Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002100300003-3 Memorandum for Record 30 Aug 85 Subject: Options for Civilians Joining SUNSTREAK l. First, some questions need to be answered. a. How many positions will we have and what will be the distribution, i.e., number of operational personnel, number of analysts, number of support personnel? I believe it has been decided that SUNSTREAK will have 12 spaces. This leaves the question of distribution, to include the number of civilians and the number of military. b. What are our recruitment sources, i.e., current intelligence personnel, recent college graduates, retired military with an intelligence background, etc.? The answer to this question depends greatly on the answer to the screening problem. c. How are we going to screen candidates without divulging classified information to those who are not read on and those who have no clearances ( this also brings up the time frame involved in uncleared personnel obtaining clearances)? What are the screening procedures going to include? I will prepare a separate paper concerning screening of candidates, potential sources, etc. One of the areas we want to avoid is having "the world" recruit for us, i.e., having people come to us saying they told someone about us and they really want to work for us, or someone is really good at doing that kind of thing and we should hire them, or someone's daughter, friend, etc. really thinks this is neat and we must hire that person. We have already experienced problems in this area, so we need to take proactive measures. Remember, once you have hired a civilian you have a really tough time removing them. One important step to include in the screening process is a personal psychological interview. 2. Position descriptions must be established for the civilian positions. Here we have a couple of options. One point I think should be made is that we should attempt to have them written as Intelligence Operations Specialists, GS-132 series. We cannot continue to bring civilians on board into GS-301 mixed bag jobs, using bogus job sheets. The civilians must be given credit for what they are doing in the intelligence collection field. The Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002100300003-3
SG1J Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002100300003-3 position descriptions can probably be written in an unclassified format and not actually mention the technology involved. However, we still have the option of writing classified position descriptions. If we decide that some personnel will be brought in at a trainee level (GS-5), and some people, because of background and qualifications can be brought in at a higher level (GS-9 thru GS-12), we have to produce position descriptions at each level, using the most appropriate when recruiting. For instance, let's say that the highest grade is GS-12, and we would like to hire 1 college graduate with no experience. We would bring that person in as a GS-5 and provide the opportunity for non-competitive promotion (automatic with l yr. in grade and satisfactory performance showing success in performing duties of more responsibility) to GS-9 (two years in training, GS-5 thru GS-7, operational at GS-9). Then let's say we want to bring on a retired military candidate (officer or enlisted) and his past experience qualifies him as a GS-132-11. That person could be hired as GS-ll, optimum 12 (a GS-12 position would be downgraded to GS-11 for recruitment purposes). Or let's say that the person is qualified as a GS-ll, but not for the 132 series. Back to GS-5, optimum 9. Then we have a candidate who is a current Intelligence Operations Specialist, GS-132-12 and is interested in being reassigned to the unit. Reassign at the GS-12 level. Anyone who is brought into the program at the lower grade with non-competitive to GS-9 or GS-11 will still have an opportunity to compete for the GS-12 because, let's face it, somebody will leave. It may also be done non-competitively if no one leaves by adding additional responsibilities through job "evolution" (this will be touchy). Also keep in mind that some of the Civilians hired should be analysts and these could probably be GS-132-12 jobs (optimum grade). I would suggest that we bring the analysts in no lower that GS-11; however, we still have the option of recruiting at the GS-5 level, with optimum non-competitive promotion. This would also give operational collection personnel an opportunity to switch to the analyst jobs for promotional purposes and for additional experience/qualifications. In order to accomplish these things, we need to have one dedicated Staffing Specialist/Classification Specialist in the CPO who is/are read into the program. 3. The above is leading to needing a career program for the Civilians so they have an opportunity to advance in grade and responsibility. No one is so dedicated as to be perfectly SG1J content to sit in a job forever with no opportunity for advancement. This means we need to do some_coordinati the Directorate for Traini ifically, Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002100300003-3
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002100300003-3 4, Next point. In line with the DIA organization, we must seriously consider having a civilian in the upper echelon of command (first line supervisor), both for continuity purposes and for promotion potential. 5. Then, after we have taken care of the operational personnel, I think we should consider re-writing the Secretary job sheet to Administrative Assistant, GS-301-7. SG1J Special Programs Officer Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002100300003-3