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(U) Senior Executive - What Does It Mean?
FROM: SIGINT Communications
Unknown
Run Date: 10/27/2003
(U) Note: This is the first in a three-part series.
(U) What is a Senior??
(U) You've heard NSA's leadership called "seniors". But do you
really know what a senior executive is? How is one selected to be a
senior? And do all seniors work as managers? For answers to these
questions and more, read on . . .
(U) The Concept
(U//FOUO) Why do we have seniors? The rationale is that the
Agency needs a cadre of leaders who have the experience and skills
needed to help run the Agency. The Agency works to prepare highpotential candidates from within NSA for these positions, and also
seeks qualified personnel from outside the Agency. To help NSA
attract and keep talented leaders, seniors are also offered higher
pay rates than GS employees.
(U) The Two Kinds of Seniors: Managers (DISES) and Technical
Leaders (DISL)
(U//FOUO) Seniors are divided into two categories: managers and
technical experts. Managers belong to the Defense Intelligence
Senior Executive Service (DISES) , and technical experts
belong to the Defense Intelligence Senior Level (DISL) . While
both DISES and DISLs are recognized as Agency leaders, having
the two categories gives DISLs the opportunity to remain focused
on technical endeavors and not get bogged down with managerial
duties. (See related information from NSA On-Line.)
(U//FOUO) Candidates may receive special leadership training to
prepare them for these senior positions. For example, the Senior
Leadership Candidate Development Program (SLCDP) gives
trainees the broad exposure and managerial training they will need
to fill DISES positions. Similarly, the Senior Technical Development
Program (STDP) helps develop technical skills needed for DISL
positions.
(U) How Many Seniors are there in SID, and What Percentage of
the SID Workforce Are They?
(C) NSA's current DISES/DISL ceiling is 420. Of the 420, no more
than 295 can be DISES. NSA presently has 249 DISES and 151
DISLs (a total of 400). Of these, 82 DISES and 76 DISLs (a total of
158) are in SID. You can contrast this with the SID civilian
population of GG15 and below - about 6200 - which means that
seniors represent roughly 2.5% of the SID workforce.
(U) Coming in part 2: How Are Seniors Selected and Assigned?
SERIES:
(U) Senior Execs
1. Senior Executive What Does It Mean?
2. How Are Seniors
Selected and
Assigned?
3. Seniors' Pay and
Benefits
4. Interview with a
DISE
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108