DRAFT RESPONSES TO MAZZOLI'S QUESTIONS ON FORMER SPOUSES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86B00338R000300450001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 19, 2008
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 7, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

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QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD FOR THE CIA
(1) Please provide a brief overview of how well the 1982
CIA Former Spouses Retirement Equity Act has worked.
Answer: The CIA Spouses' Retirement Equity Act of
1982 is a good piece of legislation. It satisfies some
important needs of individuals who made an immense
contribution to our Agency. Because of the cover and
security requirements that must be factored in, it was a
difficult law to administer at first. However, we've been
working with the 1982 Act and our experience has helped us
improve its Administration. The procedures we have
implemented are helping to ensure that individuals entitled
to benefits under this law are receiving them.
(2) What is CIA's estimate of the number of former CIA
spouses who would be entitled to the annuity benefit provided
for by H.R. 5805 and what is the basis for that estimate?
Answer: The Agency unfortunately does not have
records that would provide for an accurate estimate of the
number of CIA former spouses who would be entitled to an
annuity benefit under H.R. 5805. A ballpark guess could be
that as many as 200 individuals potentially qualify if you
apply national divorce statistics to the eligible CIARDS
population. However, we have no reason to dispute other
estimates that the Committee has received of less than half
that number.
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X OL OMLY
(3) What is CIA's estimate of the cost, on annual basis
and over time, to the Government of the annuity benefit in H.R
5805, and what is the basis for that estimate?
Answer: Our best annual estimate of the cost would
result from multiplying the benefit provided under this
bill, $7,400, times the potential number of eligible
spouses. Using the 200 figure would result in an annual
cost of $1.5, a lower population obviously would reduce
this amount proportionately. Of course this benefit would
have a limited actuarial life, since the class of
beneficiaries is limited.
(4) In its letter to the Subcommittee of 27 August 1984,
the office of Personnel Management objected to the health
insurance eligibility provision of H.R. 5805 in part on the
administrative ground that OPM does not have the records on CIA
employees needed to carry out the provision. Does CIA have
such records, or the ability to create them, and could CIA
instead of OPM, or in coordination with OPM, more effectively
administer the health insurance provision?
Answer: Once again, CIA lacks adequate records to
implement this benefit fully. H.R. 5805 as written applies
to all former CIA spouses who immediately before the
divorce or annulment were covered under a Federal Employees
Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) plan and who were married
of MIT
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fin - .- t USE WILY
ten years to any Agency employee with at least five years
of the marriage spent outside the United States. Using
this definition, there will be many former spouses whose
husbands/wives are no longer Agency employees, much less
Some of
participants in a single health insurance plan.
these individuals will have retired and some will have left
for other employment. Identifying all of these individuals
would require extraordinary effort, but we are prepared to
work with the Committees to determine acceptable procedures.
OPM does not maintain records on CIA employees, former
employees, and retirees needed to carry out the health
insurance provision of this bill.
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of health
(6) Please describe the current availability
care to CIA personnel and their dependents serving overseas.
Answer: Health care facilities for Agency personnel
significantly both in
and their dependents overseas vary
terms of quality and availability. In some areas medical
facilities are woefully inadequate while, in others,
medical care equates to U.S. standards. There are locales
where Agency personnel use a combination of local doctors
and hospitals, DOD and embassy facilities. In other areas
employees must depend on local.facilities supplemented by
periodic visits from an Agency regional medical officer.
(7) Please estimate the expected duration of the need for
funding the annuity provisions of H.R. 5805, given that the
eligible for
spouses divorced prior to 15 November 1982,
annuities under this bill constitute a finite group and nd are
probably in their middle years, and given the actuarial
realities of life expectancies.
STAT
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Answer: Based on data from 1966 to 1982, the average
life expectancy for females is age 84. Consequently, we
would estimate the duration for major funding at 34 years.
This estimate is based on the assumption of a mean age of
50 years for the eligible population.
(8) If H.R. 5805 were enacted, how would you proceed to
eligible for
identify and notify CIA former spouses potentially
benefits under H.R. 5805 of their potential rights?
Answer: As previously indicated the Agency lacks
records that readily identify former spouses divorced prior
to 1982. Consequently, identifying and notifying former
spouses who might be eligible for a benefit is a potential
problem with this bill. However, as with the 1982 Act, we
can do a number of things to publicize the benefits of any
new legislation. Under the 1982 Act we initially published
a series of notices and field correspondence to employees
and forwarded letters to retirees advising them of the
provisions of the Act. We could use these and other
mechanisms to notify and solicit the names of individuals
who might be affected under any new legislation. We would
also be willing to work with the Committee and any former
spouses or their representatives, to develop additional
notification procedures, consistent with our cover and
security requirements.
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(9) The annuity payable to a former CIA spouse
divorced prior to 15 November 1982, who is eligible under
this bill, would be paid from the CIA Retirement Fund or
the Civil Service Fund, as appropriate. What would CIA's
plans be to replace these withdrawals from the funds not
based on previous contributions? Would you, for example,
seek a specific appropriation or just allow the retirement
funds to absorb a larger unfunded liability?
