POSSIBLE PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS IN THE OFFICE OF COMPUTER SERVICES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00780R001300030016-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 18, 2002
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: February 25, 1966
• Content Type: MF

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Support
2 5 FEB 1366
SUBJECT . Possible Personnel Management Problems in the
Office of Computer Services
1. For some time now I have had a growing concern about staffing
problems and rumors of morale problems in the Office of Computer Services--
particularly in the area of automatic data processing. Initially I was
concerned about the general shortage in the supply of qualified candidates
in this field of work and somewhat later with the seemingly excessive
attrition rate. In this connection, a recent study indicates that from
1 February 1965 to 31 January 1966 ten Card Punch Operators and 17 tech-
nical and professional personnel have left the Agency.
2. I have also become alarmed at the apparent inability of the Appli-
cations Division, OCS, to meet Agency information requirements on personnel
matters. A review of outstanding projects on record in OCS for the Office
of Personnel as of 16 February 1966 indicates a backlog of 1,228 man hours.
Some of the jobs were placed as far back as November and December of 1965
and promised completion dates run into June and July 1966. These figures
give no consideration to additional priority requirements which will cer-
tainly develop. The backlog situation may be far worse than indicated
since the Office of Personnel is only one customer--although an important
one because most of our requests for special runs generate from requirements
levied upon us by operating officers or senior management levels in CIA.
3. Lastly, I have been alarmed at expressions of discontent by persons
leaving the Agency--discontent with personnel management practices within
OCS or possibly the absence of evidence of personnel management. I would
summarize or interpret the complaints as follows:
a. There appears to be no Career Service or other personnel
management mechanism within the Office of Computer Services to
handle long-range personnel planning and development. Opportuni-
ties for formalized training or for development through varied work
assignments appear to be completely lacking.
b. Internal communications within the Office of Computer Services
appear to be weak at best. Members of the Office feel that they are
not informed about the Office's activities and plans and that, indeed,
their "customer offices" frequently know more about these matters
than they do.
c. There appears to remain a big question of whether it is not
inherently impractical to attempt to combine in one organization,
using common facilities, the Agency's computer-driven machinery for
the storage, retrieval, and manipulation of administrative data and
our more esoteric applications of computer capabilities.
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d. Finally, it appears that those with true technical qualifi-
cations as Systems Analysts feel that people of lesser qualifications
(the0 Group, for example) are taking over the real guts of the
work and that the professionally qualified group have been reduced
to performing routine programming and clerical tasks.
4. I have not made any attempt to verify or quantify these complaints;
rather I am bringing the situation to your attention since the total per-
formance of OCS is so vital to the entire Agency. I assume you will wish
to take this matter up with the Deputy Director for Science and Technology.
I, of course, stand ready to do anything I can to help remedy any
deficiencies found to exist.
25X1
Emmett Echols
Att: OCS Separations Table
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