COMMENTS ON 'STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE' BY SPECIALISTS IN THE FIELD OF BIOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 29, 1999
• Sequence Number: 10
• Content Type: REPORT

Conments on "Stratenic Intellinence" /fn / /?
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP81S00991R00020006,001 0-5
by Specialists in the
Field of Biographic Research
Organized biographic intellincnce is. a newcomer in the general field of
novornment intelligence in the U. S. Many of the principal countries, those
of Enrope in particnIer, have lonn possessed highly developed and specialized
hionraphic organizationo. This Government has always boon intereated in
important foreigners, and biographio information has for many years been
funnelled back to the Department from its reprosentatives abroad, llowever, as
with many types or intelligence activity, the war period provided the stimulus
for an organized biographic program to replace previous uncoordinated end
haphazard methods*
Bccause of the lack of adequate personality information to meet the needs
or the Government during the war* several agencies developed their own biographic,
programs; most of these 14ere discontinued as their parent anencies were abolished.
In many respects this was a fortunate development, for some of these biographic
units were conceived in haste and wore highly duplicative. Their elimination
ninplified the problem of developinn a coordinated interagency biographic program*
Thin problem vas faced and solved in 1946 with considerable success; the princi-
pal. Intellinence agencies we each assinned responsibility for collecting,
procossinn? and reporting bionraphic information on persons within their areas
of interest.
A study of Sherman Xent's recommendations on how the biographic intelligence
function should be performed provides an excellent point of departure**
:n essence, Kent's biographic operation involves a file eontaining many
namea with a. wide variety of both factual and "critical appraisal" data. This
Mon -which i8 "scissore-nnd-pasto job", is to be maintained by people of
"alerical.plue statue and it is to be central. The supervision, direction ?
and. use of this file is to be oarried out by hinh?nrado professionals in the
reninnal units who aro to put in the regnisite hours on biographical business.
Th1e committee finds a number or significant points in Kent's analysis;
(1) Re believes the work to be one of the most important jobs of an intell.
inonee organizntion, and an enormous one. This Committee anrees completely.
(2) The ideal biographic file is to be largo and should include both
factual and critical data un cach name. 'ate files are sot up on this pattern
but hardly include a very wide variety of data on every person* This would be
inpossible to achieve and there is considerable doubt as to the need for full
data on each name in the files*
(a) "n11 biographicel stuff" should be Rept in a central file. Thin con.
cent in in accord with the Cogroitteels own experience and with general prnctice
in iligence anencits. AD far as the Committee has been able to dotornine,
bionniobio or pernonality files and indoxes are central in the Departments. of
Nnvy, in CIA, the FBI and within the Department, in nY and Lc/a.
*Ztrii7nic 7ntellinonce 2-3r trwrican World Ealist? Sherman Xeni) Princeton
ivennity Fre,19499. 'ill subsonnent quotations in the Foreword of this
Report ere fromillri Kent book.
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 ?C1A-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
(4) A large amount of factual data must be assembled on a large number
of people, the job to be performed by a staff of clerical-plus status, Assum-
ine that Kent wants the bioaraphic file to be maintained intelliaently? the
Committee vigorouely disagrees with this point. The assembly of oven factual
data ie far more than a scissore-and-paste job. This is tho first misconception.
The job of collectina and filing bioeraphic information, even of a factual
nature, requires every process of research carried on elsewhere in the R oreani-
zation. Were this work to be performed by a ecissors-and-paste crew, one of
two evils would result: either the file would be too saall or it would be aigan-
tic, unwieldy and eventually worthlese. Tel the process of collecting and filing
biographic information, one must constently keep in mind two basic points:
that type of individuals should be eolected for inclusion in the file and what
type of information contributes to a better understanding of them.
A biographic file must have information 'which is useful, pertinent and
cuicklei accooeible. The file must be larao enouah to meet the variety of needs
_atosed on it, but not so largo as to become and end in itself out of all rola.
tion to reality and need, completely engulfing those maintaining it. Certain
aenerel criteria concerning the types of persons and of information on them can
be established as guide to the collectors and proceesors. The application of
these criteria to specific countries, to groups within these countriee or to
individuals within these groups must be left to those actually performing the work*
Unlesa the filo is to suffer from the evils mentioned above, the biographic
staff must:
(a) have sufficient training to recoanize biographic information.
Kentls proposal that a scisuors-andepaste crew assemble a larae
amount of factual data by "clipping bioaraohical dictionaries and
current newepaper0 infers a rather common misconception that bio-
graphic information is readily available on a platter and merely
ha $ to be cut up and filed. This is incorrect. Factual biographic
information is unfortunately al/ too rarely available in this
manner. Relatively few foreian countries publish biographic diction-
aries or similar volumee which are sufficiently complete, accurate
and current to be useful; a scissors-and-paste crew would soon ex-
haust theee published sources. However, the biographically trained
eye can recoanize a wealth of biographic information in published
or official documents originating in these same countries but rarely
labelled as cuch. Therefore, the biographic staff must be trained
to know what bioaraphic information is' and where to look for it.
