[THE RECORDS CENTER IS FULL]

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00402R000100330020-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 14, 2006
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: July 11, 1968
• Content Type: REPORT

11 July 1968
2. To solve this problem we plan actions in two areas:
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b. In the Records Program at Headquarters
3. First, at the Records Center we hope to gain 4 or 5 more years
of storage capacity life through the following six actions:
a. Purging 25% (25,000 cu. ft.) of the records from the Center.
(This should gain about 2 to 3 years of life.)
b. Converting 8,000 cu. ft. of stored hard copy to microforms.
(To gain about one year.)
c. Transfer 4,000 cu. ft., about half of the Agency Vital
Records, to the Federal Emergency Repository underground at
Neosha, Mo.
(To gain about one-half a year's time.)
d. Obtain another year of storage at the Suitland Records Center,
until Dec. 1971. (No gain, merely more time for conversions.)
e. Increase the storage density, per foot of floor space, by
converting to moveable shelving for 5,000 cu. ft. of records.
(A gain of somewhat over a half a year.)
f. Persuade the Reports producers to reduce the volume of extra
copies stored, to relocate their distribution operations, or
convert to microforms in order to eliminate 4,000 cu. ft.
(This should make room for another half year of storage
capacity.)
rectorate. The existing regulatio is quite specific as to our STAT
Agency's Total Records Program and THE participation required in each
Directorate. Our proposed actions merely re-vitalize these established
requirements and integrate our decentralized Records Program efforts through
the following:
One half of our storage holdings will be altered through this first step
which will require about two years. The net gain will depend upon the
new deposits received in that period.
4. In order to consolidate and prolong these gains at the Agency
Records Center, our second action area focuses on the Agency Records
Program. These actions will require cooperation and support in each Di-
a. Creation of a Records Panel of Directorate representatives
to implement and supervise the Program in each component.
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b. Use of 55 "Balpas" for one year to assist the component
Records Management Officers with a review and purge of the
records in the Office and at the Records Center. The
Central Records Staff will assist with lists of Office
deposits at the Center and in establishing "Retention
Plans" for records of permanent value and "Disposal Schedules"
for temporary records.
c. The Central Records Staff will be required to review the
status of the component Records Programs and report to the
component head and the DDS. This has not been done in the
past and many of the decentralized Programs are inactive
or have only partial coverage.
d. The efforts to overcome our records storage problem 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 competent
Records Management Officers in each component. The Central
Records Staff has available the necessary guidance if the
components have the Records Officers to implement it.
e. The White House has requested, via GSA, that every Agency
conduct another File Cleanup Campaign during FY 69. We plan
for that campaign in the Spring of 1969. In the last campaign
the Offices destroyed 15,000 cubic feet of obsolete files and
retired 3,000 feet of records. This equals the emptying of
some 2,200 safes valued at one and a quarter million dollars.
5. As you know, all of these necessary actions have costs, both in
money and manpower. In order that you may better appreciate your involve-
ment and can evaluate the related costs and benefits we have a few charts
and handouts.
Chart One -- Records Volume in Offices and at the Center.
Our growth is constant and is exceeding our storage capacity.
Let me show you what you have in the Records Center.
Chart Two -- Four Major Types of Records in the Center.
The Center was built to store your Office Records.
We now have 67,000 cu. ft. of Office Records in the Center.
Two other operations were added to the Center:
"Supplemental Distribution" of Agency publications
and the storage of the emergency "Vital Records" deposits.
Finally, the "Archives" is the collection of your permanent records.
Let me show you how much of these 67,000 cu. ft. are yours.
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.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.
Your Offices make 500 references here every day. Half are
to your office records. Almost half are for.Supplemental
Distribution.
A smaller number of references are for the other two groups;
Archives and Vital Records
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 are not getting proper management of your records.
The booklet is an analysis of your retired records. This 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 stored. for as long as they are
now scheduled.
Chart Five -- Proposed Paperwork Management Panel.
Representatives from each Directorate will meet with the
Agency Records Officer to study records problems and to
supervise the Program's implementation.
Chart Six
7. The other handout is a brief collection of information which
will help you appreciate the scope of the Records Problem. I commend
these 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 for, more storage capacity.
(Logistics estimates another 50 to 60,000 cu. ft. of
capacity 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.
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c. There are no other buildings available in the Agency that
we can use for long term records storage.
the Emergency Relocation Site and we can't move all STAT
of our Vital Records away from that area.
e. The Federal Records Centers are willing to take our records
if we turn the records over to them for servicing. State,
Atomic Energy, and DIA do this but we feel our records are
too sensitive.
f. The Supplemental Distribution is really a Logistics or
Central Reference function but such an inhouse transfer
will not really remove or lessen the problem.
g. We are studying alternate systems for records storage
and retrieval.
(1) The most promising is Videotape files. You recall
seeing the instant replay of television football games.
This can be applied to document storage. The costs are
very high but it is feasible. Other Agencies are study-
ing this too (NSA and HUD) but it is several years away.
(2) Another promise is Microfiche where a 65-page document
is put on a plastic card 4 x 6 inches. The original
costs a $1.15 and each copy costs 9 cents. This com-
pares 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 pages of a hard copy report.
(3) Even more exotic is the "PCMI" by National Cash Register
which puts 3,000 pages on a 4 x 6 plastic card. Ford
Motor Co., has put its parts catalog on it. Each
original requires a laboratory and costs $500 but each
copy costs only a dollar. But again, everything depends
upon the procedure and the willingness of the producer
and the user to convert to a radical new system.
(4) Unfortunately even when we find a technological break-
through we won't have a solution because we will have
to persuade file makers to use it. Our Records Center
cannot take your official office records, film it, and
burn the original. We must service what you give us,
to store.
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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..
STAT
(1) The 25% purge will require at least 5 man years in
each Directorate in FY 69.
(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 the 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 make clear that we intend to proceed
with our Records Management Research and Records Program and we will
be be calling upon you for greater support and tighter implementation of
If you have any suggestions we'd appreciate hearing them.