OUTLINE FOR TALK BEFORE THE EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS OF THE DD/I AREA - 31 MARCH 1955

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70-00211R000300040006-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 15, 2005
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: March 31, 1955
• Content Type: OUTLINE

Approved For Release 2005/08/24: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000300040006-
FILED-
yf$,~;% p c.
'-.4-
OUTLINE FOR TALK BEFORE THE EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS OF THE DD/I AREA - 31 MARCH 1955
1. Acknowledgment of introduction and preliminary remarks with
respect to the subject of the discussion - Reports Control
Program.
2. Progress made in DD/I area - cooperation received from oper-
ating officials and their desire to participate.
3. Results. of joint surveys in eight (8) organizational units of
the DD/I area:
a. inventoried;
b. Filing equipment - 8,234 pieces;
c. Records retired to Center - 4,220 cu. ft. - approxi-
mately 40% of total in Center;
d. Permanent records vary from a low of 5% to a highf of
y
55% compare this to G6vernme tand industry;ex-
perience.
4. Since so much progress has been made in the records disposition
field, it appears logical to consider undertaking programs in
other areas of the overall records management program. It is
appropriate, therefore, that we consider today the question of
records creation which is one of the most fundamental things
about the operation of a records management program. It is a
curious fact that we almost never begin a records management
program by working first in records creation. Nearly every
records management program that I am familiar with has started
with records retirement or records disposition. Eventually it
works itself backwards into the question of the creation of
Approved For Release 2005/08/24: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000300040006-7
 Approved For Release 2005/08/24: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000300040006-7
records. The exception to this was probably in the emergency
agencies created during the Korean war era. They had no
records to dispose of and obviously the only thing they could
do was to begin with the creation and maintenance phases.
-3C~ The objectives that we have in mind in this Agency are
fewer and better records. We want to make sure on the affirm-
ative side that we create those records that need to come
into being. Most of us at one time or another wish that we
had a better record of something that has occurred. Sometimes
we go back to pencilled notes and scrawls on our calendar
pads in an effort to re-create in our own bailiwicks what we
should have put down as a permanent record. That is par-
ticularly true in upper levels of our oAgency - when, for
instance. ,1 the phone and they
make a momentous decision and sometimes it is not In writing.
On the other hand, too many of us make a lot of records
that we don't need. This is a protective device in many in-
stances. At one time or another somebody asked for something
and when it couldn't be produced immediately the boss got
angry and someone was embarrassed. That sort of thing is
multiplied many times and is responsible for many situations
we find ourselves in. `r
"It is all very well to say that too many records are
created and that we should stop it. To control records creation,
however, you have to be a little bit more tangible than r4aking
a statement to the effect that some/ th should' btaed..
Fortunately there are some techniques that have been tried and
Approved For Release 2005/08/24: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000300040006-7
 Approved For Release 2005/08/24: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000300040006-7
found to be practical in Government and in industry as a
means of controlling the creation of records. One of these
is reports control.. Many of us agree that we make too
many reports but on the receiving end we complain that there
are not enough, yet we know how time-consuming reports
preparation can be. Many thousands of man-ho,
'
I
be saved by a good reports control program
.
have brought
with me today some copies of the Hoover Commission reports on
Paperwork Management. One of the principal recommendations in
this report concerns reports management. It proposes that
each agency head establish such a program on a top level basis.
When the Clarke Committee was visiting us they paid parti-
cular attention to reports management. Fortunately, we in this
Agency have been doing something about this phase of our
records manage ve with me today copies of
material which for the introduction of a
_WWU
of ~the- fc ??ow#nl i ( ~
erly "the
eA tea3,~
The Office of the Comptroller has already undertaken a re-
ports management program. The Logistics Office and Personnel
Office have undertaken preliminary steps in this direction too.
Therefore, it is appropriate now to begin the introduction of
this phase of our records management program on a broader scale.
Our objective is to improve the quality of reports, eliminate
unnecessary reporting, prepare reports by the simplest and least
Approved For Release 2005/08/24: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000300040006-7
reports mftnaggment program througho .t the Agency.
 .Approved For Release 2005/08/24: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000300040006-7
expensive method, and have fewer reports and better reports
at less cost. (Refer to experience related to me by
Mr. Francis P. Brassor, Executive Secretary of the Hoover
Commission in which he illustrated the keen interest of
Mr. Hoover in the Paperwork Management report).
7
5. Closing remarks - indicate our intest in the program and
desire to assist in its installation. Emphasize that ad-
ministration of the program will be on a decentralized basis.
}'-Ask for questions.
Approved For Release 2005/08/24: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000300040006-7