Secret's Out: They Want Strong Intelligence Chiefs

By Stephen Barr
Thursday, March 27, 2008

By and large, the 100,000 employees in the U.S. intelligence community have the same workplace concerns as the rest of the government.

Only 28 percent think their bosses take steps to deal with colleagues who slack off at work, and less than half -- 47 percent -- are satisfied with the policies and practices of their senior leaders, according to an employee survey released this week by the director of national intelligence.

On average, the keepers of the nation's secrets rate their leaders more favorably than employees across the government. But employees in intelligence jobs, like other white-collar federal workers, want stronger leadership in their agencies.

The survey found that 45 percent of respondents in the intelligence community agreed with the statement that their leaders "generate high levels of motivation and commitment." In comparison, 38 percent of federal employees in a government-wide survey agreed.

It is difficult to parse survey results, in large part because many respondents choose "neutral" or "don't know." On the statement about their leaders inspiring and motivating employees, 29 percent were neutral and 25 percent disagreed, or were negative, with the rest in the don't know category.

Still, it is "clearly an improvement area," said Ronald P. Sanders, who heads up personnel policy for the director of national intelligence.

The intelligence community, as it is called inside the government, is a mix of civilian and military personnel, housed in 16 agencies. The summary did not provide agency-by-agency comparisons.

The survey, conducted from October to January, does not seem to show any widespread morale problems in the intelligence community, which had been caught up in controversy over how best to evaluate threats posed by Iraq and Iran.

More than 80 percent of the employees surveyed said they like their work, believe their work is important and enjoy the support of supervisors when balancing work and family issues.

Still, less than half of the intelligence employees, 41 percent, think promotions are based on merit. Twenty-four percent disagreed, and 36 percent had no opinion. Only 28 percent think pay raises are linked to job performance, while 33 percent said they were not, with the rest undecided.

Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, has called for intelligence employees to be evaluated against common standards for how well they analyze problems, share information and stand behind their professional judgments. The new performance standards are to take effect no later than Oct. 1.

McConnell also wants to break down barriers between the intelligence agencies and to broaden the experience and knowledge of intelligence officers. One effort involves "joint duty" under which employees seek assignments in other intelligence agencies in order to qualify for promotions into the top ranks.

In the survey, 34 percent of the intelligence employees indicated that it was easy to share information and collaborate with colleagues in other agencies, 14 percent said it was difficult, and 52 percent were neutral or didn't know.

Thirty percent said they share information often, 50 percent said not often at all and the remainder were neutral.

"The senior leadership looked at these results as a glass half full," Sanders said.

But, he added, more intelligence employees understand that their agencies will succeed only if they share knowledge and collaborate with others in the intelligence community. That awareness increased by 9 percentage points, to 84 percent, from 2001 to 2006, he said.

Retirements

Kenneth C. Clayton, associate administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service at the Agriculture Department, will retire April 3 after 33 years of federal service.

Mark Courtney, a program director in the division of environmental biology at the National Science Foundation, retired Tuesday after 33 years of government service.

Jack K. Walton II, a senior adviser on bank operations and payment systems at the Federal Reserve Board, will retire June 2 after 31 years of federal service. He helped write the 2003 Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, known as Check 21, which permits banks to exchange electronic images of checks.

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.