The Federal Page addresses issues related to retirees and in particular IC staffers.

With substantial numbers of baby boomers likely to leave government for retirement in the next 10 years, the Bush administration and Congress are looking for ways to keep experienced hands.

Most federal agencies have plans to ensure that critical jobs are filled as employees retire, but some officials are concerned that staff shortfalls could develop and hamper the government’s response to a national crisis. As an example, they point to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which suffered from lax staffing practices in the months before Hurricane Katrina. […]

The director of national intelligence recently approved hiring retirees to fill critical jobs, Ronald P. Sanders, the intelligence community’s personnel policy chief, told the House subcommittee. The 2004 intelligence reform law authorized a National Intelligence Reserve Corps for temporary assignments without salary offsets.

Retirees were a big help in the immediate post 9/11 days, taking up the slack in all those mission areas that we couldn’t stop doing but couldn’t devote the time to. For very fundamental work, particularly technical stuff, you can’t beat a guy who in his prime probably invented part of the technology you’re trying to assess.

The dark side of this practice comes when, as I mentioned below, you recycle the same old managers and executives who cut their teeth fighting bureaucratic battles, not mission-oriented ones. Pointy-Haired-Bosses are a dime a dozen and the thought of bringing back the people who managed us into all the failures of the last few decades makes me ill.

About the Author

Michael Tanji

Michael Tanji spent nearly 20 years in the US intelligence community. Trained in both SIGINT and HUMINT disciplines he has worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the National Reconnaissance Office. At various points in his career he served as an expert in information warfare, computer network operations, computer forensics, and indications and warning. A veteran of the US Army, Michael has served in both strategic and tactical assignments in the Pacific Theater, the Balkans, and the Middle East.