Answer: In introducing this legislation, Congressman
Mazzoli indicated that this new benefit for qualified
former spouses would be paid out of Treasury funds. If
this bill were to pass, CIA would indeed seek to ensure
that the CIA Retirement Fund would not absorb this unfunded
liability.
(10) Does the CIA actively assist spouses in finding
overseas employment, whether with CIA or otherwise?
Answer: Yes. Agency employees generally make known
their spouse's interest in working overseas. We make every
effort then to locate assignments not only for the spouse
who is already an Agency employee, but also for the
non-Agency employed spouse if at all possible. In the
latter instance, we may hire the non-Agency employed spouse
for a specific assignment prior to the couple's departure;
hire him or her locally at the post after arrival overseas
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if a requirement develops; or, if possible, refer the
spouse to the State Department Family Liaison office for
assistance.
Agency employees whose non-Agency employee spouses are
transferred overseas by their own organizations are allowed
90 days leave Without Pay (LWOP) to accompany the spouse if
there is no Agency assignment possibility for the Agency
employee at the time of departure. Should an appropriate
requirement develop at the Agency post during that 90-day
period, the employee would be returned to duty from LWOP.
Should a requirement not develop, or should the employee
locate an assignment with another organization, a
resignation would be processed. Upon return to the
Headquarters area, the employee would be favorably
considered for reemployment if such is requested.
When one member of an employee couple is idenified for
an assignment, Agency policy requires that every effort be
made to locate an assignment for the other member. If none
is available, the non-assigned employee may convert to
intermittent status to accompnay the assigned employee
overseas. The intermittent spouse may later be reactivated
to fill a requirement that develops after his or her
arrival and is guaranteed a return to the grade held, and
in a position similar to, that occupied at the time of
departure.
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(11) Does the CIA have any special policies or
practices either encouraging or discouraging husband-wife
case officer teams in which both spouses are full-time CIA
staff employees?
Answer: There is no Agency-wide policy discouraging
husband-wife case officer teams, or teams in any
occupational category. We have long recognized the value
of husband-wife teams in general and have tried to use them
to everyone's advantage in the accomplishment of the
Agency's mission. At the current time we are working on
refining and enhancing the existing programs and policies
which encourage dual assignments or employee couples,
particularly overseas. We make every effort to treat each
member of the employee couple as individuals, using their
qualifications and skills, and making assignments, in
accordance with good management principles. When overseas
assignments are not immediately available for both members
of an employee couple, the non-assigned spouse may convert
to the program described in paragraph C of the response to
question 10.
(12) Would passage of this legislation place any undue
administrative or operational burdens on the CIA? If so, how
can those burdens be minimized and still accomplish the
purposes of the bill?
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Answer: At this time we do not forsee major problems
beyond those idenfitied in previous answers.
(13) Assuming for purposes of discussion that the policy
goals of H.R. 5805 were accepted, what specific amendments to
H.R. 5805 would the CIA recommend?
Answer: In light of your question, CIA would propose
the following amendments.
Spousal Election
In enacting the CIA Spouses' Retirement Equity Act of 1982,
Congress recognized that retroactive application of this law
could affect settled legal rights and consequently limited that
statute to prospective application only. We feel that the same
potential for interference with completed divorce actions
exists in H.R. 5805, which as written would alter the balance
of assets already determined by existing spousal support
arrangements for divorces prior to 15 November 1982. To
minimize this potential we believe that the bill should
modified to reflect that where spousal support has been decreed
by a court, the former spouse should be required to elect
between benefits under the draft bill or court ordered payments.
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Pro-Rata Apportionment
We are also concerned with the fairness of the former
spouse would receiving a uniform amount (approximately $7,4000
annually) regardless of the size of the participant's annuity.
We believe that the lifetime and survivor benefits under the
draft bill should not exceed those available to former spouses
under the 1982 spousal legislation. This potential inequity
could be alleviated by determining the entitlement through the
lesser of the $7,400 figure or the computation of a pro-rata
share based on the length of time the spouse is married to the
participant during periods of creditable service a provided for
in existing law. For example: If married to the participant
for 30 out of the 30 years on which the annuity is based, the
former spouse would be entitled to the lesser of $7,400 or
one-half (50 percent) of the participant's annuity; if married
to the participant for 15 our of the 30 years on which the
annuity is based, the former spouse would be entitled to the
lesser or $7,400 or one-forth (25 percent) of the. participant's
annuity.
Treasury Funding
In introducing this legislation, you indicated that this
new benefit for qualified former spouses would be paid out of
Treasury funds. However, as presently drafted this simply
provides an entitlement for the new class of former spouses to
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receive benefits from the CIA retirement fund. To ensure
that these funds are replenished from the Treasury, we
suggest that the following amendment be added to this bill:
'SEC. 3. There are authorized to be appropriated from the
United States Treasury such funds as are necessary to carry
out the purposes of this Act.'
Protection of Classified Information
Finally, given the potential that the proposed bill offers
for disclosure of classified information in litigation, we
believe that a provision should be added to this bill to
safeguard any information concerning former spouses. The
purpose of this provision would be to notify spouses and their
attorneys that nothing in this Title may be construed as
authorizing the disclosure on the public record of the identity
of CIA employees who are under cover. We are prepared to work
with your staff to draft language that would achieve this
result.
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