FBI Transformation
Human Capital Strategies May Assist the FBI in Its Commitment to Address Its Top Priorities Gao ID: GAO-04-817T June 3, 2004The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks precipitated a shift in how the FBI uses its investigative and intelligence resources to prevent future terrorist incidents. The attacks led to the FBI's commitment to transform and reorganize itself. Today's testimony discusses (1) the FBI's progress in transforming to focus on counterterrorism and intelligence-related priorities, (2) competition the FBI faces from other agencies and the private sector for intelligence staff, and (3) human capital flexibilities that may enhance the FBI's ability to address its priorities.
FBI has made significant progress in its transformation efforts since GAO last testified before this Subcommittee in June 2003. The FBI's organizational changes to enhance its intelligence capability and realigned staff resources to counterterrorism and counterintelligence priority areas, among other things, are encouraging. However, even with increased numbers of agents in the priority areas, the FBI continues to have to temporarily re-assign additional agents to meet its goal of following all counterterrorism-related leads or threats. The FBI has faced difficulties retaining--and competing with other government agencies and the private sector for--staff with intelligence knowledge, skills, and abilities. These difficulties may in part result from the fact that the FBI's career ladder for intelligence analysts is truncated compared with similar career ladders at some other federal agencies. For example, the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency maintain a career ladder for their intelligence staff that includes both senior executive (managerial) and senior level (nonmanagerial) positions. While the FBI has actively moved towards establishing a GS 15 level for intelligence staff, this would still not create a level playing field with the rest of the intelligence community given that other agencies maintain higher level positions. Should a decision be made to institute a senior executive and senior level positions, the FBI will need to develop and implement a carefully crafted plan that includes specific details on how such an intelligence career service would relate into its strategic plan and strategic human capital plan, the expectations and qualifications for positions, and how performance would be measured. GAO has found that the leaders of agencies such as the FBI can better tailor their human capital strategies to better meet their mission by identifying, assessing, and first making use of all appropriate human capital flexibilities. The FBI has used a variety of available human capital flexibilities to help them recruit and retain staff. Second, agencies then consider options that require legislative changes. In those cases, information should be gathered to appropriately demonstrate the case for change. Because the FBI is at the forefront of protecting the nation against terrorist threats, proposals to enhance its capacity from a human capital standpoint should be carefully considered.
GAO-04-817T, FBI Transformation: Human Capital Strategies May Assist the FBI in Its Commitment to Address Its Top Priorities
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Testimony:
Before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary and
Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, House of
Representatives:
United States General Accounting Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery Expected at 1:00 p.m.
Thursday, June 3, 2004:
FBI TRANSFORMATION:
Human Capital Strategies May Assist the FBI in Its Commitment to
Address Its Top Priorities:
Statement of Laurie E. Ekstrand, Director:
Homeland Security and Justice Issues:
GAO-04-817T:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-04-817T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on
Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary and Related Agencies, Committee
on Appropriations, House of Representatives
Why GAO Did This Study:
The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks precipitated a shift in how
the FBI uses its investigative and intelligence resources to prevent
future terrorist incidents. The attacks led to the FBI‘s commitment to
transform and reorganize itself. Today‘s testimony discusses (1) the
FBI‘s progress in transforming to focus on counterterrorism and
intelligence-related priorities, (2) competition the FBI faces from
other agencies and the private sector for intelligence staff, and (3)
human capital flexibilities that may enhance the FBI‘s ability to
address its priorities.
What GAO Found:
FBI has made significant progress in its transformation efforts since
GAO last testified before this Subcommittee in June 2003. The FBI‘s
organizational changes to enhance its intelligence capability and
realigned staff resources to counterterrorism and counterintelligence
priority areas, among other things, are encouraging. However, even with
increased numbers of agents in the priority areas, the FBI continues to
have to temporarily re-assign additional agents to meet its goal of
following all counterterrorism-related leads or threats.
