INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS & COLLECTION TASKS IN RELATION TO PRIORITY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DCID 4/5

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP61S00750A000600060003-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 6, 2001
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: May 25, 1956
• Content Type: DCID

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r E
ririat E&8-1718
25 May 1956
INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS h COLLECTION T
IN RELATION TO PRIO)RITY NATIONAL INTELLI ENCE
DCID 4 5
1. You requested that, in collaboration with representatives of LAC
agencies, I conduct a review of the existing provisions for the developmen.
and coordination of information requirements and collection tasks incon-
formity with established Priority National Intelligence Objective's. This was
explained to the IAC in IAC-13.50/5. 20 January 1955.
2. Description of the existing provisions:
a. Priority National Intelligence Objectives, as approved by at
IAC and noted by the NSC. authorize the fundamental direction which
the community's intelligence production And collection efforts should
take. They do not, however, serve as the sole or exclusive guide to
the work of either research or collection offices, each of which devotes
a portion of its effort to meeting "departmental" intelligence needs.
These "departmental" intelligence needs coincide in many instances
with the needs expressed in the Priority National Intelligence Objectives.
b. In the course of research to meet Priority National Intelligence
Objectives and departmental. needs, research office. ascertain gaps
svailable information which require collection action to fill. Such re-
search will in certain fields be subject to some coordination: for
atomic energy thru JAEIC; for science and technology, SEC; for guiced
missiles. GUIC; for economics. EIC; and for basic intelligence. hib.
Such committees have in the past engaged in some coordination of re-
quirements, most usefully in regard to those requirements rating a Isiah
priority. Requirements thus endorsed are translated into requests for
collection action by the agency responsible for the reseerch.
c. Available to all research offices are "Requirements Officers
who serve as middlemen between research and collection components.
Their services are essential because of the wise and complexity of our
intelligence system which makes extensive direct individual contact
between analysts and collectors administratively unfeasible. It is the
function of these Requirements officers to insure (a) that Washington
resources have been exploited before requests are sent to the field;
(b) that the desired informs/Mon is expressed in the form most clearly
understandable and usable by the collector(s); and (c) that the request
for information does not duplicate other requests. It must be remembereti
that the research officer is responsible for determining the substance
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of the ielormation desired. The Requirements Officer can
contribute thru his understanding of research needs and collection
machinery and capabilities and can frequently suggest other in-
formational needs and other possible sources. The need expressed
by the analyst in turn depends upon the research tasks to which lye
has been assigaed. It should also be fasted that the "coordination"'
performed by these Requirements Officers is essentially limited to
request.., originating within their own research components. *
4. The collection offices of the LAC agencies also include
"requirements" elements whose task it is to act as a focal point in
deeling with research composents and further to 'nears that any
given requirement does sot duplicate *se which has already been
received and acted upon. They ere usually a part of the collecting
office* reports machinery which engages in a cyclical system of
requirements. reports, and evaluations. It should be noted that
thee, officers do not decide U collection will be undertaken. That
is a commend decision of collection supervisors, depending upon
the capacity to collect and his other responsibilities.
3. The above outline delineates the general procedure by which the Geed cf
an analyst for information is transmitted to a collector whose task it is to obtain
the information. There are of course, exceptions and special inter-agency
arrangements have been established which perinit decisions on priorities for
collection as Limited resources might require: USCIB and IPC.
4. In coasidering the problem posed. in LAC-la-SO/5 in die light of the
procedures generally followed by the intelligence community as outlined above,
certain lines of inquiry are explored below:
a. A review of the existing provisions for the development
and coordination of information requirements in conformity with
Priority National Intelligence Objective, is not concerned basically
with the activities of requirements officers attached either to
research or to collection elements since these officers do not havie
the primary respoasibility for determining the substance of re-
quirements, or whether collection will be undertaken. Rather,
* Requirements emanating from the research components of CIA, or submitted
trend any pert of the intelligence community to a CIA collectioe facility a-re
subjected to a further "coordinotioe" by the Office of Central Reference, Thil
office reviews the selection made by the research office of the collector most
appropriate to obtain the desired information. makes a determination of the
collector to be requested to sista/no the responsibility and insures that a request
does not unprofitably doplicate other requests already levied.
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it is their task to establish efficient and effective arrange cut to
those collectors who may be able to meet the used expressed in
the requirements. Such a review, rather, must directly involve
the administration and management of research c4mponentss since
the substance of requirorments stems principally from the task.
