TELEVISION AND THE AGENCY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81-00078R000200030004-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 25, 2002
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: July 9, 1973
• Content Type: MF

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Attached is a draft memo to the DDM&S concerning
television in the Agency. Included in the package are draft
minutes of the ad hoc meeting held on 2 July to discuss the
subject.
We would welcome your comments and suggestions for
revisions and would like to hear from you in order to decide
whether or not to have another meeting before sending the
package on to the DDM&S.
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know of your reactions.
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9 July 1973
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MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Management and Services
SUBJECT Television and the Agency
1. This does not pretend to be a paper that is formal, official,
fully staffed or coordinated in detail. It responds to recent memos
from OTR and MAG concerning television (TABS B and C).
2. Those papers talked of the need for centralized Agency
consideration of certain aspects of TV and the MAG paper, noted by Mr.
Colby, was sent to the DDM&S for comments.
3. As a result, an ad hoc group got together on 2 Jul to exchange
views and ta. The group included representatives from II CRS, NPIC,
OTS, OTR, and COMMO. No attempt has been made to obtain full agreement
to all that is said in this paper. The paper simply is intended as a
think-piece designed to show that the role of video in the Agency is a
potentially rich one and could have impact far greater than generally
suspected now. (For details concerning current video activities in the
Agency, minutes, of the 2 July meeting of the ad hoc group are attached
at TAB A.)
4. Though the emphasis in. the MAG paper was on the need for a
centralized focal-point in the Agency to deal with a burgeoning and
unorchestrated investment in video equipment in various parts of the
Agency, one is struck by the dimensions of the video topic that go far
beyond this legitimate but narrow concern.
5. Video can be of importance to collection.
One can
foresee a time when DDO reporting from abroad may lean heavily on real-
time video and audio transmissions to headquarters along lines similar
to those of current American news networks.
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6. Such collection will doubtless be of importance to future
intelligence production.. Future production is sure to involve more
than mere printed text. Multi-media presentations, or at least the
options for them, should be part of the production inventory. The
material collected will permit of this; prime consumers of the future
are likely to be more at home with a product in visible, audible, not
necessarily legible, forms.
7. The collection and production of video materials will require
sophisticated storage and retrieval systems to permit orderly filing and 11 quick recall for analytical research and production. Present systems for
this purpose are quite clearly inadequate for the future. Current
arrangements for analytical review of available video data require dis-
ruption of the analytical processes (one must go to a centralized view-
ing area in CRS to see what is available) and this in time must change.
The video format, in the future, is best considered as just one more
form of source material to be made directly available to analytic work
areas.
8. Television is on its way to becoming a major vehicle for training
.ur,oses. Agency-produced or externally-prepared films
can
be made
available to individuals or groups in Agency components
here
or abroad.
The preparation and extension of such training films can
be
of very high
value; it is a special art-form requiring special skills
and
expertise.
9. Video is in use. by Security and the DDO for surveillance purposes.
Video would appear to be.a natural for such purposes and its use in this
regard seems likely to grow (though the a.d. hoc group did not delve into
this aspect in detail).
10. Television is apt to play an increasingly important role in
management and in communications between working levels. Video taping
of policy guidance and direction from top levels can complement printed
notices or relaying (with inevitable distortion) from one level to
another. Similarly, guidance and word to field units can be effectively
transmitted by video (either in real time by broadcast or via pouch by
tape).
11. There are, of course, major practical problems standing in the
way of this description of what our future might be with regard to video:
- There is no Agency policy guidance or statement of
objectives concerning television and its future in
the Agency.
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- Major dollar resource investment will be required, though
no one right now has a clue on what the order of magnitude
would be.
- Personnel skills are not now with us to accomplish such
tasks. The absence of skills is particularly real in the
intelligence production area but the absence is apparent
in other areas as well. The ad hoc group was impressed
by the "ad-hockery" of most personnel assignments in the
video field. There has been little specialized training
or recruitment of special qualifications.
We need better planning and coordination of proposals for
investment in equipment (as the MAG paper points out).
One particular issue in need of resolution is how to plan
for centralized laboratories and facilities for the
production of video films and tapes. Should there be one
centralized facility or a series of them in support of
special tasks?
- There is the problem of assessing the future impact of
video on the Office of Communications.
