DRAFT CODIB REPORT TO USIB RE THE COMMUNITY ON-LINE INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM (COINS) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01139A000100140001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: January 4, 2017
• Document Release Date: July 13, 2005
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 14, 1966
• Content Type: REPORT

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CODIB-D-113/'1 o 2
14 July 1966
U N I T E D S T A T E S I N T E L L I G E N C E B 0 A R D
COMMITTEE ON DOCUMENTATION
DraftCODIB Report toUSIB re the Community On-Line
Intelligence System COINS Implementation Plan
Attached is a, draft, prepared by the CODIB Support Staff, of
a CODIB report to USIB re the COINS Implementation Plan. The Chair-
man is anxious to get this item on a USIB agenda as soon as possible.
Unless some of the CODIB members desire CODIB discussion of this
draft, we shall not schedule a meeting to consider it. May we have
your approval/comments by CoB 28 July 1966.
Group I
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CODIB-D-113/4.2
14 July 1966
U N I T E D
S T A T E S I N T E L L I G E N C E B 0 A R D
COMMITTEE ON DOCUMENTATION
Conrrnuni On-Line Intelligence System ,COINS)
I 1ementation Plan
References:
a.
Mr. Clifford's Memorandum of 15 June 1965 for the
b.
c.
d.
e.
President
Mr. Bundy's Memorandum of 15 July 1965 for the DCI
DCI Memorandum of 2 October 1965 for the Special
Assistant to the President, National Security
Affairs, and the Chairman, President's Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board
Community On-Line Intelligence System (COINS)
Implementation Plan (CODIB-D-113/4,1, 25 May 1966,
attached)
CODIB Minutes M-64 (paras. 6-14), M-67 (para. 7),
M-68 (paras. 9-16)
A. Back ound
This report and the appended COINS Implementation Plan are forwarded
pursuant to DCI tasking and are responsive to those portions of refer-
ences (a), (b), and (c) regarding the expansion of the NSA Technical
Information Processing System (TIPS) concept into a Community-wide
experiment. The Implementation Plan has been prepared by the CODIB
Working Group on PFIAB Recommendation Two chaired by a representative
of NSA and participated in by representatives of CIA, DIA, State, and
NPIC. The objective of the Working Group was the implementation of
the following PFIAB recommendation:
That the Technical Information Processing System (TIPS)
project, now underway within the National Security Agency,
be expanded to include participation by other member agencies
of the intelligence community in an experimental operating
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system constituting a first step toward interagency (and
inte'building) information handling. Since results should
be sought from the experiment as promptly as feasible, the
participation of other agencies should be achieved by
September of 1965; the capability for extensive handling of
hould be available in the
community-wide system by tife- summer of 1966; and by the
summer of 1967 it should be possible to exchange outputs
from various mechanized sources in the fashion pioneered by
the TIPS project.
B. Summary of Working Group Findings
1. General Concept
The Working Group has operated on the concept that COINS,
while not designed to solve all of the interagency problems of infor-
mation retrieval and information exchange, will give each participa-
ting agency an initial capability to remotely interrogate its own
file(s) as well as selected files of other participating agencies.
This concept calls for each participating agency to maintain its COINS
files in its own information retrieval computer system which is con-
nected by secure data links to the computer systems of other parti-
cipants in the COINS network. COINS will operate on formatted files,
as opposed to narrative text files, and may include the formatted
indices to narrative text files, biographic dossiers, finished intel-
ligence files, micro-film or video-film images, and documents. Each
agency will establish and maintain those files for which it is respon-
sible or for which it is best suited. The COINS data link will be
augmented by the planned secure high-speed facsimile system in the
Washington area whenever the response to a COINS interrogation leads
to a. document, biographic dossier, or other non-formatted file.
2. Ultimate Objectives
COINS is aimed at reducing the Community's duplication of
effort in establishing and maintaining EDP programs and formatted
files; improving the Community's capability for timely exploitation
and utilization of available intelligence; providing a high degree of
flexibility in managing, selecting, collating, and distributing
intelligence information; improving the utilization, effectiveness and
efficiency of EDP equipment, manpower and time; and establishing a
technological and security base for the development of more sophisti-
cated and dynamic follow-on intelligence information handling networks.
3. Concept Implementation Phasing
a. COINS I (December 1966-June 19671
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Department having a remote (interrogation only) station tied into the
DIA computer system, This phase will be oriented to gaining technical
experience and improving community information interchange as prere-
quisites to the development of more sophisticated systems, COINS I
computer complexes, remote stations and communications links will be
protected to the TOP SECRET SI level with each agency responsible for
its own internal security with respect to system hardware and software.
b. COINS II (FY-68)
The follow-on to COINS I will depend largely upon each
agency's experience and assessment of the initial effort; however, it
is estimated that COINS II will require, as a basic minimum, a self-
scheduling remote access computer system at each agency using a common
interrogation and communication language and linked through a CIA
installed and staffed communications store-and-forward switch.
4. COINS .I Implementation
a. Files
Following are the files which each agency has decided
to make available initially for the COINS I experiment:
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None. State Department will parti-
cipate as a consumer-in COINS I and,
through a remote station tied into
the DIA computer system, will have an
interrogation capability only.
Upon approval of the Implementation Plan, immediate steps will be taken
to establish standard data elements for the COINS I files, Whenever
standardization cannot be achieved, translation tables will be con-
structed to translate between standard and non-standard data elements.