&spirted the research components* their chiefs and the collectim
of information finally depends on the inherent capabilities and the
administration of the collection facilities. In other words, the
degree to which usairerr2eets are "developed and coordinated"
in conformity with Priority National Intelligence Objectives depends
upon the degree to which the tasks undertaken by the research com-
ponents have been developed and coordinated in conformity with the tk Yes.
b. In the present framework of the intelligence communiiy,
collection tasks, developed in accordance with the needs of the
research components. are allocated to collectors within certeim
areas of responsibility in keeping with the NSCIDs (NSCID 2. 5. 7 etc.)
and DCIDs. The individual collection office, acting within the sphere
assigned to it by appropriate directives, endeavors to meet the needs
expressed to it by research offices translating requiremeats inio
requests for collection action by the responsible agency. A review
a the "development of collection tasks" thus again leads back to a
review of the admisistratiori and direction given to research com-
ponents, from which derive the needs which collectors try to meet.
c. Collection offices do not and in the nature of things cennot
concentrate all their efforts, plan their activities, and strive to build
their resources toward meeting Priority National Intelligence Objective I.
lCach collection facility has been allocated a definite sphere of res-
ponsibility by NSCID, and must operate within that sphere. Licterna)
considerations place definite limitations upon each collector. The
Department of State, for example, is responsible for overt collection
overseas of political isiformation. If requirements stemming from
research to meet Priority National Intelligence Objectives were the
primary or only factor governing the allocation of the political reportini
resources of the Department. the distribution of oversee.* per gonnel of
the Foreign Service would be vastly different from what it actually is.
In reality, however, the Department's allocation of resources is
dictated by such factors as the limitation on the number of diplomatic
personnel who can be stationed at posts behind the Iron Curtain, iitriltialOall
on the useful information which such personnel are able to collect. and
by other demands for politicel information not related to Priority National
Intelligence Objectives. FI provides an equally striking example of thi.
same phenomenon. A substantial portion of FI resources are necesiaiiiy
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allocated to areas and activities which., though not directly related
to Priority National Intelligence Objectives produce information of
use in important research of lower overeat priority.
5. The above considerations lead to the conclusion that the allocation
of effort within his collection resources to various tasks is a command deciie
by the Chief of each collection facility, in the light of all the factors affecting
the capabilities and limitations of the facility, as well as all of the requirements
placed upon it.
6. Insofar as collectors are faced with competition for their capabilities,
they might well inquire of the originator of the requirements whether they are
Identifiable as supporting PNIOs and if so. which PNIO. This procedure has,
in fact, been applied thru the IPC and to a certain extent the USCIB.
7. ?map: and other directives specify areas of responsibility among
collectors, either by subject area (NSCI1) 2. 10) or by method of collection
(NSCM 5, 7). NSCID 2 and DCID 2/1 provide a mechanism for coordinating
overt collection tasks overseas. With regard to the coordinating responsibility
assigned to Chiefs of Mission overseas by OCID 2/1, the Department of State
has, over the years, endeavored to insure that coordination is effected thru
procedures appropriate to each post. Ae a result of these efforts, DCII) 2/1
is now, in general, being implemented in a reasonably satisfactory manner.
The IAC agencies under the leedership of the Department of State have in the
last two years sent instructions to their representatives urging coordination C).
collection requirements as received in the field in order to obtain maximum
benefit from the capabilities available. The replies give evidence that the
field is complying with those instructions. I do not believe a further revieo
overseas coordination, as it pertains to the problem at hand. is reqtv.red.
NSCID-5 plates upon the DCI responsibility for coordinating overt and covet
collection activity. This is accomplished for the DCI principally in the field
tbra coordination between the rapreeentative at each post and the rep-
resentatives of other agencies, and at headquarters by CIA not accepting for
clandestine collection by CIA requirements which can be obtained thro overt
means.
8. At the outset of its Post Mortem experience the 1AC requested that
the members prepare a single report on actions they had taken in pursuance ot
a Poet Mortem. This was done in the case of Chine -- Si 27 (for report see
IAC-D-57/1). Thereafter and in lieu thereof, the agencies have been asked
in response to each Post Mortem to take such action within their own spheres
of responsibility as they deem appropriate. It is presumed that "such action"
initially means research with requirements for collection following as necessary.
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While the original procedure might be profitably reinstituted it woulti oot
responsive to to the problem at hand inasmuch as the requirements emerging
from Post Mortems are not necessarily. and in many cases are not, in lint
with PNIOs. Post-Mortem review is only one of the measures taken by
research offices to initiate appropriate action to fill gaps which become ob-
vious in the course of research. The re-establishment of the original Post-
Mortem procedure is not recommended as a means of making collection mare
responsive to PN10s.
9. There is a possibility that the LC might establish a subcom_rattee to
expand the PNIOs into an IAC approved requirements list in an effort to
insure that requirements are indeed responsive to PNIOs. Irlowever, valid
requirements cannot be developed in A vacuum; they must relate to an 4CtUe
research need. The subject areas regarding which the IAC agencies can
usefully coordinate their research programs (and thus their requireinerts) in
terms of PNIOs have already been identified and subcommittees estaolisheo,
and additional coordination can be directed by the IAC as needed. It
believed unnecessary and unwise to try to effect 'coordination" where a major
overlap of interests does not exist,
10. Each agency or research component thereof has stated that its
research program is responsive to PNIOs. Such programs will be affected
as changes occur in national problem. as reflected by needs of the NC, its
Planning Board, or individual operating agencies, as well as by revisions
of the PNIOs. A new LAC subcommittee either to coordinate research progral.s
overall or to insure that research programs are responsive to PNIthz. is not
recommended,
11. Suenmary Conclusion: That no new provisions are required for the
development and coordination of information requirements and collection tatika
in conformity with DCII) 4/5,
25X1A9a
Steti
Special Assistant to the Director
for Planning and Coordination
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