CIA RECORDS MANAGEMENT BOARD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00099A000200100004-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 9, 1999
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: June 11, 1970
• Content Type: MF

SECRE I
Approved For Release 2000/04/14: CIA-RDP73-00099A0O0200100004-3
`970
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Support
SUBJECT CIA Records Management Board
1. Attached is the Records Management Board (RMB) report to
the Executive Director for the period 1 January through 31 May 1970.
As you know we have been submitting "quarterly-reports" to the
Executive Director on Records Management Board activities in order
to accommodate his wishes to be kept advised on progress in managing
the agency-wide records purge and to afford us an opportunity to
communicate major records management problems and progress to him.
2. You will note that we have expressed a desire in paragraph
seven of the attached report to discontinue quarterly reporting and
report to the Executive Director only when we feel we have something
of particular interest to him or something which warrants his attention.
In requesting discontinuance of the quarterly report, I do not think we
should abandon this channel for keeping Col. White informed of our records
management program and the problems confronting us in this area. The
senior records officers who comprise the membership of the Records
Management Board need some assurance that their problems are at least
being heard, even if we are unable to obtain the desired response in the
form of more personnel and resources to tackle the records problems. On
the other hand a quarterly restatement of the same burdensome problems
with little progress towards their solution is unlikely to be well
received by the Executive Director.
3. The Records Management Board has done an effective job in
managing the records purge these past two years. It is a useful
mechanism for the senior records management officers to meet and discuss
the Agency's records program knowing that they have a channel to bring
their problems to the attention of the Agency's top leadership. How-
ever I have serious misgivings concerning the Board's ability to handle
the more basic issues confronting us, such as: developing proposals,
programs, and policy for uniformity and compatibility of future Agency
microform systems; making significant contributions to our desire to
revert to a more centralized "Agency-oriented" records management
program; or planning for the Agency's future Archival programs. Present
GQUUW i
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25X1A
members of the Records Management Board lack the time, authority,
managerial experience, and stature within their own Directorates, to
address themselves to these broad policy problems. Also, the Board
members are severely hampered even in dealing with the technical and
procedural aspects of our Records Program (example, establishing a
policy on "office-of-record" for inter Directorate correspondence)
because the Directorates, with the possible exception of the DD/P, do
not have staff support to do research and prepare issue papers for
consideration by the Board. In most instances, staff work has been
done by the SSS/RAB, but given the small size of this unit and its
current work load the time they can devote to staff papers and research
for the Records Management Board is totally inadequate.
4. I have considered recommending to you that we upgrade the
membership of the Records Management Board to a level equivalent to
the Directorate representatives on the Information Processing Board (IPB),
but even if this proposal were accepted, I doubt that we would gain a
significant improvement in the Board's ability to solve our Records
Management problems.. In a memorandum for the record on IPB activities
dated 25 May, the Chairman IPB had some observations that are equally
applicable to a Records Management Board. pointed out that
a Board is not a good vehicle to be used in staffing out a project or
proposal from square one. A board can only be effective if it keeps
its agenda narrowed to actionable items already well staffed out in
advance. Determining the Agency's future in microminiaturization and
centralized automated records systems demands special in depth studies
and the same "special operational analysis" needed in information pro-
cessing applications if we are to make sure that our choice in these
areas is the wisest one. A Records Management Board has a role to play
in recommending what choice should be made, but it is a more complex
task than can be done by part-time officials with no staff support.
5. My memorandum to you of 26 May 1970 presented an approach
for new concepts in the Management of Records and Information Processing
Activities and identified the required resources in general terms. Until
we are prepared to deal with the recommendations contained therein, there
is nothing to be gained by restructuring the Records Management Board.
I think the Board should continue to meet in an effort to chip away at
some of the smaller more manageable problem areas, but you should recognize
its limitations and realize that it is clearly not capable of making
significant progress in resolving our major records problem areas.
25X1A
Chief, Support Services Staff
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