Each agency will be responsible for organizing, formatting and main-
taining its own files and for keeping other participating agencies
advised of changes.
b. Communications
c. Timing
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da Responsibilities and Costs
(1) Each agency will be expected to provide the funds
and manpower necessary to acquire the hardware or produce the software
required to implement COINS I by 1 December 1966, The table below
shows the estimated costs of implementing COINS I over and above those
current or planned for each agency's computer system,
COINS I IMPLEMENTATION COST ESTIMATES
(2) The communications and cryptographic equipment for
each terminal will cost Each agency is expected
to provide its own term na equipment which, it appears, can be pro-
vided from existing resources without the need for initiating any
procurement action. DIA will fund the cost, per
month, of renting the data link communications circuits. State will
pay the cost of renting the 100 word per minute teletype line from DIA
to State Department, as well as the cost of procuring and installing
their remote station.
5. COINS I Evaluation
a? A technical evaluation of COINS I will be submitted
approximately six to nine montis after system implementation. This
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date may slip if the initial files selected do not provide an adequate
base for operational, evaluation, and new files have to be added in
order to establish such a base.
b. The technical evaluation program will be an integral
part of COINS I from the beginning of system operation and will be
continuously supervised by the COINS Working Group under CODIB. Much
of the quantitative data required for the evaluation program will be
produced automatically by the computers within the COINS I network.
System logs, maintained automatically by each agency's computer, will
provide data on the load and activity within the agency. The computer
handling the communications switch will automatically generate a
chronological list of all activity within the network so that charac-
teristics such as total number of messages sent per day, number of
messages per agency, peak loads, and message queue lengths can be derived.
a. Simulation techniques will be used whenever possible to
assist the evaluation program and to aid in solving some of the early
design and test problems of COINS I before significant operational data?
have been accumulated.
C. CODIB Comment
1. The COINS Implementation Plan is technically sound, - iea,l
feasible, and realistically responsive to the PFIAB recommendation.
plan makes maximum use.of existing capabilities, thus, minimizing they
time and cost required for new developments needed to initiate the
Intelligence Community's first practical experiment in exploiting the.
powers of the digital computer and high speed communications to Solve;
interagency information handling problems.
2. Although there are technical problems to be solved, the ulti
mate success of COINS''I is dependent upon the solution of non-technical:
problems such as data element and data representation standardization,.'
information utility, and analyst confidence in the system which supports
him. The Implementation Plan recognizes the importance of such non-
technical problems and establishes a framework for-the solution.
a. In the area of standardized data elements and represen-
tations, COINS will use whatever standards exist or may be adopted by
USIB. COINS will'depend upon the CODIB Subcommittee on Standardization
(now being established) for assistance in the development of new stand
ards. (The CODIB Subcommittee on Standardization will perform the
work outlined in Chapter-I,'paragraph 10, Recommendations a and b, of
the Implementation Plan.) Wherever standards gaps exist which cannot
be solved on a Community basis in time to avoid glowing COINS I progress,
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the participating agencies will adopt special standards which are
limited to COINS and which are not binding on the other files of the
individual agencies. Translation tables will be used only for those
areas where standardization cannot be achieved.
b. Information utility and analyst confidence in the system
are being fostered through care in the selection of operational files
and attention to the simplification of procedures for using the system.
(1) Some CODIB members, notably DIA and State, although
not questioning the technical feasibility of COINS, have expressed
doubts that-the files initially selected for COINS I will be really
valuable to analysts. Those who support this position fear that
poorly selected files will discourage use of the system and may doom
the COINS I experiment to failure. The opposite view is that initial
file selection is not critical because COINS I is confronted by tech-
nical problems which must be solved in order to establish an initial
operating capability and give the analyst some experience in using this
kind of system. Those who support this view believe that the files
initially nominated are primarily for experimental use in solving
system technical problems, and that more pertinent and valuable files
can be added whenever an agency desires to do so. The number and types
of new files to be added to COINS I will depend heavily upon analyst
confidence in the system which, in turn, will be dependent upon success
in solving technical problems. All CODIB members are agreed that
strong, continuous management involvement by each agency will be re-
quired to keep COINS files dynamic and useful.
(2) Care has been exercised in keeping the analyst
a central figure in system design; however, it is unrealistic to
suppose that all analyst needs have been anticipated and provided for
in the initial design. Consequently, analyst confidence in and
effective use of COINS will remain the primary goals of the experiment.
Analyst confidence in the system must be actively encouraged through
continuous adjustment of the system to simplify its use and increase
its responsiveness to analyst needs.
3. It should be noted that actual implementation steps such as
file preparation, programming, and procurement and installation of
equipment will not be undertaken until the Implementation Plan has
received USIB approval. The implementation steps listed require a
five to six month lead time. While awaiting final approval of the
Implementation Plan and to insure meeting the 1 December 1966 target
date, the Working Group will continue necessary detailed planning in
the areas of communication engineering specifications, message format
and exchange procedures, file specifications and standards, and
simulation and evaluation procedures.
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D. Recommendations
It is recommended that USIB:
1. Approve the COINS Implementation Plan.
2. Endorse the COINS experiment as a high priority
Community effort.
3. Request the participating agencies to provide the
required resources to implement the plan.
Request the participating agencies to establish
procedures for selection of files and fnr updating
the data contained therein so as to keep the
system dynamic and responsive to user needs.
5. Require quarterly progress reports.
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