NID READER SURVEY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81B00493R000100060001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 48
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 19, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 22, 1978
• Content Type: MF

f CONFIDENTIAL
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MEMORANDUM FOR: See Distribution
SUBJECT : NID Reader Survey
Those of us who worked on the recent review of the NID found
the accounts of interviews with senior consumers to be extremely
interesting. Copies are attached for all the addressees with the
greatest number going to those organizations making the largest
contribution to the NID. Please make them available to your people
for their amusement and delectation.
Richard a man
Associate Director - Substantive Support
National Foreign Assessment Center
25
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CONFIDENTIAL
 CONFIDENTIAL
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SUBJECT: NID Reader Survey
Distribution:
1 - All NIOs
1 - Director, CIA Operations Center
1 - Director/OCR
1 - Director/OIA
1 - Chief/PPG
1 - Chief/Management Staff
1 - Chief/Coordination Staff
1 - Chief/SALT Support Staff
1 - Chief/Requirements & Evaluation Staff
1 - Chief/Congressional Liaison Staff
10 - ORPA
5 - OSR
5 - OER
3-OWI
3 - OGCR
3 - OSI
Cl)- AD/NFAC/SS Chrono
1 - NFAC Registry
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 CONFIDENTIAL
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MEMORANDUM FOR: Chief, Current Reporting Group
SUBJECT Survey of NID Readers in Congress
1. I recently met with seven of the eight staff
directors or senior staffers who regularly receive the
NID. Attached are capsulized summaries of their comments.
Reflecting the multiple masters we serve and their
divergent Committee responsibility, the comments often
tend to be contradictory, e.g. one wanting more military
and another less. All of the readers agreed that the
"multiple master problem" was indeed a problem, and
that they understood fully why the daily mix of items
comes out as it does.
2. only one respondent, Bill Miller of the SSCI,
hated the NID format, and his colleague Hal Ford tended
to prefer the old CIB format. The others either pre-
ferred the NID format or simply didn't care. Many miss
the Summary column, and all who were asked though. that
a periodic index would be helpful. Several asked if it
would not be possible to include a box once a week or
so highlighting recently released publications of interest.
3. Nearly all felt a daily publication was neces-
sary--and no one thought that we ought to go out of the
current intelligence business. Several were vehement in
stating their need for a reliable daily source of infor-
mation for themselves and their committee members.
4. All in all, my survey turned up about what you
would expect: considerable carping, occasional praise,
and one or two helpful suggestions.
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Congressional Support a
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Excerpts from Interviews
Chuck Snodgrass, Staff Assistant, House Appropriations:
"If the NID did not exist, I would have had to invent
it." Believes daily intelligence publication is necessary.
He reads all of it daily, occasionally calls items to the
attention of Members. From Committee's viewpoint, would
like less political and more military reporting. Would
be happy with two-page edition on slow days. Extra page
with photos or maps would be welcome. Likes features
and summaries of other items, as well as pieces from
other services or embassies. NID should not repeat Times
and Post, but should point out when press stories are
wrong. Does not need Summary.
Guy McConnell, Senior Staff, Senate Appropriations:
Reads NID regularly when in session. Occasionally
briefs selected items to interested Members. Likes format
better than CIB. Prefers Summary at front of items
rather than in separate column. Likes summaries of IIMs,
NIDs, etc. as it is often the only way he finds out about
these publications. Type too small in Briefs. Likes
dissent as currently presented with a clear heading.
Would like follow-up when stories have raised a flag
that can subsequently be lowered. Likes political and
economic stories as they often serve to give better
perspective than press. Believes a daily intelligence
pub is necessary.
Jack Brady, Staff Chief, House International Relations:
Reads NID daily. Much prefers NID to CIB format.
Does not read hardware items unless strategic implications.
Maps, tables, and charts are inadequate in NID. Does not
miss Summary as separate item. No Members read, only
Chairman is briefed when appropriate. Thinks items
"toned down" by editors. Biggest drawback is lack of
follow-up. Items do not track back to previous articles.
Features would be better as separate publications. Need
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weekly index of NID as well as weekly listing of selected
publications. Believes must have daily publication.
Finds it helpful in keeping Committee staffers from
making factual errors or chasing assorted wild geese.
Norvill Jones, Staff Chief, Senate Foreign Relations:
Scans daily, Members read only selected items. Too
much duplication of press; prefers feature items. Format
is fine, but breaking of articles is annoying. Misses
Summary section. Would like periodic index of available
publications. Appreciates summaries of other pubs.