The FBI has faced difficulties retaining--and competing with other
government agencies and the private sector for--staff with intelligence
knowledge, skills, and abilities. These difficulties may in part result
from the fact that the FBI‘s career ladder for intelligence analysts is
truncated compared with similar career ladders at some other federal
agencies. For example, the Central Intelligence Agency and National
Security Agency maintain a career ladder for their intelligence staff
that includes both senior executive (managerial) and senior level
(nonmanagerial) positions. While the FBI has actively moved towards
establishing a GS 15 level for intelligence staff, this would still not
create a level playing field with the rest of the intelligence
community given that other agencies maintain higher level positions.
Should a decision be made to institute a senior executive and senior
level positions, the FBI will need to develop and implement a carefully
crafted plan that includes specific details on how such an intelligence
career service would relate into its strategic plan and strategic human
capital plan, the expectations and qualifications for positions, and
how performance would be measured.
GAO has found that the leaders of agencies such as the FBI can better
tailor their human capital strategies to better meet their mission by
identifying, assessing, and first making use of all appropriate human
capital flexibilities. The FBI has used a variety of available human
capital flexibilities to help them recruit and retain staff. Second,
agencies then consider options that require legislative changes. In
those cases, information should be gathered to appropriately
demonstrate the case for change. Because the FBI is at the forefront of
protecting the nation against terrorist threats, proposals to enhance
its capacity from a human capital standpoint should be carefully
considered.
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-817T.
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above.For more information, contact Laurie Ekstrand on (202)
512-8777 or ekstrandl@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
We are pleased to be here today to discuss the Federal Bureau of
Investigation's (FBI) transformation efforts. As you are well aware,
the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks precipitated a shift in how
the FBI uses its investigative and intelligence resources to prevent
future terrorist incidents and led to the FBI's commitment to transform
and reorganize itself. Today's testimony follows up on our June 2003
testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce,
Justice, State, the Judiciary and Related Agencies.[Footnote 1] It also
draws on our March 2004 testimony before the Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary and Related
Agencies.[Footnote 2]
Today, we discuss
* the FBI's progress in transforming to focus on counterterrorism and
intelligence-related priorities,
* competition the FBI faces from other agencies and the private sector
for intelligence staff, and:
* human capital flexibilities that may enhance the FBI's ability to
address its priorities.
We commend the FBI for the continued progress in its transformation
efforts. We believe that the realignment of staff resources to
counterterrorism and counterintelligence priority areas is an
encouraging sign of the FBI's progress, although the number of agents
assigned to these priority areas is still not sufficient to handle the
workload. We note that the FBI continues to face challenges in
recruiting and retaining staff that it needs to be in the forefront of
intelligence work. An intelligence career service within the FBI may
help level the playing field with other federal agencies in the
intelligence community. Finally, we encourage the FBI to fully utilize
the human capital flexibilities it already has to ensure that it has a
workforce that can meet the challenges of today and the future.
Our testimony today is based on our ongoing and previously completed
assessments of the FBI's transformation efforts. This includes a review
of the FBI's strategic plan, strategic human capital plan, staff
realignment efforts, and reengineering projects undertaken by the
Bureau to improve business practices, including some related to its
intelligence program.[Footnote 3] We reviewed attrition data obtained
from the FBI on the number of intelligence analysts on board, hired,
and separated from the FBI between 1998 and 2004 to ascertain the
extent to which the FBI faces competition from others for intelligence
staff. We also compared the human capital flexibilities that are
currently used by the FBI with those cited as the most effective by
agency officials and union representatives.[Footnote 4]
Our testimony is based on published reports and audit work conducted in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards in
Washington, D.C., and New York City between March and May 2004.
FBI Reorganization and Staffing Demonstrates Commitment to Top
Priorities:
The FBI continues to make progress in its efforts to transform to focus
on counterterrorism and counterintelligence priorities. In addition to
organizational changes, the FBI has continued to increase the number of
agents permanently assigned to counterterrorism and
counterintelligence areas. However, even with the increased numbers of
agents in the priority areas, the FBI continues to have to temporarily
reassign additional agents to meet its goal of following all
counterterrorism-related leads.
