PFIAB KNOX PANEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R000500010085-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2002
• Sequence Number: 85
• Publication Date: August 25, 1966
• Content Type: MF

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215 August 1966
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT PFIAB Knox Panel
1. This is for your information, and relates to your
luncheon engagement Friday, 28 August, with William T. Knox,
Chairman, Guidance & Evaluation Panel, President's Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board.
2. The Knox Panel was organized last fall pursuant
Presidential direction given a year ago. Its mission is:
a. To provide guidance to the intelligence
community in the forwarding of methods
and facilities for information handling
and access; and,
b. To evaluate in technical terms the true
meaning of the enormous and somewhat
heterogeneous growth of the intelligence
community's information pool.
Mr. Knox is a scientist on leave from Esso Research.
He has done considerable work in the field of S&T information
handling. As a member of Dr. IHornig's staff, he has also
served as Chairman, Committee on Scientific and Technical
information. He presumably will return to Esso or to other
employment in November, when he hopes to have completed the
report on intelligence.
4. Mr. Knox's associates on the Panel are a distinguished
group in various academic pursuits. They have organized
themselves into various Sub-panels to cover special aspects
of intelligence community activity (see TAB A for Panel
ri embership and Sub-panel. assignments).
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:5. Over the last eight months the Panel as a whole, its
Sub-panels, or individual Panel members, have been extensively
briefed by and have visited widely in the intelligence
community. Meetings of the Panel were scheduled for about
three days each month.
#i. The entire effort may be characterized as an attempt
by a group of well-motivated, intellectually impressive,
broadly-experienced, very busy individuals to come to grips
by occasional encounters with the toughest problem which the
community has. The glue keeping the show going has been
Mr. Knox, part-time, and Mr. Thomas McF?e, Executive Secretary,
also part-time, but primarily on this problem.
7. We put forward our beat people when called upon.
We have invariably responded promptly and fully.
8. For all our contacts with these gentlemen, however,
we know remarkably little what they are likely to come up
with as a final report. Time and again, after a meeting, our
people would call me and ask what these people really were
after.
9. Such clues as we have would, I believe, support
general observations: these
Members of the Panel have been somewhat
frustrated in trying to decide what they
could do to be helpful, and have been of
several minds about what is most critical.
The Panel has been impressed by the caliber
of people already at work on our information
handling problem, and is likely to applaud
much of the work underway (e.g., CHIVE,
WALNUT, NPIC's program, NIT and NIS production
arrangements).
The Panel will probably not feel it can
make specific recommendations as to techniques,
or even, as it was called upon to do, to
evaluate in technical terms the true meaning
of the growth of information.
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The Panel has undoubtedly concluded that
management effort behind attempts to deal
with information problems is insufficient,
and that organizational arrangements for
running the community effort in this field
are unsatisfactory.
10. In short, the thrust of the report is likely to be
away from the technical and toward the managerial aspects of
how well or badly USIB and its subcommittee structure
(principally the Committee on Documentation) come to grips
with information handling problems. The Panel was much
impressed by the SCIPS Report (produced by CODIB in 1964:
USIB-D-39.7/5). It has been disappointed by (a) USIB's
response thereto, and (b) CODIB's progress in forging informa-
tion processing components of the community into a rational,
well-integrated system.
11. In my view, this is based upon the false premise
that the intelligence community is like a well-integrated
corporation whose chairman of the board, the DCI, is also
major stockholder. In fact, in the information processing
field at least, we more closely resemble the trade association.
12. The one bit of hard evidence we have on these points
is a preliminary draft of the report of the Sub-panel on
Biographies. Mr. Knox maintains this was mistakenly released
to us. Dr. Oettinger, who heads this Sub-panel, did send it
over and in fact wrote me letter (which we were later told to
disregard) requesting comment. The tenor of this draft is
characterized by the introductory paragraph of the major
findings:
The major finding of this subpanel is that the
main thing preventing an immediate intelligent
community-wide attack on information problems
in the biographies area is a combination of
inability and unwillingness of the intelligence
community, as presently structured and operated,
to pay more than lip service to the idea of
concerted effort. It is the so-called "realities"
of organizational politics, not any basic technical
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obstacles, that spawn apparent impossibilities
at every step of the way. No serious technical
obstacle is visible on the way toward automation
in the biographies area. We do not doubt that
technical problems will appear further on, but
the way is clear enough to set out on the journey
at once.
13. This tone has also been reflected orally from time
to time. For example, recently had a discussion
with Mr. McFee on the status of the work of the Current
Intelligence Sub-panel. McFee implied that its report would
downplay the applicability of technology to current intelli-
gence production, but would emphasize duplication and the
chaotic aspects of the administrative structure, saying that
"There must be a better way for the community to organize
itself."
14. Having told you the worst, let me say that Mr. Knox
will be very cautious about putting anything in the final
report that in likely to reflect adversely on the Panel or
be embarrassing to you. He and the others want to help. The
result in any event will be to stimulate increased management
awareness of the need for continuing policy guidance, and to
stress the need for more interplay between users and operators
of information systems. If you can tell him during lunch what
you would find helpful, he will if at all possible respond.
25X1
Director of Intelligence
Attachment: a/s
cc: D/DCI/NIPS
DPI
upport
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