EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING, 12 NOVEMBER 1980, (A) LONG-RANGE PLANNING: OVERSEAS PRESENCE (B) COMPENSATION FOR OVERSEAS PERSONNEL (C) CLANDESTINE TECHNICAL COLLECTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92-00420R000100010043-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 20
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2005
• Sequence Number: 43
• Publication Date: November 6, 1980
• Content Type: MF

S E C R E T
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EXCOM w _ 35-80
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FROM
SUBJECT . Executive Committee Meeting, 12 November 1980,
(a) Long-Range Planning: Overseas Presence
(b) Compensation for Overseas Personnel
(c) Clandestine Technical Collection
1. The Executive Committee will meet on Wednesday, 12 November 1980,
from 1500 to 1630 hours in the DCI Conference Room. Scheduled for
consideration at this meeting are, in order of presentation, the long-
range planning issue covering problems with CIA's overseas presence,
an OPPPM proposal regarding compensation of CIA personnel stationed
overseas, and a clandestine technical collection proposal.
2. Attached are the formal papers on the long-range planning issue
and the compensation proposal. As with past long-range planning sessions,
your insight into the implications of this issue on CIA activities are
needed.
3. Following the above topics there will be a short session for
specific EXCOti members on the clandestine technical collection project.
The paper for this topic has alread been distributed to those members
who need to participate dated 10/2/80).
4. The next-long-range planning session will be held on 17
November 1980 from 1500 to 1630 and will cover the Soviet/East Europe
Intentions and Intelligence Collection issues. Papers for this session
will be distributed by 12 November 1980, if possible. However, due to
the pressure of current reporting, it may not be possible to provide
the Soviet/ East Europe paper before 14 November.
Attachments:
as stated
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S E C R E T
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MANAGEMENT ISSUE
What would constitute an effective overseas presence and supporting
infrastructure in increasingly difficult environments?
To maintain an effective. presence overseas the
Agency must address concurrently problems of
incentives, staffing levels, and staff skills. The
elimination of restrictions caused bI controls does
no good if suitable cover is unavailable; good cover is
useful only if we get people to accept overseas assign-
ments; the number of man-years available for collection
activities must be commensurate with requirements; and
persons assigned overseas must have the appropriate
skills and experience to perform their duties. Agency
managers have always had to contend with these problems,
but negative trends in each area are creating a more
critical situation.
I.. SUMMARY
In developing this paper, we reached a consensus that the key problem
is not what constitutes an effective overseas presence but rather, how
can we maintain an effective overseas presence in the eighties.
Our overseas presence has been affected by the erosion of security
and diplomatic immunity for our personnel abroad, the public disclosure
of identities of Agency personnel, and by a declining personnel motivation
for extended overseas service. There is a financial disincentive for
service overseas because of the lack of employment opportunities abroad
for the spouse of our employees and the high cost of living in most
overseas posts. Finally, in recent years, we have lost, through retirement
and resignation, a sizeable number of our more experienced officers,
many of whom had hard to replace skills.
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The current operating environment overseas has placed much stricter
demands on security and tradecraft. The reduction of file holdings in
the field has meant that officers no longer have timely access to the data
base of historical and operational knowledge on a country, its operating
environment, station assets and targets. As a result, electronic traffic
between Field and Headquarters has increased as requirements are levied
on Headquarters to provide needed elements of the data base no longer
maintained at the station. Major personnel reductions at Headquarters
have left fewer people to support increasing field requirements
As a consequence, we are faced with a two-pronged problem of
increasing institutional roadblocks to the maintenance of an overseas
U.S. presence together with diminishing professional, financial rewards
and personal rewards for those of our people selected to serve abroad.
Unless these problems can be resolved, there is little doubt that the
effectiveness of the Agency's overseas activities will decline.
As a means to help solve some of these problems, we recommend certain
actions be considered, as follows:
C. Staff Training Complement: Our complement of qualified linguists
is diminishing and the new employees now being recruited do not have
comparable language skills. The NAPA report, dated 19 September 1980,
recommended the establishment of a development language complement
equivalent to six percent of the Unit Language Requirements (ULR).
We recommend the re-establishment of such a Headquarters language
training complement. ??
