ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy is offering $40,000 for junior intelligence officers to extend their contracts for five years, Navy officials said.

The bonus is available to about 85 lieutenants who have completed six years of commissioned service, said Lt. Cmdr. William Marks, a spokesman for the Chief of Naval Personnel.

The Navy hopes to award 70 contracts in fiscal 2008, Marks said in an e-mail.

Lieutenants commissioned in 2002 are eligible for the bonus, as are some lieutenants commissioned in 1999, 2000 and 2001, “as these year groups did not execute all available contracts in FY-07,” according to a service message announcing the payout.

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Those lieutenants who are awarded the bonus will get $20,000 the first year of their new contracts and $5,000 per year for the remaining four years, the message said. Marks said the bonus will allow the Navy to meet its requirements for lieutenant commander intelligence officers over the next five years.

“Intelligence O-4 (Lt. Cmdr.) is currently manned at 74 percent (306 out of 406),” Marks said.

The Navy expects to have a total of 1,623 intelligence officers by fiscal 2013, an increase of 10 percent, he said. The extra security officers will help support Naval Special Warfare and Navy Expeditionary Combat commands as well as other Navy components involved with the war on terrorism, he said.

Eligible lieutenants should submit their applications for the bonus by Nov. 1.

For more information, go to Navy Administrative Message (NAVADMIN) 226/07 available at www.npc.navy.mil.

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