Briefs section is helpful. Committee greatly appreciates
intelligence research papers and would like more of them.
John Ford, Staff Director, House Armed Services:
Reads all summary paragraphs daily, and selected
items. Briefs Chairman and other staff members as
appropriate. No Members currently reading although they
have in past. Mix is good, likes features. Misses
Summary section. Likes tabloid format and the Briefs.
Likes assessments from embassies and other services.
Likes typeset and appearance. Believes daily publication
is necessary to keep Committee from being surprised
about world developments.
Bill Miller, Staff Director, Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence:
Hates tabloid format. Single columns (i.e. one
item per page) much easier to absorb. Pieces should be
placed serially in order of importance. Need white space
for making notes. Content duplicates press too often.
Likes analytic features. Too much journalism and not
enough "rigorous analysis" (whatever that means). Scrap
the NID and go back to CIB format. Need better maps and
graphics. Does not read paper daily because format is
annoying. Summary column is most necessary, making clear
order of priorities. No Members read regularly, although
Chairman sees selected items. Mix is fine--and Congress
should have no control of what is printed.
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Hal Ford, Senior Staff, Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence:
Staff reads NID widely. Helpful to enrich under-
standing of briefings and hearings. Daily publication is
essential, but tabloid not necessarily the best format.
Format creates a file problem and is harder for the
reader to grasp; prefers old CIB format. NID at its best
when not competing with daily papers. Summary column
needed--useful for policy makers with limited time.
Tabloid form makes reader work too hard to find items;
breaks in articles distracting. Err on low side in
content--don't load NID with unnecessary items. Classi-
fication problems restrict its usefulness to Members,
although they often find it helpful in their work on
other Committees. Likes interdisciplinary and inter-
agency pieces, as well as pieces by embassies and other
services. Likes to have attention called to other
publications that may be available. Quality is generally
high and NID does good job of trying to accommodate
interests of its varied readership.
Ed Levine, Staff, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:
Reads once a week, doesn't care about choice of for-
mat. Summary column not helpful because it could not be
trusted to be accurate. Needs an index listing all
articles. Briefs not very helpful. Should indicate
validity of clandestine sources. Daily intelligence
publication is needed, but could be done by separate
pubs for geographic or functional areas. (When asked, he
admitted this was probably impractical.) Political
reporting tends to duplicate press, but military hardware
pieces very good. SSCI is "ideal" consumer for intelli-
gence because it needs a broad overview.
Tom Latimer, Staff Director; Dick Giza, Staff, House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence:
When asked, "How is the NID?", Latimer responded
that it is like being asked "How is your wife?" The
only response possible is that, "It's better than nothing."
NID is useful to the staff, but Members frankly more
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interested in Post and Times. Congressman Ashbrook reads
occasionally. Format is pretty good." Break in articles
annoying. Needs Summary. Type is poor especially in
Briefs. Needs index. Classification bothersome to
Members who either fear they cannot talk about something
because it was in intelligence pub or do talk about it,
and then worry. If classification is high, the article
ought to cite the specific source or method, otherwise
just say "informed sources" and lower the classification.
Daily publication probably not necessary for HPSCI; if it
vanished, it would not make much difference. (Note:
Latimer asked to be put on NID distribution immediately
upon taking the Staff Director job.) Likes features from
embassies, stations, and other services. Feature items
would be better issued as separate publications so
that staff could use them. Political reporting tends
to duplicate press and does not make clear those portions
that are drawn from unique intelligence sources. Should
not do special publication for Congress. Latimer misses
Night Journal which served to flag interesting cables or
late-breaking developments. Reads DIA Executive Summary
daily. Mix is fine, should be driven by events, not by
need to fill space.
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THE DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
National Intelligence Officers
NFAC #1011-78
13 March 1978
MEMORANDUM FOR: Associate Director-Substantive Support
FROM
RID or spec a Studies
SUBJECT : NID Survey: Deputy Secretary of State Christopher
1. Denis Lamb, Mr. Christopher's executive assistant, reports
that the Deputy Secretary reads the NID himself every day and finds
it "quite valuable."
2. Mr. Christopher reads both current and longer analytical
articles--or at least the summary paragraphs. This feature, inciden-
tally, is one he has specifically commended. He also likes the NID's
unique graphic presentations (satellite orbits and various maps were
mentioned).