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D. Incentives to Overseas Service. As a positive sign to employees
.that the added hardships of overseas service are recognized and rewarded,
we recommend the adoption of a cash payment to all individuals while they
are stationed overseas. Anyone of the themes being proposed by OPPPM --
a separate overseas pay scale, an overseas allowance or bonus plan, an
incremental step system, or a deferred compensation plan -- that increases
the willingness of persons to serve overseas could be adopted. It is
also suggested that the Agency adopt a policy to ensure that liberal
interpretations are made of regulations and allowances, especially
at hardship posts. It is also felt that efforts should be made to
minimize the aggravation to employees and families of PCS moves to and
from overseas; specifics on the procedures and allowances to accomplish
this need further study.
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Is
II. BACKGROUND
All of the Directorates in the Agency maintain an overseas presence,
with the size of their overseas complement dependent upon their mission.
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was related to the draw own in Southeast Asia in the early to mid 1970's,
the initial buildup in this area was at the expense.of overseas staffing in
other foreign areas. The Agency was given no additional positions to
accommodate the increased operational requirements in Southeast Asia. Thus,
while the withdrawal was not accompanied by increased needs elsewhere, we
were not able to restore other foreign activities to their pre-Vietnam
levels. This reduction of positions in the field was accompanied by a
corresponding reduction of positions at Headquarters, particularly in the
Directorate of Operations. While a reduction in positions following the
Indochina withdrawal was necessary, that factor, combined with accelerated
retirement of experienced officers, has acted to lessen the flexibility of
the Agency to staff vacant positions in a timely manner.
The number of overseas installations in which we assign officers is
a reflection of the global commitments of the policymakers of the U.S.
Government. As a result of this interest, in recent years additional
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In a ition to geographical targets, in recent years our policy-
makers have expanded considerably their interests in topics which had not
been previously targeted for intelligence collection operations. Such
topics include international economics and energy, nuclear proliferation,
and strategic weapon programs of non-Communist states, narcotics and
international terrorism. All of these requirements placed a strain on
resource allocations.
Agency presence overseas is affected by a number of factors, such as:
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availability of non-official cover in a country; overnmen re a ions
with, commitments to and agreements with the host country; the internal
security situation within a country; and the capability of the Agency to
operate in a country, including through an official liaison relationship
and clandestinely.
At the same time, public disclosure o the
en i ies o gency personnel has dramatically introduced a new security
factor into the problems of operating abroad. In addition to the traditional
CI measures taken to protect the security of our operations and personnel
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from hostile and friendly intelligence services, our personnel abroad now
must take security precautions to avoid hostile action by terrorist groups
and fanatics, who, until the identities of our personnel were published,
would not generally represent a security threat. Moreover, such groups are
indiscriminate about the official function of Agency personnel, whether
they are operations. officers, communications, support, clerical or dependents--
all are considered fair game. This factor has required additional resources,
including the time of our overseas personnel, to enhance the security of
their operational activities.
Finally, there is a declining personnel motivation for extended overseas
service. Security factors, the high cost of overseas life in most areas
and a major increase in the number of spouses who must pursue separate
careers act to reduce the motivation for extended tours abroad. In addition,
the image of the Agency has suffered in recent years as a result of public
disclosure of our activities and personnel. There was a quiet feeling of
clandestine service accomplishments and a personal participation in these
accomplishments which built on a solid esprit de corps in the clandestine
service.. The name of CIA had a certain mystique which actually aided in
the development and maintenance of close liaison relationships with a
number of foreign governments and officials. Public disclosure and
criticism of Agency activities have helped destroy this mystique and the
esprit de corps of its personnel. Liaison services and assets question
whether we can now keep secrets. Personnel see activities in which they
.had been involved and which had been considered in the intelligence com-
munity as accomplishments now being criticized by the media and public
officials. The result of all this is a two-pronged problem of increasing
institutional roadblocks to the establishment of an overseas U.S. intelli-
gence presence together with diminishing professional, financial and personal
rewards for those of our people selected to serve abroad. Unless these
problems can be resolved, there is little doubt that the effectiveness of
the Agency's overseas activities will decline.
