extends our initial finding that
a positive relationship does in fact exist, it is recommended
that proportionately more recruiting effort be directed to-
ward approximately one hundred colleges and universities with
above average quality ratings. (Ref, page,?..) We wish to
emphasize, however, that the Agency has obtained, and should
continue to seek, highly-qualified people from less we11-
regarded schools.
7. Midcareer Executive Development Program:
a. that serious attention be given to the
possibility of revising Headquarters Regulation 25X1
establishing the Midcareer Executive Developmen ~.rogram, or
that action be taken to improve Directorate compliance with
its provisions calling for the nomination of candidates
deemed genuinely qualified for promotion to GS-15 or above
and for the planning and implementation of five-year programs
for the officers nominated. Consideration can also be given
to reduction in the number of Midcareer Courses conducted
annually and to adjustment of Directorate quotas. (Ref.
page 8.)
b. that DD/S&T and the Office of Training seek
adjustments in the Midcareer Course which will permit
attendance by DD/S&T officers generally between 30 and 35
years of age, regardless of more senior rank and duration of
service with the Agency. (Ref. page 21.)
8. Identification and Development of "Comers": that
"comers" in t e Junior pro essiona o icer category in each
Directorate be identified to Directorate level on a systematic
and regular basis in order to keep the list of such officers
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current and to provide Directorate-level-influence on
training, assignment, and career ,progression of 'officers
in this category.. (Ref . page 8.) ""-
9. Promotion from Sub-Professional Ranks: that
promotion rom sub-pro essiona to pro essional categories
be scrutinized more vigorously and systematically as this
source of new professional officers has proved to be the least
satisfactory. (Ref, page 6.)
10. Personnel Congestion at Senior Levels in the
Clandestine Services: tha agency o icia s intensify
exama.nation o a 1 possible methods of relieving and pre-
venting the recurrence of the congestion problem at the
senior levels of the CS, including genuinely effective out-
placement assistance, special retirement inducements (bonuses,
re-training assistance) and, in the cases of officers with
proper qualifications, placement in appropriate positions in
other Career Services. (Ref. page 8?).~
11, Centralized Personnel Management in the Clandestine
Services: tha personne management a the Directors e evel
in fie CS continue to develop procedures to facilitate orderly
rotation that will provide the challenging and broadening
experience that is particularly important in career develop-
ment of well-rounded CS officers, and to provide the flexibility
needed to react quickly and effectively to changes in priorities
among several world areas. (Ref. page S.)
12. Accumulation and Analysis of Attrition Data: that
each Direc orate ~.nstitute means o systemat~.ca y accumulat-
ing and analyzing more reliable information on why professional
officers leave the Agency. Sufficient information does not
now find its way to senior supervisors to permit a meaningful
assessment of the significance of attrition for recruitment
policy, career development, and operational effectiveness.
The Committee also recommends an annual Directorate report
to the Executive-Director on .rates and causes of attrition.
(Ref . page 9 .)
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1, A recent study by the Office of Personnel, "The
Succession Problem in CIA", dated 27 November 1967 (Tab B),
indicates that the retirement of large numbers of senior
Agency officers (GS-14 to 18) in the ten-year period from
1967 to 1976 will result in heavy drafts upon officers now
in GS-12 and 13 positions to fill senior jobs.
2. The study esti}nates losses in GS-12/13 ranks,
through upward movement and attrition, at 82% in the same
ten-year period and thereby logically raises the question
of the qualitative and quantitative resources available
in junior officer ranks to fill intermediate level positions
in these ten years. Briefly, the Office of Personnel has
estimated, based on October 1967 on-duty strength figures,
that more than professional officers will have to enter
the GS-12/13 ranks between 1967 and 1976.
3. The Committee on Professional Manpower has not dealt
with the quantitative aspects of this problem, but it ahould
?nted out that the Committee's study covers approximately
ew junior professional officers who entered primarily
in o GS-07/12 ranks during one five-year period; it did not
attempt to quantify the numbers already present in those r-arks
at the beginning of the period (FY 1963), A glance at avail-
able statistics, however, reveals that the number of junior
professionals already on-board, to be reinforced by further
accretions within the next several years, constitute's a.'suf-
ficient quantity of prospects for filling estimated vacancies
at the GS-12/13 level. External recruitment by DD/S&T and
DD/T directly into the middle-level ranks will also improve
this picture of future Agency leadership.
Position and Selection Standards
1, By relating selection standards to job requirements,
all Directorates are endeavoring to minimize the personnel
hazards of hiring over-qualified personnel for jobs which do not
challenge their ability and potential. Many necessary jobs are
routine, lack glamour, and provide small opportunities for
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advancement. There are numerous instances where overquali-
fied personnel are entrapped in such jobs; others are
unwilling to accept the fact that learning routine funda-
mentals is essential to long-term success.
2. In some instances, jobs remain unfilled if candi-
dates do not measure up to standards. On the other hand,
there are many Agency positions for which qualifications
must be developed through in-house training either because
of unique requirements, as in the case of CS operations
officers, or because the Agency is not able to acquire
sufficient numbers of already-trained personnel, as in the
case of computer technicians.
