PROPOSED REVISION OF 'PROCEDURES FOR ALERT MEMORANDA'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M01133A000800030009-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2004
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: October 6, 1975
• Content Type: MF

SECRET.
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80MO1133A000800030009-9
6 O CT 1975
MEMORANDUM FOR:
USIB Secretariat
SUBJECT:
Proposed Revision of "Procedures for
Alert Memoranda"
REFERENCE:
a.
b.
USIB-D-28.5/8, 9 January 1975
USIB-D-28.5/9, 5 September 1975
Attached is a draft of proposed revisions to the "Procedures
for Alert Memoranda." The additions and changes--which are underlined---
are based on the USIB-approved study entitled "A Report on Intelligence
Alert Memoranda." I request you forward the draft of the revised procedures
and seek telephonic concurrence of USIB principals at an early date.
25X1
Chief, Product Review Division
Intelligence Community Staff
Procedures for Alert Memoranda
SEC RET
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25X1
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Distribution:
Orig - Addressee (w/att.)
1 - C/PRD (& PRD Chrono) (w/att.)
-i'- IC Registry (w/att.)
1 - RJA Chrono (w/att.)
1 - AB Subject (w/att.)
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 Approved For Release 2004/08SEM P80M01133A000800030009-9
3 October 1975
PROCEDURES FOR ALERT MEMORANDA
(This is a proposed revision of USIB-D-28.5/8,
dated 9 January 1975. The underscored are
additions and changes based on the USIB-approved
.study entitled "A Report on Intelligence Alert
Memoranda.")
1. The Alert Memorandum (AM) is ar.interagency
publication-issued by the DCI on behalf of.the Community.
It provides explicit warning of possible developments
abroad of major concern to the US.. The'AM is addressed
to the members of WSAG and disseminated, inter alia, to
all USIB Principals. The appropriate embassies and field
.elements should also receive, via electrical transmission,
the finished alert memoranda.
2. An AM may be initiated by, the DCI or may be
proposed by a USIB Principal, by a National Intelligence
Officer (NIO), or by (or through) any other senior office
of the intelligence or foreign affairs communities. A
proposal for an AM will be addressed to the DCI or the
appropriate NIO. But the decision to issue an AM will in
all instances rest with the DCI.
3. Responsibility for the preparation and coordination
of an AM will normally rest with the appropriate NIO. At
the earliest possible time, the NIO should inform the
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Washington area intelligence operations centers that a
decision has been made to produce an Alert Memorandum.
.When time permits, an indication of the planned time of
issuance, the extent of coordination being sought, and
the source of information that led to its i
should also be provided. The NIO may'then call on any
element of the Intelligence Community for support and
will coordinate with appropriate USIB agencies, employing
rapid conferencing techniques as necessary. Dissenting
views, if any, will be included. When possible, ap-
propriate US embassies and field elements should be notified
that an Alert Memorandum is in progress, and they should
also be queried for their comments and suggestions on the
issue or event. But when time is of the essence, the DCI
may authorize the NIO to limit or forgo coordination. All
AMs will in any event indicate the degree of coordination.
4. Since the primary purpose of an AM is to warn, it
will present. the information required to make the warning
intelligible and will use a distinctive cover sheet to
identify it. It will not replace existing intelligence
publications. In some circumstances it may consist simply
of a covering memorandum--with-the AM cover sheet--attached
to an existing intelligence document, saying in essence
that the policy maker should focus on the situation reported
in the basic document. Usually, however, an AM will be a
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discrete paper which provides.the basic rationale for
the issuance of a warning.
S. An AM will also indicate what special actions
are. being'taken by the Community to ensure effective
coverage of the situation, e.g., the. initiation of special
collection efforts, the establishment of crisis task
forces, etc. The drafts of the AM. should seek to be as
clear as possible on the special collection .and- analytic_i]
actions being initiated.
6. A 'supplementary AM on a crisis should be.produce
whenever, in-the view of the DCI and-the N16responsible
5or.the AM, the-crisis has assumed a substantially new or
heightened dimension. An AM should also be issued when a
.crisis has abated or terminated, unless the fact is ap-
parent to all. Intelligence efforts that were especially
tasked because of the alert should also be modified or
-canceled as appropriate.
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Fr.RT