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III. CURRENT SITUATION
A. Staffing
A key problem is that we are replacing officers with 25-30 years
of experience with newly graduated officers who require a great deal
of supervision. Thus, since 1979 there has been a steady increase in
the senior officer work hours which must be diverted to compensate for
new officer inexperience and to provide additional supervision. From
the time of their entry on duty, it generally takes a new officer five
to seven years, including one or more overseas tours, before he is fully
productive. The DO manpower situation will continue to worsen and will
turn around only when the influx of new officers, which started in 1980,
gain the experience to replace those officers who have retired.
Our current supporting infrastructure does not include sufficient
positions for training of officers after they leave the CT program.
Each current training requirement now results in a negative offset in
a line position. In October 1981, the DO only has =students in full-
time lan uage training out of a total FY 81 position authorization of
his extremely low total is reflective of both lack of personnel
to pace in full-time training and a lack of training slots to accommodate
them.
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-IV. STATEMENT OF TRENDS
A. Staffing
(1) Assumptions
Increased collection and covert action requirements will require
consideration for additional staffing overseas for Agency components.
This requirement includes the need for positions for human source
and technical collection as well as the supporting mechanisms for these
categories. With these increased overseas position authorizations and
requirements, there will be i ed competition within the Intelli-
gence Community for lots.
As personnel in the field attempt to meet requirements for
additional intelligence and/or covert action, Headquarters direction
and support must expand in commensurate fashion. We do not now have
the manpower to accomplish this. Training positions at Headquarters
must be established to provide language and specialized training to
enable new officers to acquire the skills lost by accelerated retire-
ment of experienced officers.
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Another possible problem related to staffing our overseas
installations is the retention rate of the current crop of career
trainees. Within the next three to five years, we will be sending
on their first tour overseas CT's. We cannot now
ascertain the resignation rate c nel. While they were
recruited and trained for overseas service and they are now motivated
to perform such service, we cannot now estimate how many will opt for
extended overseas service given the current financial disincentives
for overseas service and the problems associated with the current
overseas environment.
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B. Operating Environment
(1) Assumptions
The overseas environment in which our officers must work will
continue to reflect significant change as a result of the erosion
of cover through public disclosure of our officers' identities, the
threat of terrorist activity and the deteriorating security situation
for American personnel overseas. This factor will require more
effective cover arrangements and better security techniques and
equipment for our personnel and their dependents. Such arrangements,
which would include
e icien use o an emp oyee s time.
will mean less
(2) Additional overseas personnel and a larger Headquarters
supporting infrastructure are required to counteract a loss of
efficiency caused by improved cover and security precautions.
CRAFT will not be fully operational until the late eighties.
Until stations have timely access to the Headquarters data base,
a larger supporting mechanism will be required to provide this
service manually.
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V. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION
In discussing alternative courses of action related to our overseas
presence and supporting infrastructure, we have limited our recommendations
to five key areas where we believe action is required to enable the Agency
to conduct its overseas mission in the eighties. These key areas relate
to:
B.
C. Staffing Training Complement
Incentives to Serve Overseas
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C. Staff Training Complement: With accelerated retirement of experienced
officers, particularly those with language fluency, we will be sending
overseas in the next several years a larger than usual number of inexperienced
officers. We must provide language training to these officers. The NAPA
Report, dated 19 September 1930, noted that in FY 1979, of the 5,712
State overseas positions, only 23 percent were designated as Unit Language
Requirements (ULR) with 71 percent of these positions filled. On the other
hand, designated
as UL K, with only 30 percent o these positions filled wi ully qualified
personnel (another 30 percent were filled with personnel partially language
qualified). Career Trainees who entered on duty in FY 79, only
20 percent tested S-3/R-3 in a foreign language although 90 percent had
some language skills. These statistics point up the need for extensive
language training for those Agency personnel who will serve overseas.
The NAPA Report recommended the Agency should reestablish a language
training complement that is not charged to the operating areas. This would
serve to institutionalize and protect a level of language training
commensurate with the needs of the Agency. NAPA recommended a development
complement equivalent to 6 percent of the ULRs or approximately 130.
work years. We recommend EXCOP1 approve a FY 83 budget item to reestablish
a Headquarters language training complement.
D. Incentives'to Overseas Service
We foresee an increasing problem in the eighties in getting people to
remain overseas. We must provide some incentive, for example, to that
operations officer who spends four to six hours a day on his cover job and
then works into the night and on weekends to carry out his Agency duties.
