CONTROL OF THE AGENCY S RECORDS STORAGE GROWTH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74B00681R000100090005-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 27, 2002
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: June 10, 1971
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release 2002/10/17 : CIA-RDP74B00681 R000100090005-8
JUN 1971
iii.. ._-,DUM FOR: Executive Director-Comptroller
Tt .OUGH : Deputy Director for Support
SUBJECT : Control of the Agency's Records
Storage Growth
1. Paragraph 11 of this memorandum contains a recommenda-
tion for your approval.
2~ For many months, the Records Management Board and the
Agency's Records Management Staff have devoted a major portion
of their efforts to the problem of containing a constantly
increasing Agency reqords storage r within a
limited fixed area al Over the
past two years, inte pone
reaching full and final capacity at the Center. These measures
included the following four principal approaches:
a. A concerted effort was initiated in 1968 to
achieve R _ ti - x in Directorate hold-
ings in For two and a half
years a r " cted by each Director-
ate and resulted in a net Agency reduction of about
0,000 cu. ft. of records. This net reduction is a
temporary reversal of the previous growth rate which
averaged about 6,500 cu. ft. per year during the
-preceding ten-year period.
b. Resources were made available and action
initiated last year to install modern records storage
equipment and to renovate warehouse storage space at
in order to make available
approximately Cu, J.U. of additional capacity.
I I of storage space will be
______.__z ..__-__ ._-_s . _-__ __s completed sometime late
in 1971.
Concurrently, a variety of programs were
initiated to explore record miniaturization techniques
and applications in order to reduce the volume of
records requiring storage space and to improve retrieval
and utilization of filed data.
~~ Ezclnr:,d f: ~a aL
Y C,
Approved For Release 2002/10/17 : CIA-RDP74BOO681 8000/000 0tTO5' 8
25X1
 Approved For Release 2002/10/17 : CIA-RDP74B00681 R000100090005-8
d. E~:.ch Directorate continued, with varying degrees
success, to examine records creation and retention
,-)licies in order to try to reduce the growth burden
on the records storage facilities of the Agency.
3. Two of the foregoing approaches -- the "purge" and the
acquisition of space and equipment -- are, in terms of accrued
benefits, "one-shot" affairs. Although they have provided a
breathing spell -- perhaps six or seven years -- they will not
result in any long-term or permanent solution to the Agency's
records storage growth problems. Although they should continue as
an element in each Directorate's records management program, addi-
tional purges in the foreseeable future will provide substantially
fewer benefits. The allocation of significant resources for further
Dhysical expansion seems very unlikely. No permanent solution is
possyble unless net growth rates are reduced ultimately to zero.
The other two approaches to the problem -- miniaturization and
policy changes for records creation and retention -- are slow-
moving and complex efforts which impact on each Directorate's
record problems in varying degrees. There is reason to believe
that the success of these approaches relates directly to each
Directorate's motivation to attack the problem. However, it is
within these two areas -- miniaturization and more rigorous control
over records creation, retention, and destruction -- that the long-
ter, resolution of the Agency's records storage problems lies.
4, All Directorates are full aware of the stringent records
storage space situationi Recently, each performed 25X1
well in "purging" its storage records of documents no longer having
retention value. Each is exploring microphotography as a space-
saving and retrieval device. Offices are reviewing the level of
their "supplemental distribution" document stocks.
~. The conclusion reached as a result of these efforts is
that accomplishments depend to a. large extent on the degree of
priority and importance which the line command in each Directorate
-Maces on the records storage and control problem. Even so, in
the absence of specific goals, achievement is sporadic and
unpredictable. Given the Agency's heterogeneous activities,
organizations, and approaches to management problems, any attempt
to institutionalize uniformity or centralization among Directorates'
microfilming systems, policies, and procedures, is of doubtful
utility, and in the long run, is probably counterproductive and may
be impossible to define. In other words, each Directorate must do
its own job and run its own program. A central Agency staff component
can only advise -- it can accomplish little.
Approved For Release 2002/10/17 CIA-RDP74B00681 R000100090005-8
 Approved For Release 2002/10/17 CIA-RDP74B00681 R000100090005-8
6, The fact remains that the Agency has a fixed and limited
records storage capacity to accommodate what will be a continually
increasing records storage load. If nothing is done, the CTA
Records Center will reach maximum capacity in six or seven years.
