[THE RECORDS CENTER IS FULL]

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP73-00402R000100050003-6
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
5
Document Creation Date: 
December 19, 2016
Document Release Date: 
December 14, 2006
Sequence Number: 
3
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
July 3, 1968
Content Type: 
REPORT
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP73-00402R000100050003-6.pdf217.37 KB
Body: 
pprov or Release 2006/12/14 CIA-RDP73-00402R000100050003-6 took an Orig & 2 copies with him to Hqs. for Briefing (for Coffey) 3 July 1968 1. The Records Center is full. 2. To solve this problem we plan action in two areas: a. The Records Center itself. 3. At the Records Center we hope to gain 4 or 5 more years of capacity life through the following actions: a. Purging 25% (25,000 cu. ft.) of the records from the Center. (Gains 2 to 3 years). b. Converting 8,000 cu. ft. of stored. records to microform. (Gains one year). c. Transfer half of Agency Vital Records to underground. Federal Emergency Repository at Neosha, Missouri. (Gains half a year) d. Obtain another year of storage at Suitland Center until Dec. 1971. (No gain, only more time to maneuver). e. Increase storage, density per floor space by converting equipment to moveable shelving for 5,000 cu. ft. of records. (Gains half a year). f. Convince reports producers to reduce volume of extra copies, transfer storage location, or convert to microform to eliminate -,000 cu. ft. (Gain half a year). 4. Action in the Records Program Area should consolidate and pro- long this ain b cooperative support in each Directorate. The existing regulation is quite clear as to the total Records Program in the Agency and, t e participation required, in each Directorate. Our Program actions merely re-vitalize these established requirements and bring the effort into a consolidated focus on our Records Program with the following action: a. Creation of a Records Panel of Directorate representatives to implement and supervise the Program in each component. Approved For Release 2006/12/14: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100050003-6 b. Use of 55 "Bale as" for one year to assist component Records Management Officers with a review and. purge of records in the Components and Records Center. c. The Central Records Staff will assist Component Records Officers with lists of office deposits at the Center and in establishing Records Retention Plans and Disposal Schedules. But, the Central Records Staff will be re- quired to review and. report to the Component head and the DDS on the progress and accomplishments of the Decentralized Component Records Programs. This was not done in the past and many decentr?al/ W8rds Programs are inactive titles only. This should stimulate and implement a Total Program approach. d. The efforts to overcome our records storage and. disposal problems cannot be successful until we do more about records creation. We must institute controls over Records Creation through Reports Management, Correspondence Improvement, and greater forms control. This will require more attention by more competent component Records Management Officers. The Central Staff has the guidance if the component has the Records Officer to implement it. e. In accordance with a White House request via GSA the Agency is required to conduct another File Cleanup Campaign in FY 69. Last year the offices destroyed 15,000 cubic feet of obsolete files and. retired 3,000 feet of records. This equals the emptying of some 2200 safes. We plan for the next cleanup campaign in the Spring of 1969. 5. Unfortunately none of these actions are cheap, either money- wise or in manpower. In order that you may better appreciate your involvement and can evaluate the related costs for each action we have a few charts and, handouts. Chart One -- Records Volume in Offices and Center The growth is constant and. is exceeding our storage capacity. Let me show you what is in the Records Center. Chart Two -- Four Major types of Records in the Center The Center was built to store Office Records Its efficiency and economy attracted 2 other operations - Supplemental Distribution and Vital Records. Agency Archives is a natural outgrowth of old records. Let me show you how much of these 67,000 cu. ft. are yours. Approved For Release 2006/12/14: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100050003-6 Chart Three -- Records by Offices This Center is an extension of your Office. Each of you has a sizeable deposit here. These are not dead records or garbage. You make 500 references here every day. Half to your office records and. almost half to the Supplemental Distribution. A smaller reference total to the other two groups. 6. I have two handouts for you to take back to your office and. discuss with your records officer. He is a.manager not a file clerk. If your Components have clerks assigned as Records Officers then that could be why you axe not getting proper management of your records. The major handout is an analysis of your records which was prepared. for a meeting of the Agency Records Officers last October when they met and studied the records storage problem. They like the professionals at National Archives,felt the most economical and efficient action to take was to construct an addition to the Center. Chart Four --Scheduled Disposal of Office Records This is the total you will find in that booklet. It shows that 60% of your records have no firm disposal date. Someone in each Component needs to review these and make a decision. The other two areas should. be examined. too. Are they as tight as possible? Must they really be kept as long as they are scheduled to be retained. Chart Five Chart Six 7. The other handout is a brief title collection of information which will help you appreciate the scope of the Records Problem. I commend them to your review and. your discussion of them with your Records Officer. 8. Now let's get back to our problem. a. We cannot construct an addition of more storage capacity. (Logistics estimates another 50 or 60,000 cu. ft. would cost 1.5 million). b. We find. that to microfilm half the Records Center would cost 1.2 million and take 20 people 3 years. c. There are no other buildings in the Agency we can use. Approved For Release 2006/12/14: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100050003-6 the Emergency Relocation Site and we can't ov e all our Vital Records away from that area. e. The Federal Records Centers are willing to take our records if we turn them over to them for servicing. State, Atomic Energy, and DIA do this but we feel our records are too sensitive. 0 The Supplemental Distribution is really a Logistics or Central Reference function but such an inhouse transfer will not really remove the problem. We are studying alternative systems for records storage and retrieval. (1) The most promising is Videotape files. You recall seeing the instant replay of television football gages. This can be applied to document storage. The costs are high but it is feasible. Several Agencies are studying this, but it is several years away. (2) Another promise is Microfiche where a 65-page document is put on a plastic card. . x 6 inches. The original cost a $l.15 and each copy cost 9 cents. This compares with printing and many Agencies use it. But it requires you as the user to have a film viewer on your desk instead. of flipping report pages. (3) wren more exotic is the "PCMI" by National Cash Res inter which puts 3,000 pages on a 4 x 6 plastic card. Fora Motor Co., has put its parts catalog on it. The original costs $500 but each copy costs a dollar. But again, everything depends upon the procedure and the willingness of the producer and the user to convert to a radical system. (4) Unfortunately even when we find a technological b--ea',,-- through we won't have a solution because we will have to pursuade file makers to use it. Our Records Center cannot take your official records, film it, and burn the original. We must service what you give us to store. h. The several proposals I made at the outset and which we intend to pursue to the best of our ability and resources each has, a price tag: (1) The 25% purge will reouire at least 5 man years in each Directorate in FY 69. Approved For Release 2006/12/14: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100050003-6 (2) The microfilming of 8,000 cu. ft. will require a contract of about $250,000. (3) The equipment conversion to increase storage density will be another $250,000. The Central Records Staff is working with NPIC and RID on similar shelving plans for about $100,000 in each area. (4) The Program activity to intensify control of records will require a full time Directorate Records Administration Officer as well as a full time Records Management Officer in each Component. 9. In conclusion we want to say we intend to proceed and we will be calling upon you for greater support and tigltar implementation of If you have any suggestions we'd appreciate hearing them.