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If vie are to remain competitive in recruiting ana
maintaining a staff of quality people to serve abroad in the eighties
we must consider what incentives will be necessary to motivate a new
eneration to serve extended tours abroad. Some recommendations to
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provide such incentives are grouped below into immediate and long-range
suggestions.
(1) Immediate
(a) OPPPM recommendations. Approve an overseas incentive
pay proposal. OPPPM will present an option paper at the
end of this presentation which would consider four options:
(1) an overseas pay scale; (2) an overseas allowance or
bonus plan; (3) a step increase system; and (4) a deferred
compensation plan.
(b) Committee recommendations. (1) Consider the elimination
of all Agency-imposed restrictions on monetary compensation
for overtime for overseas personnel. (2) Adopt the new
Foreign Service pay scale for overseas employees, as recom-
mended by Mr. Tom Tracey, Assistant Secretary of State for
Administration.
(c) Reinstitute the practice of transmitting to the field
newsletters and other employee-related information, including
promotion lists. To preserve security, field installations
could be instructed to destroy such material immediately
after personnel have had the opportunity to read it.
(d) Provide better in and out processing facilities and
benefits to personnel and their families, both at Head-
quarters and in the field. Such benefits could include
car rental reimbursement for the period immediately prior
to departure from Headquarters and in the field, where
feasible, until the arrival of an individual's private
automobile.
(e) Interpret liberally as feasible those standardized
regulations which govern benefits which could be granted
overseas personnel and their dependents, particularly in
extreme hardship posts. Such benefits could include
housing, furniture, appliances and draperies allowances
and,.where security permits, more access to government-
owned vehicles.
(f) Establish a security allowance to permit assignees
to overseas posts the opportunity to purchase personal
protection devices (locks, alarms) under the guidance
of the Office of Security. (This recommendation will be
formalized and circulated for approval once OGC has
determined that there is no legal objection.
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(2) Longer-range.
(a) Extension of the present leave retention provision of
the SIS system to all overseas employees.
(b) Include unused home leave balances in retirement
computations in the same manner that sick leave balances
are currently included. (OGC is presently investigating
this matter).
(c) Establish a Benefit Committee to twice yearly review
our benefits and those of other foreign service agencies
to ensure that parity is continued. Suggested members:
OLC, OGC, OPPPM, DDA, DDO, NFAC, and'DDS&T.
(d) Seek legislation which wpuld permit CIA employees to
convert from excepted service into the Civil Service System
at any time. (OLC and OGC are currently investigating this.)
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LONG-RANGE PLANNING ISSUE TEAM
ISSUE: Management Issue #1: What would constitute an effective
overseas presence and supporting infrastructure in
increasingly difficult operational environments?
TEAM MEMBERS:
Chairman
Members:
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I. TOPIC
.To provide an additional monetary incentive to employees assigned
overseas so as to partially relieve difficulties encountered in staffing
overseas assignments. (U)
II. BACKGPDLND
A. The staffing of our overseas. positions is becoming more -and
more difficult. Some reasons offered by employees have been the
inconveniencies of overseas living, concern with terrorism, hazards of
being identified as a CIA employee, the security of the sponsor's
family, career goals of spouses, family reluctance to relocate,
educational difficulties and the higher costs of overseas living. This
latter problem more. seriously affects the lower salaried personnel than
those at higher grades and salaries. (S)
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(4) A system which does not change an individual's grade
with the attendant downgrading when returning from
overseas. Does not have the same negative implication
as a bonus would have on fellow workers from other
Government agencies
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(5) Additional compensation in increased benefits,
i.e., high-three, increased FFGLI insurance,
accident or death coverage and increased premium
and overtime pay.
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Statistical- Computational Figures
A. Overseas people/position data from FY 81 Budget (Comptroller)
B. Average Salary
Overseas $26,297 (FY 81 Budget)
Agency (Full-time permanent) $25,563 (FY 81 Budget)
C. Average PSI Overseas
$788.91 (3% of overseas average salary of $26,297)
D. Computation of overseas step increase
Average PSI overseas x work years overseas
$788.91 x 2,545 =$2,007,775.95
E. Overseas on-duty strength as of 30 September 1980 by grade:
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