would include examination of: Personnel policies and requirements which result in the retention of employees qualified for specific tasks long after there is any need for their particular services; overstaffing in certain areas, both in the field and at the Washington level, while actual shortages of qualified personnel exist to perform other important duties; the personnel management setup in the Agency; etc. It is believed that such a selective approach could result in both large savings in dollars and in a more effective program.

If you approve, I would suggest that you have the staff advise Mr. David Bell, AID Administrator, of our intention to hold this hearing.

Sincerely yours,

GALE W. MCGEE, U.S. Senator.

STATEMENT OF SENATOR MCGEE

Chairman HAYDEN. Senator McGee, before the Administrator makes his opening statement, would you care to make a statement? Senator McGEE. No formal statement, Mr. Chairman. All I will have to say really reflects in a rather tentative way a lot of the things that the professor to my left here has taught us for many years. He has gone into these with much more thoroughness than most of the rest of us have had time to do. But in the brief period I have been here where it has been possible to go to nearly all the parts of the world where our program is at work it has become a cumulative factor, this question of personnel, which is the focus of this hearing and I thought we might be able to be helpful to Mr. Bell here at the beginning of his new administration that lots of these things are cumulative from the past, that perhaps with some courageous action on our part and helpfulness, we might be able to help him clean up so that there will be less of this to plague him later on or where the finger might be pointed at him, say the next year or the year after.

PURPOSE OF PROGRAM

That is why I would hope in these hearings that we can lay all the cards on the table face up, so to speak, and go right at it. The real purpose of this, in my opinion, and I believe in the AID program, is to try to make the AID program sound and workable and that we don't contribute to the success of the program by trying to put off some of these things that have gone wrong or some of the excesses that have been allowed to creep in and hoping that nobody says anything about them.

TENTATIVE PROCEDURE

I think we ought to try to do it the right way this time if it is physically and humanly possible to do so. That would be my hope. In the hearings that we have tentatively worked out through the staff we hope we can spend all of this morning with Mr. Bell and then on Friday we would meet with the Assistant Administrator of the Far East, Mr. Janow, as well as the Assistant Administrator for Latin America, Ted Moscoso.

Then on Monday, the Assistant Administrator for the Near East and South Asia, Mr. Gaud, and the Assistant Administrator for Africa and Europe, Mr. Hutchinson.

Now we realize that the depth to which we may want to probe here may very likely upset this suggested schedule. I hope we can keep this open at the other end of the line so that we do not end up being superficial and just having another look.

I hope we can treat this as real serious business. I know the Administrator of the Agency will prefer that as well. He has been deluged by reports, studies, assessments, and that all that sort of thing we know. We think we may be of some help to him in going at it the right way.

That is all the time I want to take, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman HAYDEN. Senator Ellender?

STATEMENT OF SENATOR ELLENDER

Senator ELLENDER. Well, the professor does not have much to say except to refer to the many reports that I have made to this committee. For the past 10 years I have been complaining about the large forces abroad. It has been my contention that many of the people we have abroad are mere chairwarmers. We have too many in the administrative area who try to justify their positions long after there is any need for their existence.

I have found in many areas of the world that some employees have been sent overseas who were neither requested nor desired. This fact is pointed out in my reports. I have been very critical but it seems that nothing has ever been done about it.

On the contrary, instead of taking my advice, in some countries the number of employees has increased. Take Somali for example. When I was there in 1960, AID was staffed with 48 to 50 Americans. I told our Ambassador then that these employees would find some projects for us to get into. I was informed that a good look would be taken at the staffing and an effort would be made to reduce the number. But that did not happen.

When I returned 2 years later, instead of finding a reduction of personnel, I found that the staff had been increased. I also found that new projects had been started that were not worthy of consideration, such as the construction of a port. My recent report on Africa will show that we are building a port in Somali that will cost $7.5 million in anticipation that the people may be able to produce enough grain to export 20 years hence.