The FBI is Enhancing Its Intelligence Capabilities to Focus on
Counterterrorism-Related Priorities:
The FBI has undertaken steps to enhance its intelligence capability to
focus on its top priorities. This includes several organizational
changes. In addition to appointing an Executive Assistant Director for
Intelligence to coordinate the Bureau's intelligence activities and
creating an Office of Intelligence, the FBI has worked to staff
intelligence squads in each of the FBI's 56 field offices. This
initiative was undertaken to raise the priority of intelligence and the
collection, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence at the local
level. Additionally, the FBI has increased the number of Joint
Terrorism Task Forces[Footnote 5] from 35 prior to September 11, to 84
in 2004 and taken steps to enhance the sharing of intelligence
information with local law enforcement officials.[Footnote 6]
Staff Resources Continue to Be Realigned to Address Counterterrorism
and Counterintelligence Workload Demands:
As we previously reported, a key element of the FBI's reorganization
and successful transformation is the realignment of resources to better
ensure focus on the top priorities.[Footnote 7] Since September 11, the
FBI has permanently realigned some of its field agent resources from
traditional criminal investigative programs to work on counterterrorism
and counterintelligence investigations--about 700 special agents in
all. Additionally, the Bureau has had a continuing need to temporarily
redirect special agent and other staff resources, including
intelligence analysts from other criminal investigative programs, to
address counterterrorism and counterintelligence priorities. Thus,
staff continue to be redirected from other programs such as drug, white
collar, and violent crime to address the counterterrorism-related
workload demands. As figure 1 shows, the average number of field agent
work years charged to investigating counterterrorism-related matters
has continually outpaced the number of agent positions allocated to
field offices for counterterrorism since September 11. As of the first
quarter of fiscal year 2004, the average number of field agent work
years (2,106) exceeded the number of allocated agent positions (1,359)
by over 50 percent. This continuing realignment of resources is
directly in line with the agency's priorities and in keeping with the
paramount need to prevent terrorism.
Figure 1: Comparative Analyses of FBI Field Agent Non-Supervisory
Positions Allocated and Agent Work Years Charged to Counterterrorism
Matters:
[See PDF for image]
Note: The Time Utilization and Recordkeeping (TURK) system is used by
the FBI to record the proportion of time spent by field agents on
various types of investigative matters such as organized crime, white-
collar crime, and counterterrorism. The FBI uses the TURK system to
track and project the use of field resources. Data derived from the
TURK system are only as reliable as the information reported by FBI
field agents.
[End of figure]
FBI Faces Competition from Others for Talented Intelligence Staff:
The FBI's intelligence analysts are an integral part of the FBI's
investigative mission and efforts to combat terrorism. The FBI faces
some daunting workforce planning issues in competing for and retaining
intelligence staff. In particular, the FBI has encountered difficulties
competing for intelligence staff with other government agencies and the
private sector. Retention has also been a problem because intelligence
talent is in demand. On average, prior to September 11, the FBI
employed about 1,100 intelligence analysts a year. Over the past two
years, the average has increased to about 1,400. The FBI has worked to
build its intelligence resources since September 11, hiring 478
intelligence analysts, with plans to hire an additional 900 analysts.
During this same time period, the FBI lost 281 intelligence analysts
(about 20 percent of its intelligence analyst workforce). Since fiscal
year 1998, the FBI hired a total of 921 intelligence analysts. However,
during this same time period, 653 intelligence analysts left their
positions in the FBI.[Footnote 8]
One explanation for the turnover rate in the intelligence analyst ranks
may be that the career ladder at the FBI is truncated compared to that
of analysts in most other federal agencies that are active in this line
of work, according to FBI officials. For example, both the Central
Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency maintain a career
ladder for intelligence staff that includes both senior executive
positions (managerial positions) and senior level positions (non
managerial positions) for those intelligence staff with very high
levels of valued expertise. The FBI has indicated that it is going to
establish GS 15 levels for intelligence staff. This would help to level
the playing field for analyst talent, but falls short of bringing
parity with other agencies in the intelligence community. According to
the FBI, higher level positions would allow them to attract and retain
experts with advanced skills that are needed for the counterterrorism
and counterintelligence work that they need to do now and in the
future.