3. Selection criteria typically are applied in four
separate instances during the recruitment process: during
interview by a field recruiter; in an evaluation of profes-
sional testing, if taken; during interviews by one or more
representatives of the component for which the applicant is
being considered; and in specialized evaluations by the
Offices of Security and Medical Services.
4. In addition to being the initial personification
of the Agency to a recruitment prospect, the field recruiter
makes the first crucial decision, i.e., whether to turn the
prospect away, or to give him application forms and stimulate
his further interest.
5. The Professional Applicant Test Battery (PATB),
which ~is a six-hour series of tests devised and evaluated by
the As~-:essment and Evaluation Staff of the Office of Medical
Services (AES/OMS), is given-automatically to Career Training
Program prospects and to others whose qualifications seem to
relate to one or more recruitment requisitions which stipulate
that the tests be administered, -The tests are designed to
measure intellectual ability, attitudes, interests, personality,
background characteristics, foreign language aptitude, knowledge
of current affairs, and other factors. An AES evaluation of
an individual's test profile (Tab N) is sent to an operating
component on request, to the E~kills Bank, or to the Career
Training Program if the individual is a CT candidate. The
test results are incorporated in the Applicant File to pro-
vide assistance in making selection and placement decisi.onso
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Unlike the Foreign Service Officer written examination, there
is no passing or failing score. Instead, there is a narra-
tive comment evaluating the individual's test characteristics
in terms of the position for which he is being considered.
6. Certain other Agency components, e.g., the Clandestine
Services, the Office of Economic Research, and the National
Photographic Interpretation Center, consistently make use of
PATB evaluations. Many make no use of them whatever; some are
indifferent.
?. A positive selection decision is made only after one
or more interviews by representatives of an operating compo-
nent and, inn. most cases, only after review and approval by
senior officers in the component or Career Service. An offer
of employment, of course, must await favorable findings by
the Offices of Medical Services and Security.
S. CT candidates undergo the most rigorous screening in
the sense that they are subject to the initial CT recruitment
process described above, and still must undergo interviews and
evaluations by operating components upon the conclusion of
their formal training cycle in much the same manner as appli-
cants entering the component directly from outside the Agency.
9. The Clandestine Services is experiencing some dif-
ficulty in a core category, i.e., the junior professional who
can become a skillful agent recruiter and handler. It recog-
nizes the need to sharpen the identification of intangible
characteristics which make for a successful officer in this
critical function.
Recruitment
1. The Agency to date has experienced no serious
difficulty in recruiting junior professionals of the desired
quality and in the numbers needed.
2. The Support Services seem to have limited appeal to
today's business management graduates. An intensive input
of Career Trainees in the last two and one-half years has
raised the quality of generalist junior officers and, in a
few cases, has provided specialists. By and large, the Support
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Services have been able to satisfy selection criteria
in all categories, with the possible exception of com-
munications engineers, where competition is a set-ious
factor .
3. The DD/S&T, despite its insistence that selection
standards be maintained, generally has been successful in
obtaining enough quality personnel. A few very senior
positions have gone unfilled because of the Agency's in-
ability to compete in terms of salary for people with the
necessary qualifications. While encountering no major
difficulty in recruiting well-qualified personnel, the
DD/S&T does experience a considerable problem in retaining
them. This subject will be discussed further in the sec-
tion concerning attrition problems,
4. The Clandestine Services, except in certain spec-
ialized functions, does not compete in the manpower market
for people with scarce skills which command a high salary
on the outside; instead, it seeks.: well-balanced and intel-
ligent individuals who are mativated'by genuine interest
in world affairs. In-house training in the techniques of
clandestine operations and on-the-job experience become the
upgrading factors.
5. In the DD/I, the Office of Current Intelligence
reports difficulty in finding writers, researchers, and
people with area background to match those of earlier cal-
iber. The Office of Economic Research has been accepting
bachelor-level economists where M.A. and Ph.D. degrees were
desired. The indicates
that recruits hire lrec y ave ee riot in
recent years, although CT input and an increased reliance on
women employees have improved the situation. The National
Photographic Interpretation Center reports a recent improve-
ment in its ability to obtain the number and kinds of re-
cruits most desired.
6, The lengthy processing time for applicants is regard-
ed by all Directorates as a serious recruitment handicap.
This is not a new story in the Agency. The DD/I, competing
for scarce talent found in academic circles, seeks individuals
who normally would be signing teach~.ng and research contracts
by 1 April of each year. The Committee notes some feeling in
STAT
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DD/I that recruiting is impaired by adverse Agency pub-
licity as well as by limitations on conducting a more
overt scholarly exchange with the academic community.
7. An ability to communicate to the prospective
recruit, on an unclassified basis, a reasonably complete
and accurate description of a specific job, and the nature
and conditions of DD/I employment in general, would en-
hance DD/I's competitive position, The National Photographic
Interpretation Center, for example, reports recent sig-
nificant success in publicizing job opportunities i,n a
specific manner .
8~ There appears within the Agency as a whole a
growing desire to participate more directly in field recruit-
mento Such action is again being considered within the
Clandestine Services. It certainly is a m'2~,~