JUSTIFICATION OF PROJECT

This project cannot be justified, but it has been undertaken, in my humble judgment, because the American employees endeavor to justify the need for being there.

The same thing has occurred in Ethiopia, Tunisia, India, and Pakistan. Many projects that have been undertaken were conceived by the many people we have sent to these countries, and in many instances the projects have either soured on us, or have been abandoned, resulting in the waste of countless dollars.

PERSONNEL SITUATION

Here is something else: I have found in many countries that we have people in charge who have been complete failures in the past, yet instead of saying to them, "Well, now, you should find another job," they are promoted and given new assignments.

I know that today we have people on the payroll who have been with this program since the year 1, since it started. Many of them

have been failures and yet instead of being discharged or sent home, they have been promoted.

To my way of thinking all of this simply means a waste of funds. Chairman HAYDEN. Does any other Senator want to say anything before Mr. Bell speaks?

Senator ALLOTT. Not at this time, Mr. Chairman. I prefer to listen to his statement and then discuss it.

Chairman HAYDEN. We shall be glad to hear from you, Mr. Bell.

STATEMENT OF MR. BELL

Mr. BELL. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I welcome this opportunity to discuss the personnel system and problems of the Agency for International Development. As you know, I have been in my present assignment for nearly 5 months. During that period, I have necessarily concentrated on the work with the Clay Committee and on the preparation and presentation to the Congress of our program for fiscal year 1964.

There is much about the program and the Agency I have yet to learn, and in particular, I have much yet to learn about our personnel problems. Nevertheless, I have begun to learn something about the composition, complexities, and needs of our personnel program. I have come to know a fair amount about our Washington situation and I have had the opportunity to visit a few of our oversea missions.

In summary, personnel administration, on a worldwide scale, is relatively new for me and I shall answer your questions today in some areas with less confidence than I expect to have a year from now.

PURPOSE OF AID PERSONNEL SYSTEM

I am very glad to have the ideas and suggestions of the members of this committee, many of whom I know have a long background in this subject. To start with, I take it we have the same view of the basic purpose of the AID personnel system; namely, to obtain the highest possible quality in the men and women who plan and execute our foreign aid programs.

Looking back, there has been an identifiable group of employees working in the foreign assistance field for at least 20 years, beginning with the Institute for Inter-American Affairs, the Greek-Turkish program, and the Marshall plan.

The first major attempt at consolidating the organizations and people engaged in foreign aid activities occurred in 1953, with the establishment of the Foreign Operations Administration. That agency consolidated the staff and programs of the previously independent Mutual Security Agency, the successor to the Marshall plan's Economic Cooperation Administration, with the subordinate units of the Department of State, the Technical Cooperation Administration, and the Institute of Inter-American Affairs.

That group of agencies was all put together in the so-called FOA. Senator ALLOTT. Could I interrupt, Mr. Bell?

Mr. BELL. Certainly.

BASIC PERSONNEL AUTHORITIES

Senator ALLOTT. I want to be sure that the personnel of the Agency now is on a civil service status or a comparable service status within the State Department.

Mr. BELL. We have two basic personnel authorities.
Senator ALLOTT. Will you explain that, then?

Mr. BELL. By and large, the people in Washington are on civil service status and the people overseas are in Foreign Service status under the Foreign Service Act.

Senator ALLOTT. The Foreign Service people have a tenure of security which is similar to civil service?

Mr. BELL. Some of them do and some do not. Something over half of the Foreign Service Reserve officers who are working for us overseas are on limited tenure appointments, meaning that they are appointed for a specific period of time, normally 2 years, and at the end of that time they do not have tenure unless we then decide to give it to them.

Senator ALLOTT. So, most of your people here are on civil service and most of them abroad are on Foreign Service tenure?

Mr. BELL. Virtually all of them abroad are under the Foreign Service Act.

Senator ALLOTT. And roughly half of them are serving a specific term at the will of the President?