Establishing an Intelligence Career Service to Enhance The FBI's
Intelligence Capacity Requires Careful Planning:
Should the FBI decide to support a senior executive and senior level
intelligence career service, and should Congress approve it, its
success will be dependent on having and following a carefully crafted
plan. This plan, at minimum, would need to spell out how the new
intelligence career service and career ladder would integrate into both
the FBI's strategic plan and its strategic human capital plan. Position
descriptions, qualifications for positions, the number of positions to
be filled, and how performance would be measured are among the details
that would need to be thoroughly developed.
In addition to tailoring position descriptions to critical skills
needed, it is essential that the Bureau assess the performance of
intelligence career service staff at all levels using a thoroughly
tested performance management system that appropriately differentiates
levels of performance. In order to ensure that staff in these
intelligence positions develop to their full potential, and thus, are
the greatest benefit to the FBI, intelligence staff need to understand
expectations, be rated on performance, receive feedback, and have the
opportunity to develop the skills needed to enhance their performance.
Last year we identified a set of key practices for effective
performance management.[Footnote 9] Among these practices is to make
meaningful distinctions in performance. However, as yet, the
performance management system for the bulk of FBI staff remains
inadequate to identify meaningful distinctions in performance. It is
unlikely that the current performance management system--a pass/fail
system--will meet these needs. In addition, a performance management
system that differentiates across levels of performance for only Senior
Executive Service positions is not enough. To maximize the growth of
staff at lower levels so that they will be able to assume higher-level
positions over time, the FBI needs a performance management system that
will foster that progression for all staff. The FBI's strategic human
capital plan indicates that the FBI is moving in the direction of
addressing this need, and this encourages us.
When designing a performance management system to support the
intelligence service career ladder, it is also important for the FBI to
consider changes in light of the impending changes to the Senior
Executive Service across federal agencies. In 2003, Congress
established a new performance-based pay system for the Senior Executive
Service that is designed to provide a clear and direct linkage between
Senior Executive Service performance and pay.[Footnote 10] Under this
new provision, an agency can raise the pay cap for its senior
executives when it can demonstrate that its performance management
system makes meaningful distinctions based on relative performance. The
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) are to issue regulations prescribing the requirements
agencies must meet to obtain certification for these purposes.
A potential option that would allow for such positions, if created, to
be filled expeditiously, would be to allow temporary appointments to
these higher-level positions initially. This would provide time for a
more thoughtful development of the necessary details of the
intelligence career service ladder to be developed without undue time
pressures. When the details of the intelligence career service are
fully developed, these positions could be opened to competition to fill
them with the best possible applicants, which could include those who
hold them on a temporary appointment basis.
Human Capital Flexibilities and Best Practices May Enhance Intelligence
Capabilities:
Leading public organizations here in the United States and abroad have
found that strategic human capital management must be the centerpiece
of any serious change management initiative and efforts to transform
the cultures of government agencies. The federal government's human
capital weaknesses did not emerge overnight and will not be quickly or
easily addressed. The enormous human capital and other transformation
challenges that need to be addressed to successfully transform the FBI
are instructive of the critical and difficult task ahead.[Footnote 11]
Committed, sustained, highly qualified, and inspired leadership, and
persistent attention by all key parties will be essential if lasting
changes are to be made and the challenges the FBI faces are to be
successfully addressed.
