CIA to Cut Managers

THE DAILY FED

CIA to Cut Managers

The CIA is cutting middle level managers so the agency can give pay raises to its analysts, The Washington Post reported today.

Deputy Director for Intelligence John Gannon announced last week the agency will be reorganizing its Directorate of Intelligence in an effort to retain analysts, many of whom have left the agency in recent years.

The "flattening [of] management" will open "more senior positions for substantive experts," the CIA reorganization plan says.

Analysts at the directorate are limited to reaching the grade of GS-15, with a starting salary of $76,000 a year. With the reorganization, analysts will qualify for senior intelligence service pay levels, with starting salaries of $104,000.

Gannon said the number of offices in the Directorate of Intelligence will be reduced from nine to five. Geographical areas will be merged: Russia with Europe, the Near East with Africa, and Asia with Latin America. The weapons technology office will merge with the transnational issues office, which covers, international crime and energy among other subjects. The support services office will remain untouched.

The intelligence directorate will emphasize expertise, Gannon said, as well as push language skills and technology know-how.

Critics of the plan warn that the reorganization may not be able to solve the agency's intelligence gathering problems.

"They are rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titantic," a retired CIA analyst told the Post.