CIA reorganization will not cut agency jobs

The Central Intelligence Agency's decision to reorganize its administrative office will not cost any employees their jobs, a CIA spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The new management structure, announced last week by CIA Director George J. Tenet and Executive Director A.B. Krongard, divides the directorate of administration into five separate areas: information technology, finance, security, global support and human resources.

Employees in the directorate of administration should not worry about their jobs, said CIA spokeswoman Anya Guilsher.

"Basically, we are redirecting resources to support our primary missions, which are clandestine collection, all-source analysis and the exploitation and development of technology," said Guilsher.

"I would not be here today announcing these changes if I did not believe fervently that CIA will even be better off in a profound way," said Tenet during last week's announcement of the reorganization.

In addition to the five new areas carved from the administration directorate, the CIA also runs directorates of operations, intelligence, and science and technology.

"At this point, we are restructuring and realigning to ensure that our organizational structure really maximizes our focus on the accomplishment of our mission," said Guilsher.

Krongard, who came to the CIA in 1998 from the private sector and became executive director of the agency in March, recommended the reorganization after conducting a review of the agency, said Guilsher.

"The director asked Mr. Krongard to look at the organization of the agency overall, provide an assessment, and suggest any changes," Guilsher said. She said the realignment is designed to better help the CIA tackle intelligence challenges.

During the late 1990s, the directorate of administration lost about a third of its staff to government downsizing.

Guilsher said the reorganization would take effect in early June.

The reorganization comes just weeks after administration director Richard Calder left the agency.