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P96-00789R0021 00300002-4
SUBvJECT:
Personnel Continuity
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
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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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.
SGI
I
Chief,
ISAB
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