EXDIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01495R001200140013-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 3, 2005
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: November 20, 1974
• Content Type: MF

Era a Lii]o as re - Internai use " iv qz
Approved For Release 2006/02/01 : CIA-RDP80BO1495RQW 2 01 01 3
20 NOV 11914
,M FOF s Deputy Director for Intelligence
SUBJECT EXDIS
1. This memorandum outlines current Agency thinking
about receipt, control., procssing and use of State
Department "Exclusive nistributiof " (EXDIS) information. I`-,
also describes the reasons for existing EXDIS procedures and
recommends procedural chance, ? , in keeping with current State
Department thinking about its: use and transmittal.
Origins of Current Pol
as a distribution control originated in 1963.
Affairs manual Circular v to. 159, December 20, 19(1
;end d c bee ) as a "'new designation of
ONLY messages, which could not be distributed later.,
ally and for which full records of all officers reading the
messages were to be maintain . This description of 'XDIS
no doubt accounts for the traditional Cable Secretariat prat--
tice of transmitting all FXDIS cables to CIA Operating
Officials in !YES ONLY envelopes.
3. The requirement for full records of all persons
reading LXDIS cables or sirgraws was discontinued in May 1967
after notification from Stat * Department that such records
were no longer required. A 13 May 1967 CRS morand unl,
(Attachment B), cites State's position and O'DDI' a concur--
rena e in abandoning signature records for EXDIS. The Cable
Secretary could locate no official correspondence from State
on the matter of signature records but he agrees that they
are not required.
4. Cable Secretariat continues to tranarit rxoIS
cables to CIA Operating Officials in EYES ONLY envelopes
although such control is neither specifically required by
the current State definition of MIS nor observed by State
Department when tXDYS information is transmitted. State
Department's `o rsi x- Affairs Hanual (Vol. 5, section 959.2,
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SUBJECT w I XDIS
1972), Attachment C, cites < X XS distribution as i.stribu-
tion to officers with essential need-to-know ` . This de ini _.
tion would seen to officially rule out strictly i YrS ONLY
distribution although the E DI definition further states
that the E.XI IS "caption is used only for highly sernsiti.ve
traffic betweeia the. White h use, the Secretary, the Under
Secretary, and Chiefs of Missions".
Current Policy on SDI Cables
5. 'XDI5 cables are received by the CIA operations
ter and the Cable Secretariat. 'hers is some overlap in
Operations Center and Cable secretariat dissemination
.
Operations Center LXDIS procedure is outlined in ,ttachint
D. In its alerting function, the CIA Operations Center re-
views and disseminates EXDI cables to 1701 analysts with a
nod-to-know. A o: records of dissemination are kept for such
dissemination.
6. Except for CR5 and Oft, all OI offices transmit
XDIS cables laterally, in the DDX, to officers with the
need-to-know. They are not logged or hand-carried ftorm ana-
lyst to analyst and no destruction records are required or
kept.
7. OER exercises more Control over E IS cables than
the other 00I offices. The cables are logged when received,
hand-carried from branch to branch and log-gad to own
analysts. When EXDIS cables are destroyed, records of de--
struction are kept. -
8. The CR EXDIS cable processing procedure is cited
in Attachment E. CRS logs the.cables when they are received
and provides copies for int*rnsl CRS information, AEGIS
indexing and microform filing. When references to LXDI ;
cables appear on machine runs, copies are given to requesters
only with approval from the )/CRSS.
9. The CRS procedure was written in May 1373 when CRa
began to receive standard distribution of XDIS cables after
a long history of non-receipt. The extent of control out-
lined in the procedure was promised to ensure cable receipt
and to provide adequate controls for their use and service.
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10. DDO observes the EYES ONLY restrictions placed on
the F-X0IS cable routing envelopes by the Cable Secretariat.
Lateral distribution of EXBZS cables is de in the DDO but
it is not as extensive as in the DDI. EXMIS destruction
records are not kept in the DDO.
Current EpA
.Acy 11. CRS dissmiinaa.tes all EXDIS airgraane. All Agency
offices follow the same handling procedures for XDIS
airgrama and cables, At or time, CRS was required to ob-
tain permission fron the O/ r,i prior to release of EXDIS
airgrams to customers. Current CRS release authority is pro-
vided by the u,/CRS.
12. EXDI$ information is treated as BACEGjoD USE ONLY
(DUO) when it in used in other reports or publications The
SUO use restriction requires that permission ?ust be ob-
tained from the State Department before the information can
be published in any other form. All Agency offices adhere
to the established procedures for the use of L:XDIS informa-
tion.
Recommendations..
13. There are a variety of memoranda which describe
procedures associated with EXnis information since 1963
While they were written to delineate policy for handling
EXDIS, they also indicate patterns of receipt difficulty
for CRS. Current CRS policy exists to ensure comprehensive
indexing and retrieval service for our customers. Strict
control measures for EXDZS have been established and per-
formed to that end. It is apparent that C controls
lateral distribution of EXDIE cables to a greater degree
than other DDI offices. When XDXS originated as a distri-
bution ntrol, it was used less frequently by the State
Department and information placed in the kXDIS category was
generally more sensitive than much of the current EXDIS
material. State Department, for example, does not control
XS as strictly as it is being controlled in CRS. With
theee, considerations in mind, I recommend the following.
dures a.
proce-
forh1_-1)13 be di~ntloging inued on the basis that CIA
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SUBJECT= E ?IS
analysts receive lateral distribution of -.?Ts, and
read, process and use it accordingly
b. that CRS begin to extract E IS cables for
SAFE mail files which, cues to software constraints, are
currently available only to the four original S-,PE
pilot branches
c. that CRS begin to extract XDIS cahles for SAFE
text files (14 to 21 days of current data) which will
be available for retroelactive searching by all SAf_
users.
H. C. EISE BEISS
Director, central Reference Service
Attachments ;
As stated
duty...' 3 ec or ar Tritelliience
Distribution ;
Original -
return (originator)
~DOI
1 .. PSG
I C//DD
O/D/CpS
2 - DE Files
19 I.Ov 74)
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inTanal WS