3. The Deputy Secretary is said to feel quite comfortable with
the newspaper format, in part because he can scan it easily for arti-
cles of particular interest. He would, however, probably prefer
somewhat less material in a single issue than the average NID now
carries. The current substantive balance appears to be about right
for his needs, although Mr. Lamb personally would like to see even
more on economic matters to help focus the top people on these issues.
4. Mr. Lamb summed it up by saying he felt sure that
Mr. Christopher regarded the NID as a "polished, finished product,"
much as his staff does.
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THE DIRECTOR OF
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
National Intelligence Officers 9 March 1978
Ambassador Smith and Dr. Tuchman at most
scan the NID for items of particular interest
to them, but invariably, with rare exceptions,
pertinent points have already come to their
attention through the raw traffic itself or
by means of INR's daily. Their offices do
have an interest in current analysis of recent
and prospective developments in foreign nuclear
programs and policies, but the NID does not
seem to be a particularly useful vehicle for
meeting their needs. In sum, they would prefer
more long-range analytical production and
little or no NID to the extent they are
competitors for scarce resources.
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MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Conversation with Secretary of Defense,
7 March 1978
8 MAR 1978
7. 1 asked both Secretary Brown and Duncan their views on the
NID. They both read it daily; neither one had any substantial. comments.
articles were a bit long.
Secretary Brown said he'd like to see the introductory bold-face para-
graphs a little longer. His view is this would better. enable him to
skip reading the entire article. I pointed out if we made them too
long then those whose appetites were whetted and did read the whole
article would find themselves having to read that much more twice.
In general, Secretary Brown's only comment was that some of the inside
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National Intelligence Officers
NFAC #951-78
9 March 1978
MEMORANDUM FOR: Associate Director-Substantive Support, NFAC
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NIO for Spec al Studies
SUBJECT : NID Survey: Secretary of State Vance
Secretary Vance no longer reads the NID (because of the PDB's
similar coverage), but he does read certain feature articles that
his staff surmises may not have appeared in the PDB and xeroxes for
his reading folder.
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Comments from Amb. Richardson's staffers re the NID:
Richardson reads the NID himself every day when he is in the
country. He is a wide reader of all kinds of things. Spends lots
of time reading. He carefully reads every article in the NID, not
just the ones relating to his particular interest.
He doesn't read DIA publications or the STate Summary. He likes
the format of the NID. Also likes the longer feature articles. He
asks that it be kept as is.
One criticism: Too frequently there are articles which are
overly repetitious of morning newspaper reporting. He thinks this
can be remedied by excluding info which will probably be included
in newspaper reporting and add only supplemental info.
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THE DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
National Intelligence Officers
NFAC #952-78
9 March 1978
MEMORANDUM FOR: Associate Director-Substantive Support, NFAC
FROM IMW Tor ial Studies
SUBJECT : NID Survey: Interview with Leslie Gelb,
Director, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs,
Department of State, 8 March 1978
1. Mr. Gelb finds the contents of the NID highly useful, if not
the format. Twice he summed it up by saying he got more from the NID
than "anything else." And this despite the fact that he doesn't read
it himself--an INR officer briefs him on its contents orally.
2. The reason for this may be that the newspaper format puts
him off. He replied unequivocally that he would prefer a more tradi-
tional, Bulletin-like format. He also thinks there is too much
material in the NID, and would prefer a more concise summary.
3. Despite these comments, he said the mix of articles in the
NID was just right for his purposes. He finds both regional and
functional material useful--especially in "solving problems" and in
enabling him to take pre-emptive action.
4. Mr. Gelb said he got more nourishment from the NID than from
the longer intelligence assessments he has seen. He commented that
he could not recall reading any CIA analytic "study" over the past
year that had informed him of something his own staff had not already
come up with. He noted, on the other hand, that when on occasion he
had asked for something in the intelligence field, it showed up in
the NID.
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THE DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
National Intelligence Officers
NFAC No. 542-78
8 March 1978
MEMORANDUM FOR: Richard Lehman
Associate Director-Substantive Support, NFAC
FROM
National Intelligence Officer
for Political Economy
SUBJECT : Responses to the NID Questionaire
1. The attached responses to the NID questionaire indicate
considerable differences in depth of interest among readers.
