ARCHIVES, HISTORY, AND RECORDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-00433A000100010022-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 19, 2002
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: March 8, 1972
• Content Type: MF

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Executive Director-Comptroller
SUBJECT Archives, History, and Records
REFERENCE Proposed Memorandum from Addressee
to Four Deputy Directors
1. As requested I have examined with care your
proposed memorandum on the above subject, which I
received on 6 March. Since it is my understanding
that the subject is on the agenda for the Deputies'
meeting of 8 March, it is not possible to submit
comments in as complete a manner as I would like.
I am therefore commenting topically on your memorandum
in a somewhat informal and compressed manner, by
identifying portions with which I concur and those
concerning which I have doubts or alternate suggestions.
2. I of course agree that there is a basic
relationship between history and archives and records',
which justifies their being considered together in
the Agency planning. There are also some differences,
as I shall indicate below.
3. I concur fully that any program developed in
this area must take into account the current pressures
on Agency resources.
4. Even if resources were readily available,
I would have reservations about writing history
merely to meet contingency requirements. it is
necessary to preserve records to meet contingencies.
Finished histories, in my judgment, should be less
concerned with contingencies than with providing
conclusions that are of use to management.
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5. Unquestionably all three programs require
strict compartmentation and application of the principle
of need to know. ,
6. There is., as suggested, a relationship between
compartmentation and decentralization. I am happy that
the memorandum is stated in terms of much rather than
complete decentralization. If we are, because of resource
constraints, and for other reasons, to entrust the
preservation of records and the writing of history to
non-professionals, then these persons need effective
professional guidance and direction, which by necessity
includes a measure of centralization. Our experience
has shown, however, that a small Historical Staff can
guide and direct a considerable number of writers. The
same can be said for records management and archival
programs.
7. Records are generated at, an enormous rate in
the Agency and since our primary concern is with
intelligence, the value of these records declines
rapidly. Some can be disposed of quickly but others
must be retained for varying lengths of time, during
which it is important that they be kept securely but
in a manner which facilitates reasonably rapid retrieval.
Experience with the historical program indicates that
while a high volume; of records has on the whole been
preserved, practices have differed widely between
components; some have kept too few records; others
have not kept those' needed for historical writing.
Components therefore need more guidance concerning
which records to pjreserve and in the making of schedules
for the retention and destruction of records. The
addition of a professional archivist and a professional
historian to the present Records Management Board should
strengthen the Board and facilitate its improvement of
selection and retention procedures, as should the pro-
vision for the Board to report directly to the Executive
Director.
8. Provision for an Agency Archivist will
hopefully bring professional support to the planning
and implementation of the proposed Archives program,
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but in my jud.cImen1 Llie A.rch:i.vi.:;L may not be able: Lo
accomplish much if he is Lo be made dependent For
staff on the support of the present Records Manaclcement
Officers responsible primarily to the Directorate.:;.
The Agency Archivist should be appointed as soon as
possible, from outside the Agency. Ile should be a
professional archivist, and have served in the National
Archives or a comparable archive. The Archivist should
participate in the selection of the Directorate Archivists,
who should be clearly part of his team, subordinate to
him, and if necessary, removable by him.
9. In view of the current resource stringency,
one of the major features of the memorandum is of
course the provision to substitute Annual Reports for
office histories, in order to permit the operation of
the Historical Program with fewer people, and to focus
instead on analytical histories of significant Agency
activities. I of course subscribe fully to the idea
of producing a better program with a smaller effort,
but I believe that this proposal needs further con-
sideration before /recommending it to the Deputy Directors
as a substitute for component histories. It is now
and has been for a number of years standard practice
for each component of the Agency responding to the
annual Program Call, to submit a report on the progress
it has made in fulfilling its stated objectives. These
reports are generally summary in nature and emphasize
production statistics where applicable. They are pro
forma statements which. follow the activity guidelines
employed in the forward looking parts of the planning
process. Since these papers are coupled to the PPB
budget exercise they are not objective historical
accounts but presentations intended to defend and sustain
the activity of the reporting component. Once pre-
pared, these documents become a part of the historical
record and should be incorporated into that record.
For this reason it is in a sense appropriate that this
proposal be discussed in the memorandum between the
sections on Records Management and Archives, but apart
,from the section on History'. improvement of these
papers with guidance from PPB should make them more
useful to PPB in preparing the overall Agency budget
proposal. As a historian I' regard these annual reports
as useful historical source material and I would like
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to work with PPB' in enhancing their quality. I do
not regard such annual compilations as substitutes
for component histories, any more than I would equate
the annual submission of the President to Congress on
the state of the Union with a history of the United
States for that period, nor the report of a corporation
president to its stockholders as a history of the company.
Historians employ annual reports as sources in writing
history, but historians do not write their own histories
as a series of annual increments. For these reasons,
while I would like to cooperate with PPB in improving
the utility of the present system of annual reports,
,I believe it may also be advisable to employ other
means to focus the energy of the historical effort
on analyses of Agency activities and programs, as
,advocated in the penultimate paragraph of the memorandum.
10. I am of course happy that your memorandum
directs that the emphasis of the ongoing Historical
Program be placed on key operations and activities,
cutting across individual components where appropriate.
Too much attention was given to structural history
before I became Chief of the Historical Staff. I have
been trying to deemphasize that kind of history in
favor of a functional and topical approach. Eventually,
in my judgment, there will again be a need to write
component histories, even if the quality of the annual
reports is enhanced. Who will want to read ten annual
reports to brief himself on the history of a component?
When this need is again felt, I would satisfy it by
means of component histories which emphasize activities,
as do a number of the nominally titled office histories
in the DDI. An office or station history should not
be written as chronicle or chronological history. Every
history should include the discussion of the ambience
or setting; it should focus on development and trace
changes over time; account for the changes that take
place; and analyze and describe the significance of
what has occurred.
11. As the Agency moves into a program which focuses
on key activities, it is of course important to maintain
security and compartmentation at high levels, both in
the production of histories and in their control after
they are completed. Both of these matters receive very
careful attention from the Historical Staff. It will
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be essential, in order to achieve the level of quality
which the Agency needs, that all histories undertaken
in the Agency be included in its formal Historical Program,
receive guidance from the Historical Officer of the ,
Directorate, and from the Chief and. Deputy Chief of the
Historical Staff, and when completed, be subject to
the approval both of the producing component and the
Chief of the Historical Staff.
12. In summary there are a number of proposals
in the above memorandum which I feel require further
staffing. Would it be possible to defer presentation
of the memorandum at the Deputies' meeting until there
is opportunity for additional consideration?
25X1
owar rmann
Chief,,CIA Historical Staff
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