The first step toward meeting human capital challenges is for agency
leaders to identify and make use of all the appropriate human capital
authorities available to them to manage their people for results both
effectively and equitably. Much of the authority agencies need to
manage human capital strategically is already available under current
laws and regulations. The use of these authorities often needs to be
undertaken as part of, and consistent with, proven change management
practices. The second step, when available human capital authorities
are unable to meet an agency's human capital needs, is for policy
makers to pursue incremental legislative reforms to give agencies
additional tools and flexibilities to hire, manage, and retain the
human capital they need, particularly in critical occupations.
Human capital flexibilities encompass all of the policies and practices
that an agency can implement in managing its workforce to accomplish
its mission. These actions can relate to recruitment, retention,
compensation, position classification, incentive awards, training,
performance management, and work-life policies, among others. Indeed,
in recent years the FBI has utilized a variety of the flexibilities
available to it to recruit and retain valuable staff resources.See
appendix I for a list of the human capital flexibilities cited as the
most effective by agency officials and union representatives and those
used by the FBI. We note that the FBI has utilized a number of the
flexibilities on this list, although we have not had an opportunity to
review the extent to which these flexibilities are being applied and to
assess the extent to which they could be applied more effectively. Nor
are we in a position to suggest to the FBI that any of the currently
unused flexibilities are appropriate for helping to meet their human
capital needs, but just that there are a number of options available
that can be weighed in deciding what actions are appropriate for any
particular agency. In previous work on strategic human capital
management, we have reported that high-performing agencies tailor their
human capital strategies to meet specific mission needs. In addition,
agencies should explore opportunities to enhance competitiveness as
employers and eliminate barriers to effective human capital
management.[Footnote 12]
We have also noted that human capital flexibilities should be
implemented only when an agency has the institutional infrastructure in
place to support them. This institutional infrastructure includes, at
minimum, a human capital planning process that integrates the agency's
human capital policies and strategies with its program goals and
mission and desired outcomes; the capabilities to develop and implement
the new human capital flexibilities effectively; and a modern,
effective, and credible performance management system that includes
adequate safeguards to prevent abuse of employees. The FBI has recently
completed a strategic human capital plan that includes many features
that link its human capital policies with its goals. As we have
indicated previously, the FBI's performance management system is
lacking in that it fails to make meaningful differentiations across
levels of performance.[Footnote 13]
Evaluation Needed for Human Capital Flexibilities' Costs, Benefits, and
Alternatives:
As the federal government's leading accountability organization, we
have made a concerted effort to identify and encourage the
implementation of human capital practices that improve the efficiency,
effectiveness, and accountability of the federal government. Over the
last few years, we have issued numerous reports with practical
recommendations on the steps individual agencies can take to address
their specific human capital challenges. For example, we released A
Model of Strategic Human Capital Management.[Footnote 14] This model
was designed to help agency leaders effectively lead and manage their
people and integrate human capital considerations into daily decision
making and the program results they seek to achieve. It highlights the
kinds of thinking that agencies should apply to make progress in
managing human capital strategically.
One of the model's critical success factors is data-driven human
capital decisions. Collecting and analyzing data is a fundamental
building block for measuring the effectiveness of human capital
approaches in support of the mission and goals of an agency. One step
is having agencies such as the FBI consider the costs, benefits, and
alternatives as it evaluates options to meet its human capital
challenges. In its strategic human capital plan, the FBI details a
variety of pay-related flexibilities under consideration that it states
would require congressional, OPM, OMB, and the Department of Justice's
support in order to implement, including options that would provide
more pay to staff working in high-cost areas. While the FBI is able to
provide information about retention and recruitment issues that may
support the need for the changes under current consideration, it is
unclear whether other strategies would address problems as well, or
even more effectively.
Successfully implementing human capital flexibilities involves
demonstrating the need for employing the proposed strategies,
discussing how the strategies would be implemented, illustrating how
they relate to both the strategic human capital plan and the strategic
plan, and describing how they would be evaluated. As with any
organization undergoing transformation and considering the use of
additional human capital strategies, the FBI would need to outline
basic safeguards planned to ensure that provisions are used
appropriately. This would supply the facts to those who have to make a
decision about lending support or opposing the change. Additional
information is needed to evaluate any proposed human capital initiative
and to determine what funds are needed to implement the proposed
intelligence career service ladder, and any other related human capital
flexibilities before enactment of the changes should be considered.
