Begin forwarded message:
From: "Mario Profaca" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: September 1, 2008 5:39:42 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [SPY NEWS] Contractors account for a quarter of U.S. spy
operations
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cia28-2008aug28,0,2730742.story
Contractors account for a quarter of U.S. spy operations
The reliance on contractors, which surged after Sept. 11, has been a
source of controversy. Some worry that temporary employees could be
less trustworthy.
By Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 28, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Private contractors account for more than one-quarter of
the core workforce at U.S. intelligence agencies, according to newly
released government figures that underscore how much of the nation's
spying work has been outsourced since the Sept. 11 attacks.
The CIA and other spy agencies employ about 36,000 contractors in
espionage-related jobs, in addition to approximately 100,000 full-time
government workers, said Ronald Sanders, head of personnel for the
U.S. intelligence community.
Contractors carry out missions including collecting intelligence in
Iraq and Afghanistan as well as operating classified computer networks
for the 16 spy agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community.
Sanders said the number of contractors remained steady over the last
year, after surging in the years following the Sept. 11 attacks.
"As you may know, we've been hiring a great deal since Sept. 11,
2001," Sanders said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday,
discussing the results of a survey.
The growing reliance on contractors has been a source of controversy
for the spy agencies, in part because of concerns that temporary
employees might not be as trustworthy as career workers in handling
some of the most sensitive national security work.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has criticized the CIA for using
contractors in interrogations of terrorism suspects, and many
lawmakers favor barring the agency from doing so.
The total budget for the nation's spy agencies is roughly $43 billion.
The use of contractors has been criticized for driving up costs, with
senior U.S. intelligence officials acknowledging that talented
employees have been lured away to take higher-paying positions with
private companies.
Sanders said the spy agencies spend about $125,000 a year for a
government employee, compared with about $207,000 for a contract
worker. The numbers reflect salaries, retirement benefits and other
costs.
But officials have said that contractors also help agencies control
costs by enabling spy services to hire workers for short-term
assignments.
Sanders said 27% of contractors were involved in intelligence
collection and operations, 19% work in analysis jobs, and 22% manage
computer networks or perform other information technology functions.
He said those figures did not include workers at companies that build
spy satellites and computer equipment, cafeteria staffers or security
guards.
If such "non-core" functions are counted, Sanders said, contractors
would account for about 70% of the U.S. intelligence workforce.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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