Mr. BELL. The ones that have Foreign Service Reserve appointments, more than half of them have limited term appointments. There are in addition in Washington, 12 top-level jobs which are Presidential appointments which serve at the will of the President and furthermore, each of the mission directors and deputy directors whom we have abroad serve at the pleasure of the President.

Senator ALLOTT. Will you go in later into the general structure of your organization?

Mr. BELL. I can, sir.

Senator ALLOTT. At the conclusion, will you?
Mr. BELL. I will.

INITIAL PERSONNEL SYSTEM

I was speaking of the first consolidation that took place in 1953 under Mr. Harold Stassen. The personnel system used at that time was essentially the same that had been established in 1948 on a crash basis for the Marshall plan. Legislatively, it consisted of a delegation by the Congress of certain of the Foreign Service Act authorities, and certain additional special authorities to facilitate the use of individuals with specialized skills from other Federal agencies and from the private economy.

Indefinite status, limited to the duration of the program, was a prime characteristic of employee tenure under that system, insofar as the oversea staff was concerned. For Washington personnel, the regular civil service system was considered appropriate, with certain special authorities intended to insure flexibility in selection and retention for the top leadership positions.

CAREER-TYPE TENURE DESIRABLE

By 1957, there was a strong feeling that it would be desirable to create a career-type tenure for the central core of the oversea staff. The need for foreign assistance activities was clearly going to continue, and the system then in use led to high costs resulting from excessive turnover. The ICA therefore attempted to develop a career-type

personnel system. The legislative basis provided only a limited foundation for this attempt, and many of the normal tools of personnel management to meet the needs for a longer range approach had to be specially adapted. Nevertheless, I am told that this program to institute a career-type service abroad did much to improve morale among ICA's oversea staff.

That was the situation when this administration came into office, and in early 1961, with the new administration, a major survey of foreign assistance activities was instituted, not only as to program and objectives, but also organizational structure and personnel.

PRESIDENTIAL TASK FORCE ON FOREIGN ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE

Some of the recommendations of the President's Task Force on Foreign Economic Assistance in 1961 which pertain to personnel administration were:

Success of U.S. efforts in assisting countries to obtain maximum growth will depend largely upon the Agency's ability to maintain a professional staff with high standards of motivation and performance. To this end, the personnel system will provide maximum flexibility in obtaining the best personnel available, whether within or without the Federal service * *

This was a statement of the objective.

*** It is proposed that the authorities in the Mutual Security Act be retained as an interim step in the development of an integrated foreign affairs system. * * * The Department and AID will be administered in such a way as to assure consistency of policies and standards, to facilitate interchange of personnel, and yet to provide the decentralized operations necessary to accommodate the requirements of each * * *.

That was essentially the guideline that was used when the foreign aid legislation of 1961 was enacted.

STUDY OF FOREIGN PERSONNEL SYSTEMS

The authorities in the previous Mutual Security Act were retained. as an interim step and we are using them today. Meanwhile, the Herter Committee on Foreign Affairs Personnel has submitted to Secretary Rusk its recommendations for an integrated "family" of Foreign Service personnel systems and those recommendations are under study in the executive branch.

I am sure the members of this committee have seen copies of the Herter report. We can go into that to any extent that the committee may wish to, this morning or later on. But essentially that is a recommendation for a major overhaul in our basic personnel authority. Senator ALLOTT. Are you going into it further here?

Mr. BELL. I will be glad to if you would like, Senator.

Senator ALLOTT. Could we expand this a little bit at this point, Mr. Chairman?

Chairman HAYDEN. Certainly.

Mr. BELL. I will be delighted to if you would like.

Senator ALLOTT. Can you tell me what is an integrated "family," in a few words?

Mr. BELL. That is the term used by the Herter Committee which was a committee established at the request of Secretary Rusk by the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace. It consisted of former Secretary of State Herter and a number of distinguished private citizens, a private committee entirely.