In summary, federal agencies, including the FBI, are experiencing
pervasive human capital challenges in acquiring and developing staff to
meet their current and emerging work force needs. It could be argued
that these challenges in relation to strengthening the nation's
capacity to protect against terrorists are among the most important
challenges facing our nation. Because the FBI is at the forefront of
protecting the nation against terrorist threats, proposals to enhance
its capacity from a human capital standpoint should be carefully
considered.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, this concludes my
prepared statement. I would be pleased to answer any questions you and
the Subcommittee members may have.
GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments:
For further information about this statement, please contact Laurie E.
Ekstrand, Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues, on (202) 512-
8777 or at ekstrandl@gao.gov or Charles Michael Johnson, Assistant
Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues, on (202) 512-7331 or at
johnsoncm@gao.gov. For further information on governmentwide human
capital or transformation issues, please contact J. Christopher Mihm,
Managing Director, Strategic Issues, on (202) 512-6806 or at
mihmj@gao.gov.
Major contributors to this testimony included Orlando Copeland,
Geoffrey Hamilton, Lisa Shames, Lisa Shibata, April Thompson, and
Kathryn Young.
[End of section]
Appendix I: The FBI's Use of Human Capital Flexibilities:
Human capital flexibilities and their cited benefits[A]:
Incentive awards: Group incentives (i.e., gain sharing and goal
sharing);
* Allow both agencies and employees to benefit from increases in
productivity and decreases in costs;
* Allow both agencies and employees to benefit from the achievement of
specified goals that enhance the success of the organization's mission;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Incentive awards: Honorary and informal recognition awards;
* Give supervisors maximum flexibility to be creative in how they
recognize their employees;
* Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Incentive awards: Performance and accomplishment based cash awards;
* Allow supervisors to recognize employees' outstanding performance or
accomplishment either at the end of performance appraisal periods or at
specific points in time for special acts or contributions;
* Can provide supervisors with autonomy to offer awards;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Incentive awards: Quality step increases;
* Allow agencies to provide permanent pay increases on the basis of
outstanding performance as demonstrated in employees' performance
appraisals;
* Do not require agencies to conduct an annual review and approval to
continue payments, as do retention allowances;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Incentive awards: Time off awards;
* Allow employees to receive awards other than money;
* Allow employees to take time off from work when most convenient for
agencies and employees;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Monetary recruitment and retention incentives: Recruitment bonuses;
* Assist agencies in recruiting employees for hard- to-fill positions;
* Help agencies to retain employees for reasonable periods (i.e.,
written service agreement);
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Monetary recruitment and retention incentives: Relocation bonuses;
* Assist agencies in relocating employees for hard- to-fill positions;
* Help agencies to retain employees for reasonable periods (i.e.,
written service agreement);
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Monetary recruitment and retention incentives: Retention allowances;
* Assist agencies in retaining employees who possess unusually high or
unique qualifications or who fill essential needs for the agencies;
* Allow agencies to terminate the incentive payments when no longer
needed;
Can be provided on a group basis to help agencies retain groups or
categories of employees;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Monetary recruitment and retention incentives: Superior/special
qualification appointments;
* Allow agencies more control over entry-level salaries;
Permit agencies to match the prior salaries of new hires coming from
the private sector;
* Allow agencies to more easily hire employees with highly specialized
skills in areas such as information technology and engineering;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
No.
Special hiring authorities: Outstanding scholar program;
* Allows agencies to quickly hire high- quality entry-level employees
(i.e., college graduates with superior academic credentials) in certain
occupations;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Special hiring authorities: Student educational employment programs
(i.e. "co-op" programs);
* Allow agencies and student employees to test whether the students
would be suitable matches for possible permanent employment;
* Allow agencies to quickly and easily hire needed staff who may be
eligible for permanent positions with the agencies;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Special hiring authorities: Veteran-related hiring authorities;
* Allow agencies to quickly hire needed talent;
* Allow veterans to apply for positions not generally open to
nonfederal employees;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
No.
