By Stephen Barr
Monday, June 11, 2007; Page D01
The CIA is taking on a project that many federal agencies avoid: sorting out which jobs must be performed by government employees and which jobs are appropriate for contract workers.
Based on the findings of an internal task force, the CIA plans to shrink its contract workforce, tighten up contracting procedures and pay more attention to how it manages contract employees. Officials hope to wrap up their plan by July 1.
It is a sensitive, perhaps awkward, undertaking inside the CIA.
In a message last month to CIA employees about the contractor workforce, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the CIA director, said contractors play a vital role at the agency. "We do not simply appreciate their skill and expertise -- we rely on it," he wrote.
Michael J. Morell, the CIA associate deputy director, stressed in an interview last week that "in no way is this something negative about contractors." The contract staff is just as passionate about the CIA's mission as the career cadre, he said.
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