Some officials read the NID daily, but, most often, they are re-
ceiving select portions which have been screened by staffers or by
briefing officers. In State and Treasury this briefing task is
performed inhouse officers and at Commerce by the CIA Liaison
Officer, The bottom line is that the NID is generally
considered as another source of information, along with many others.
2. The most common deficiency mentioned is the lack of
material on subjects the respondent handles. Obviously it is
impossible to satisfy everybody in a publication which covers the
waterfront. In addition, because most NID customers we polled are
deeply involved in day-to-day matters, they regard their basic source
of information as the State cable. For this reason, State, Commerce,
and Treasury each have felt compelled to produce a daily publication
which summarizes cables and key intelligence reports. Thus given
the impossible task of matching the NID material with the wide range
of interests of our customers, shouldn't we be placing less emphasis
on this general publication?
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Response to NID Questionaire by
Commerce Department Officials
The Department of Commerce receives four copies of the NID, addressed
to The Secretary (Juanita Kreps), the Under Secretary (Sidney Harman).
The Assistant Secretary for Policy (Jerry Jasinowski), and the Assistant
Secretary for Industry and Trade (Frank Weil). screens the
NID, circles the articles he thinks are of most Intereb-C d underlines
the key sentences or marks key paragraphs. He also writes up a buck-
slip to the Secretary (xeroxed for the other addressees) which recommends
the three or four articles of most interest to her, am which contains a to
or three sentence description of each article.
In addition to the above customers, shows the NID periodically
to three other officials at Commerce: istant Secretary for Science
and Technology (Jordan Baruch), the Administrator for NOAA (Dick Frank),
and the Assistant Secretary for Maritime Affairs (Robert Blackwell).
In the case of Baruch, a session is arranged about once every two weeks
to go through every issue of the NID, looking at articles which interest
him.
The Secretary reads the NID but relies oni buckslip and
markings for indications of key articles. Harman and Jasinowski's
interest in the NID is not keen. We have recently stopped delivering
the NID to Harman and send it to Jasinowski irregularly when there is
an article on a subject of particular interest to him. In the case
of Frank Well, he is the most avid reader at Commerce. Both the
Secretary and Frank Weil read items beyond just those of direct re-
levance to their work, as does Jordan Baruch.
Both the Secretary and Frank Weil like the NID newspaper format because
they can scan it easily for articles of interest. They also like the
summaries at the beginning of the articles.
The Secretary and Frank Weil feel that the mix of articles in the NID
is not ideal. There are not enough items on international economic
matters in it, and frequently they are run late. It is obvious to a
sophisticated reader that many economic articles have been handled as
filler material and put in only when they have not beem bumped by what
political/military-oriented editors feel are more important items.
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Response to NID Questionaire by
Select State Department Officials
Distribution of the NID within State Department varies
considerably. The top 2-3 ranking officials receive their own
copies and keep it as long as they need_it. Some lesser officials
-- below the Under Secretary level -- also receive the NID daily
but-must read it while an INR officer waits. More often the NID
is scanned by the official's staff or INR and the selected articles
of interest are passed on to the principal along with other related
items.
Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, Richard Cooper: Mr. Cooper
reads the NID about once a week. Articles pertaining to issues
in which he is directly involved are also shown him. Mr. Cooper
thinks the NID devotes insufficient space to economic developments$and
should have more indepth articles. He has difficulty discussing
trade offs between the NID and longer range analytical production
since he doesn't know what the latter would be. The articles are
considered timely and the summary paragraph useful. He didn't find
the briefs section useful.
Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs, Julius Katz:
Mr. Katz does not read the YID; he does see clippings on subjects
directly related to his interest.
Deputy Director for Economic Research and Analysis, Mike Ely:
Mr. Ely skims the NID each day and reads articles he considers
relevant. He likes the format and would like to see the balance
of articles continued as is. He, however, thinks feature articles
are fragmented and should include a broader outlook section.
AID Administrator John Gilligan's comment was that the NID could
be improved by diversifing reporting and analysis and including more
on major development issues, North-South problems and global
challanges in production, hunger, environment, etc.
Assistant Secretary of Oceans and International Environmental and
Scientific Affairs, Patsy Mink: Mrs. Mink reads the NID herself,
time permitting; otherwise, she relies on one of the other two
officers cleared to read the pouch to bring items to her attention.
No summaries are prepared. Mrs. Mink reads principally items of
specific interest. She finds the NID format very readable and the
contents of appropriate length. The mix of ite^is in the '