The Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan issued a sobering statement on October 17, 2013 regarding the re-opening of government operations:
Colleagues,
As you know, Congress has appropriated funding to fully reopen the government, and CIA has resumed its normal operations. Unless employees are on previously scheduled leave or have a flex day, all employees should report for duty today. However, employees have the option to arrive late or take unscheduled leave.
In the coming days, I know that you will have many questions about time and attendance, back pay, benefits, PARs, and a host of other matters connected to the shutdown. We will do our best to get answers for you as quickly as possible, but please be patient with your colleagues as they restore our Agency to a normal operating posture.
This has been a trying period for all of us. Many of you have worked tirelessly to keep our emergency operations running during the shutdown. Those of you on furlough have had to endure the frustration of not being able to report to work. And everyone has suffered through the uncertainty of not knowing when our next paycheck would come or when our Agency would return to full strength. But through it all, you have handled these challenges the way CIA officers always do – with tremendous professionalism, dedication, and integrity.
Thank you, and welcome back!
John
The statement reflects a sense of how the agency was completely demoralized during the shutdown.
It indicates that the agency is struggling to restore now what it calls “normal operating posture” and that employees remain “distracted” as it were from their important work at hand of safeguarding the nation with questions relating to back pay and benefits during the shutdown itself.
We called the CIA press office for an update on where the agency was, in terms of restoring “normal operating posture? – and officials there refused to comment.