SUBJECT: PERSONNEL CONTINUITY
CIA-STARGATE
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The Intelligence Systems Analysis Branch (ISAB) within the CIA's Stargate program has been facing an issue with personnel continuity. It takes two years to train personnel to an operational level, but their tours are only three years long. Extended tours of five or six years would hinder career progression for officers, warrant officers, and NCOs, despite potential benefits to the government. One potential solution is to allow personnel to return to their previous specialties in the field after their initial four-year tour, with the advantage of bringing back fresh skills and ideas. This would also establish a pool of trained personnel available for rapid deployment if needed. Another option is to civilianize the project, but this has disadvantages such as limited career progression opportunities and potential burnout. The use of the Great Skills program to extend tour lengths has its own drawbacks, including subverting the program's original purpose and potentially deterring recruitment. Therefore, a short-term solution would be to continue with a mix of civilians and military personnel, utilizing civilians for personnel continuity and military personnel for their fresh perspective and experience after returning from field assignments. In the long term, as the ISAB product becomes more accepted, additional offices can be established at different locations to provide service to customers. This would create more positions for both civilians and military personnel, increasing opportunities for advancement and improving recruitment and retention of high-quality personnel. This could eventually lead to ISAB teams being assigned to G2 Staffs at different levels, providing both tactical and strategic exposure for ISAB members.
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Body: Approved For Release
SUBJECT: Personnel Continuity
96-00789R001100020003-5
1. (C) BACKGROUND. Since its conception the unit now known as
the Intelligence Systems Analysis Branch (ISAB) has been faced
with a problem of personnel continuity. The problem is
exacerbated by the two year time period it takes to train unit
personnel, to a point of operational utility. In a normal three
year tour a person is trained for the first two years,
operational for the third year, and then reassigned.
2. (U) FACTORS BEARING ON THE PROBLEM:
a. (U) "Homesteading" (spending five or more years at the
same location) hinders promotion and selection for schools.
b. (U) Officers, Warrant Officers and NCOs assigned to
ISAB must remain competitive with their peers for promotion and
advanced schooling. While a three or four year tour may not be
career damaging, a five or six year tour would have a negative
effect on career progression, despite the fact that it might be
of benefit to the government, in that the person affected would
not have had those assignments (command and staff assignments),
the primary concern of promotion boards.
C. (U) An initial four year assignment to the project with
a subsequent reassignment and then return to the project has
several advantages:
(1) The trained personnel who went back to the field to
work their previous specialities would keep up on the
current state-of-art in their fields and would bring
their new skills and fresh ideas back to the project.
An additional plus would be that they would return from
their three year tour fresh, enthusiastic and ready to
work. They would in all probability be operational with
only a few weeks refresher training.
(2) A second advantage would be that there would be the
establishment of a growing pool of trained, experienced
personnel filling normal assignments in the greater
military intelligence community instead of occupying the
limited number of ISAB slots, but who would be readily
available within a matter of months if the field should
rapidly expand or a sudden development should require
their expertise.
(3) A three year tour with a one year extension or an
agreement with MILPERCEN, DA. to assign personnel to the
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"Project" for a four year tour would not be career
damaging for the personnel assigned and should be fairly
simple to arrange.
3. (U) THE CIVILIAN OPTION. There would be a definite
advantage in completely civilianizing the project. Employment
of Department of Defense Civilians as a rule provides more
manning stability for an organization than does use of their
military counterparts. But there are also several disadvantages
to this option:
(1) Civilians would need to make a career decision at
the time they entered the program. It would be
virtually impossible for a person to spend ten years in
the program and then return to his former speciality.
The state-of-the--art. in his former field would simply
have passed him by.
(2) At the present time, there are limited
opportunities for career progression for civilians in
the "Project." Realistically, GS-13 is probably the
highest grade possible. Because of this, we may not be
able to attract the highest caliber of people.
(3) A civilian spending an entire career in the ISAB at
the same location would be highly specialized in this
one area of expertise but would have very narrow
exposure to the greater intelligence community or DoD.
(4) Spending an entire career in one place doing one
thing almost guarantees the occurrence of "burn-out."
4. (C) THE GREAT SKILLS OPTION. One option that has been used
sucessfully in the past for extending the tour length for
military personnel is the use of the Great Skills program. This
option however has several disadvantages:
a. This, in a sense, subverts the purpose for which Great
Skills was originated. Personnel may be reluctant to join ISAB
or be retained by ISAB because of this.
b. Great Skills does not guarantee a person will spend his
entire career at the same location. What it does guarantee is
that the person will spend his entire career in Great Skills.
c. Great Skills is a career decision. If a person spends
five years in Great Skills and then goes back to the "regular"
Army his career is for all purposes ruined. Because of this, we
may not be able to recruit the best people if a decision to go
Great Skills is a prerequiste for entry into the "Project".
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Approved For Releas,
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5. (C) SHORT TERM SOLUTION. The best solution for now appears
to be to continue with a mix of civilians and military. The
civilians would provide a measure of personnel continuity for
the ISAB, while the military personnel would spend an initial
four year tour with the project, return to the field for three
years and then come back fresh to ISAB with new energy,
experience, perspective, and perhaps ideas. There would always
be a trained pool of personnel working their speciality outside
the project who could be rapidly called back should an emergency
arise or should the project expand. When these military
personnel retired from the Army they would also provide a
trained recruitment pool for ISAB civilain positions.
6. (C) LONG TERM SOLUTION. The long term solution will evolve
naturally in time. Once the ISAB product is accepted by the
intelligence community, additional offices can be designated at
different geographical locations to provide service to
customers. The European Command and The Pacific Command come to
mind as logical locations for ISAB Field Offices. This will
create additional command and staff positions for both civilians
and military, as well as expanded opportunities for advancement,
all of which would contribute to the recruitment and retention
of the highest quality personnel. The next natural step is
assigning ISAB Teams to the G2 Staffs of Army Corps and their
sister service equivalents and eventually down to the G2 Staff
at Division level, thereby providing both tactical and strategic
exposure for the members of ISAB.
SG1J
MAJ, U
Chief, ISAB
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001100020003-5