Since the Directorates have control of their own records creation
and retention policies and programs, they must also assume the
responsibility for controlling the size of the storage burden imposed
on the Agency storage facility as a result of their records creation
and control activities, This means that each Directorate must be
limited to a gradually decreasing annual net growth in records stored
at the Records Center and eventually the annual volume accessions
must equal annual destruction -volume. This limitation must be focused
on a date in the future when the cubic footage of new records stored
each year will equal that of old records removed. Concurrently, an
Agency policy prohibiting the procurement of additional storage
facilities -- safes and files -- at Headquarters and other Agency
locations, except perhaps when a new organization is created,will
prevent merely transferring the problemi o other Agency 25X1
locations.
7. The allocation of an annual net records storage increase to
each Directorate will control the flow of records to the Records
Center, but at the same time. the solution. to each Directorate's
records storage problem is clearly the responsibility of the
individual Directorate. Each Directorate will determine for itself
whether microfilming, reductions in records creation and retention,
the storing of microfilmed computer-produced reports in lieu of hard
copy, or any other approach is cost-effective, This will contribute
materially to its ability to live within the allocated annual storage
rate. The Directorates will have to assume the responsibility for
developing and implementing records reduction actions within their
own areas of management responsibility. The retirement of records to
the Records Center will continue to be accomplished through the
existing Records Control Schedules processes to ensure that legal
retention requirements are observed.
8. The following data is presented to clarify this approach:
a. Tot I cords storage capacity
t the end of 1971
b. Less Agency archives storage
at present
c. Capacity for general purpose
storage
25X1
Approved For Release 2002/10/17 : CIA-RDP74B00681 R000100090005-8
 Approved For Release 2002/10/17 : CIA-RDP74B00681 R000100090005-8
d. Reserved for archives growth
e. Reserved for contingencies
f. Capacity available for
Directorates (and DCI area)
g. Current Directorates and
DCI storage levels (as of
1 April 1971)
h. Net capacity available for
future growth
A net growth capacity of 42,000 cu. ft. means that, in order to avoid
further investment in additional storage space, each of the four
Directorates must be limited to a growth of 10,000 cu, ft. (and DCI
area 2,000 cu. ft.) over whatever period of time is deemed advisable.
When this +2,000 additional cu. ft. has been occupied, annual levels
of the introduction of records into storage must equal annual records
destruction levels. It would appear that a twenty-year program of
gradually decreasing annual records storage authorizations is necessary
to provide Directorates with a time-frame within which to explore.,
establish, and implement the means to achieve equilibrium between
records creation and records destruction.
9. The following system imposing a reduction each year in the
annual net increase in space allocated for records storage by
each Directorate will serve this purpose. Each Directorate will be
required to limit net increases in its annual records storage levels
a~s follows:
1st yr.
FY 1971
1,000 Cu.
ft.
2nd yr.
FY 1972
-950 cu.
ft.
3rd yr.
FY 1973
900 cu.
ft.
etc. (annually reduced by 50 cu. ft. each year)
19th yr.
(FY 1989)
100 cu, ft.
20th yr.
(FY 190,0)
50 cu. ft.
Each year thereafter -- no net increase is authorized.
Of course, if new Directorates are created, or if unknown requirements
appear which cannot be met through the contingency space available,
these annual net increase allocations can be further reduced or
reallocated at any time as circumstances warrant.
25X1
25X1
Approved For Release 2002/10/17 : CIA-RDP74B00681 R000100090005-8
 Approved For Release -2Od 110/17''CIA`-FZDP74B00681 R000100090005-8
10. Prior to the purge campaign, the storage burden on the
Records Center increased on the average of about 6,500 Cu. ft. per
year. Application of the proposed approach should not impose an
unacceptable burden on any Directorate. If the program is success-
ful by the tenth year, the annual net increase will have been cut
in half and by the 20th year will have ended.
11. It is recommended that the implementation of the approach
set forth in this memorandum be approved and that you sign the
attached memorandum addressed to the Deputy Directors informing
them of this new policy and establishing Directorate annual net
increase allocations. The memorandum to the Deputy Director for
Support comments on the additional responsibilities of the Support
Directorate in connection with the implementation of this policy.
25X1
'Date
Date
Approved For Release 2002/10/17 : CIA-RDP74B00681 R000100090005-8
 Concur with recommendation contained in Paragraph 11:
25X1
Vjje-
", ' Approved For Relea&e', Q 1 O 1I CIA?RDP74B006818000100090005-8
Date
The recommendation made in Paragraph 11 is approved:
2X1
L. K. White
/ 7/
Executive Director-Comptroller
-6-
jDat
Approved For Release 2002/10/17 : CIA-RDP74B00681 R000100090005-8