Work-life policies and programs: Alternative work schedules;
Increase employee morale;;
* Allow employees to be more flexible in accomplishing job
responsibilities;
* Decrease need for employees to use accumulated leave;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Work-life policies and programs: Child care centers and assistance;
* Help recruit skilled workers and retain valuable employees;
* Can aid lower paid employees with assistance;
* Increase productivity among users because centers often mean more
reliable childcare and fewer employee absences;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
No.
Work-life policies and programs: Employee assistance programs;
* Assist agencies in addressing personnel issues that might be
affecting agency operations;
* Help employees resolve problems that might be affecting personal
health or job performance;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Work-life policies and programs: Subsidized transportation;
* Reduces congestion in transportation systems;
* Decreases smog in local commuting areas;
* Aids some employees in obtaining reliable transportation by
subsidizing costs;
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
Yes.
Work-life policies and programs: Telecommuting;
* Decreases employee stress and commuting costs;
* Helps to reduce traffic congestion and smog;
* Allow employees to be more productive by decreasing their commuting
time; * Help
Flexibility noted by FBI officials as used for intelligence analysts:
No.
Source: Source: GAO analysis of FBI's Strategic Human Capital Plan
(2004) and discussion with FBI officials.
Note: GAO did not evaluate the extent to which the FBI is using these
flexibilities to attract and retain intelligence analysts.
[A] See GAO-03-02 for information on the human capital flexibilities
cited as most effective by agency officials and union representatives.
[End of table]
FOOTNOTES
[1] See U.S. General Accounting Office, FBI Reorganization: Progress
Made in Efforts to Transform, but Major Challenges Continue,
GAO-03-759T (Washington, D.C.: June 18, 2003).
[2] See U.S. General Accounting Office, FBI Transformation: FBI
Continues to Make Progress in Its Efforts to Transform and Address
Priorities, GAO-04-578T (Washington, D.C.: March 23, 2004).
[3] We provided an oral briefing on May 14, 2004, to the House
Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary
and Related Agencies on the status of the 40 reengineering projects.
[4] See U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Effective Use of
Flexibilities Can Assist Agencies in Managing Its Workforces, GAO-03-2
(Washington, D.C.: December 2002).
[5] Joint Terrorism Task Forces are teams of local law enforcement
officers, FBI agents, and other federal agents and personnel that work
together to investigate and prevent terrorism.
[6] We recently reported on the FBI's efforts to enhance sharing of
intelligence information with local law enforcement officials. See U.S.
General Accounting Office, Security Clearances: FBI Has Enhanced Its
Process for State and Local Law Enforcement Officials, GAO-04-596
(Washington, D.C.: April 2004).
[7] See GAO-03-759T and GAO-04-578T.
[8] The hiring figures include FBI personnel that transferred from
another position within the Bureau to an intelligence analyst position.
Additionally, the separation figures include FBI personnel that
transferred out of an intelligence analyst position to accept another
position within the FBI.
[9] See U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Cultures:
Creating a Clear Linkage between Individual Performance and
Organizational Success, GAO-03-488. (Washington, D.C.: March 2003.)
[10] Section 1125 of Division A of P.L. 108-136, 117 Stat. 1392, 1638
(2003) (codified at 5 U.S.C. 5382).
[11] See U.S. General Accounting Office, Managing for Results: Using
Strategic Human Capital Management to Drive Transformational Change,
GAO-02-940T (Washington, D.C.: July 15, 2002).
[12] See U.S. General Accounting Office, A Model of Strategic Human
Capital Management, GAO-02-373SP (Washington, D.C.: March 2002).
[13] See GAO-04-578T.
[14] See GAO-02-373SP.