Video materials and equipment may have security vulner-
abilities (e.g., emanations; controls of tapes). This
needs study so that R&D might be devoted to fixes or so
that risks might otherwise be reduced.
1.2. What this boils.down to then is the need for a determination of
Agency objectives with regard to video employment and for detailed
follow-up by planning officers and action units.
13. At the risk of gratuitous lecturing, this paper suggests that
Agency management should start by encouraging the growth of wise
applications of video technology to intelligence processes. At present,
video usage is so fragmented that this usage and its potential could be
damaged by demanding that each component justify its current activities.
Few are based on compelling requirements now, but taken as a whole they
constitute a useful nucleus around which to plan the control of future
growth.
14. No one Agency component now can usefully be selected as the
Management Committee's action arm to track progress on whatever plans
and objectives are blessed by the Committee. Among possibilities as
staffs to do the planning and the tracking are:
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a) a group made up of all the directorate planning officers;
or
b) the Information Processing Board.
15. Whatever machinery is selected a sub-group made up of represent-
atives of components engaged in video activities could provide support
.and technical input. Whatever machinery is selected, there is a need to
think of the task now as a systematic planning exercise. The purpose is
to come up with plans, objectives, timetables, scenarios and option.s...
and, above all, encouragement of the fullest possible consideration of
video as a creative tool for intelligence use.
25X1A
Attachments:
TAB A: Minutes of Agency-Wide Meeting on Coordination of TV Activities,
2 Jul 73
TAB B: Memo for DDM&S from D/Training, Subj: Control of Television
Services, 27 Apr 73
TAB C: Memo for Executive Secretary, CIA Management Committee from
Management Advisory Group, Subj: Coordination of Agency
Video Programs, 19 Jun 73
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AGENCY-WIDE MEETING ON COORDINATION
OF TV ACTIVITIES
Date
Place
2 July 1973
Chairman
Recorder
Attendees
CRS
- Mr. Harry C. Eisenbeiss
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OT:.
0/PPB
OJCS
OTS/TB
DDI/Plan St-
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D
opened the meeting with the observation that
his chairmanship implied no claim to territorial jurisdiction.
As a microcosm of the Agency, however,
0
variety of modes and is actively engaged in its applications.
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recapitulated the genesis of the meeting and
noted the requirement for a report of findings and recommendations
to be submitted to the DDM&S by 11 July. He proposed that the
participants in the meeting exchange data and views on the TV
activities and plans of their components, taking special. note of
present and planned resource investment, and that they discuss
prospects for better coordination. He proposed to circulate the
draft minutes of the meeting, together with a.sdmmary'of findings
and a set of recommendations for the DDM&S outlining alternatives
for establishing a focal point in the Agency for coordinationf'TV
3 I
e ~ v t t?h i There were no objections.
3. By way of opening remarks,
gave his personal
views on the future of TV in the Agency.
a. TV would develop into an important part of the
analyst's equipment for telling his story, which would be
conveyed by the most effective combination of audio-visual
techniques combined with traditional forms of printed
communication. Consumers, especially high-level consumers,
could, i~fact, be expected to come to demand information
in such a variety of forms.
b. TV would acquire increasing i-aportance as a source
ii
of intelligence information. Although communist TV broadcasts
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.w 'as yet relatively unproductive sources, they will provide
more information as more use is made of the medium and as the
collectors acquire the analytic techniques for extracting
contact.
c. TV could conceivably acquire importance as a tool of
intelligence collection. Live TV coverage of events abroad
by Agency personnel could, for, example, some day be trans-
mitted in real time to headquarters.
d. In the meanwhile, increasing use will be made of TV
as a training device and for the dissemination of information
at headquarters, within the intelligence community and to
the field.
These propects pose a broad planning, task for the Agency and
the entire community.
then requested the membership of the meeting
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to describe briefly the involvement of their components in TV.
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8. Speaking for CRS,
as "broker" for Agency producers and consumers of video intelligence
material. He noted that
CRS coordinated closely both
operationally and with respect to equipment procurement. Pointing
out that TV, film, slides and still photos were closely inter-
related media and that CRS was involved in all of them, he stressed
the importance to CRS of regarding video processes, from collection
through editing, production, and duplication to dissemination, as a
"package."
production of visual
spoke of CRS plans to experiment with
"customizing" videotapes containing intelligence materials. (Mr.
