CIA's Biggest Challenge: Managing Newbies

It's all about the people. CIA Director Michael Hayden provided just the latest example of that truism in a C-SPAN interview that aired last night. As the Washington Post reported Sunday, Hayden noted in the Q&A session with C-SPAN's Brian Lamb that more than half of his agency's employees have been hired since 9/11, and 20 percent of its analysts within the last year. "Right now, my biggest challenge is absorbing the growth we've had inside the agency and putting these new resources to work in an efficient and effective way," Hayden said. Among the reasons for the brain drain that led to the recent hiring binge: the departure of employees to work at newly created organizations within the U.S. intelligence apparatus, the lure of employment with contractors eager to hire workers with security clearances, and the unpopularity of Gates' predecessor, Porter Goss.