Eisenbeiss interjected that a CRS experiment with this idea - the
as background for the President's visits to China and the Soviet
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Union - had been an expensive failure. The White House had shown
no interest in them.)
put the CRS investment in TV
equipment at around $160,000.
Manpower consists of one full-time technician and fractional
involvement of management.
9. of OJCS described the use of TV in the training
program of his office, illustrating his presentation with a short
videotaped briefing on the topic, produced by the OJCS ADP Training
Staff (ATS). In addition to training tapes from commercial sources,
the branch is producing its own training tapes, using a portable
studio consisting of TV cameras, microphones, a video tape recorder
and a. special effects generator. Response of OJCS personnel to
videotape training has been enthusiastic and ATS is looking at
ways to make the tapes and playback units more readily available.
Among other things, the staff anegotiating with CRS over placing
playback units iS the Library with a supply of tapes that can be
viewed on the spot and. heard over earphones. said that ATS
has a total investment of $10,000 - $15,000 in TV equipment, which
is almost entirely Sony. The video recorder and playback units are
observed that the 3/4" cassette format had become the de facto
standard in government and industry.) No new money is budgeted
for equipment procurement, but ATS forsees a growing demand for
playback capability. Equipment maintenance is performed on contract
with a local commercial firm. ATS has one employee assigned full
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1/2" reel-to-reel and se a'el aew 3/4" cassette units.
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time to videotape production and handling.
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of NPIC reported that his office has a
videotape record/playback system that has been put to good use in
training applications and to record special events. NPIC has no
in--house TV expertise beyond a visual information specialist in the
Training Branch. Equipment maintenance is performed in-house for
minor repairs; by contract for major ones.
25X1A 11.
explained how the NPIC video tape system has
been used to maintain skills among PIs. He recounted an interestli,16
in which a TV camera was married to a stereo microscope
to produce an instructional tape for. PIs. The results had encour-
aged the Training Branch to request an R&D effort to perfect the
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as a training tool and as a briefing device. In response to a quest-
ion, he conceded that multistation, closed-circuit TV briefings on
the results of overhead, photography was a. possibility for the future,
but said that much needed to be done in the meanwhile to explore
the potential of the medium for improving training and communication
.in NPIC.
12. OTR's reported that his office was making
considerable use of TV and video tape in its training programs, for
critiquing student performance, telecasting instructional material
fy/tetdc
to classrooms, individual instruction via. tape, and enlarging
A
audiences for guest speakers by telecasting and tape recording
for later replay. In the light of what previous speakers had
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revealed, he saw interoffice equipment compatibility as a problem.
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provided more detail on the OTR's TV capa-
bilities and applications. Production of video programs - in the
creative sense, as opposed to operational use of TV - is now a sig-
nificant activity in OTR, which has a study,-for the purpose and
employs four people full time in the work, using $35,000 - plus
worth of equipment. Having served as film production center for the
Agency, OTR now regards itself also as the video tape production
center. The equipment complement is a mixture of Ampex 1" and
Sony 1/2" reel-to-reel recorders and Sony 3/4" cassette units.
With interchange ability of tapes being designed in by leading
manufacturers, OTR feels the 3/4" cassette is the way to go in the
equipment line. Picture quality is good enough for most purposes,
although there is no question that 1" systems give better quality.
14.
of,OTS (formerly TSD), Training Branch,
noted that his office had been involved
in video tape production since the mid-sixties. Although the branch's
effort in the video field was small scale ($4,000 in equipment,
,mostly Sony; two people) and would likely remain so, video tape had
been found to be a very effective means of providing field technicians
with instructions in the use and maintenance of new equipment.
believed it might be equally effective for the instruction
of case officers, especially those working without the close support
felt it is important to strive for high
standards in video production so as to preserve viewer interest.
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15. OC training officer
employs five Sony video tape systems (one 3/4" cassette unit and four
reported that his office
1/2" reel-to-reel units) in training and briefing applications at
investment is about $12,000.
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tape could be effectively employed for keeping overseas personnel
up to date on technical matters.
not represented at the meeting. Copies of relevant papers will
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