(b) be faniliar with the lanauases of the countries. Biographic
information is not always available in Lnglish, and as Kent points
out it is questionable whether there is such a thing as a fool-
proof translation, even aasuming that a staff were available to
translate daily the hundreds of possible bioaraphic items into
Fnelish in order then to determine whether they were of biographic
interest and should be included in the files.
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
Approved For Release 2000/04/483: CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
(c) know something about past and present political, economic,
cultural and sociological conditions in a country. BioLraphic
information cannot be collected without reference ,to devslop-
monts in a country. Otherwise the scissors-and-paste crew might
collect items about a national hero, dead for many years, or
include in the files a long article about a farmer who devised a
butter rabbit trap merely because the itom contained a long
biocraphical statement about the farmer.
(d) relate its activities to the needs of the large organizational
area of which it is a part and to the general present or future
programs of the organization. A biographic file cannot be built
in a vacuum. The biographic staff must have sufficient competence
to understand directives issued to it and sufficient.knowledgc and
backnround to be in a position to discuss intelligently the demands
or directives with ti.oue issuing the A scissors-and.paote crew
sht be able to collect factual information on all cabinet members
of ?atagonia but it could not intellisently assemble similar inform.
ation on leading members of the opposition who in a change of
government mitht form a new cabinet. Nor would such a crew be in
a position to discuss the problem intelligently with those outlining
the projeot.
(c) be familiar with biographic nomenclature and social habits and
patterns of a country so as to index names correctly and understand
family relationships. This ie a technical but very important pro-
blem in which the biographio star: must specialize and have full
competence. The indexing of the garbled or incorrect names in many
documents originating in countries which do not follow the English
ssstem of family names would lead to the establishments of countless
?les on titles of persons, on middle or first names, etc. with the
rssulting duplicate or triplicate files on one person, loss of data
and general confusion. !lost important, the unit would lose the
respect and confidence of its consumers and the need for such a
staff would be rightly questioned. This is not an academie pro-
blem. Files actually maintained by scissors-and-paste crens which
DI has exasinsd contain many entries for Bey, Hormanos, etc. not
to mention the chaos in Chinese and Japanese names, 'some o2 the
criticism directod againat DI is directly related to this problem.
The case iu cited in which information on two people with identical
names was so conpletely merged into ono file that it became totally
useless. That file was set up by a scissors-and-paste method
because of a lack of personnel familiar with the country.
(2) evaluate factual information in terms of accuracy and nesd to
determine whether it should be included in the file. Kent would
have his scissors-and-paste crow "snipping biographical diction.
aries and current newspapers" and it is assumed, any other raw
materiels providing factual data since the two sources he names
are herdly sufficient for the purpose, Before a biographic diction-
ary is clipped one must decide first of all whether the volume is
a scholarly and accurate Whole 'who or one of those publishing
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
Approved For Release 2000/04/4.84 GIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
schemes in Which the criterion for determining who is included
and what is said about them is not the.record'but the amount
of mney paid to the publisher. One mast then decide whether
all the biographies are to be included or only selected. groups,
aad whether the full biography on any one person is to be
clipped or Whether superfluous data is to be excluded. -
Abetter example ia the daily nID report thich contains hundreds of
reasses, many highly garbled or inaccurate. ,Kentis clerical-plus staff nicht .
be proficient at clipping and pasting the report; it would be helpless
confronted with the task of unscrambling the names? and determining which of -
the hundreds of items should be selected for -inclusion in the files. .
The bioeraphic staff mast therefore know and evaluate its sources, deter-
mine which biographic dictionaries are worth examining; what the political
complexion is of the newspapers from which biosraohic items should be considered
for c1ippinF4 and so forth. This evaluation, which must take place before the
item is clipped rather than after, is of particular importance because it deter.
no not only lthat should go into the file but also is the point of departure
for two other activities; firat improving the sources, i.e. collecting addi-
tional information* secondly, determining priorities in the processing of
incoming data,
Nentis scissors-and-paste crow must by definition restrict itself to prom
cossing what is presented to it. The biographic file therefore would tend to
frow by the accident of distribution. Who is to determine whether this crew is
wisely ependines its time clipping this or that newspaper, biographic directory,
Senpatches, Osla or MA reports? The biographic staff must determirie not only
which docamenta are to be processed each day, but aleo whether the sum total
intake is inadequate and should be isproved. A colleetion activity roust be
based on general or specific needs and programs, inadequacice in the files as
they show up in use, and an evaluation of sources as received. If material is
to be processed fairly autoeiaticalle- by the scissors-and-paste crew - and how
else could it perform it duties? - then that evaluation would be lost to the
detriment of an intelligence collection program.
Secondly, no such group could possibly handle all incoming material. A
priority problem is involved. One factor determining day to day priority is
the bioeraohic staff's knowledge or evaluation of particular sourcs from my
one area. Prom experience NA reporting is found to be better than MA reportine
in country X. In seneral it should be handled first. In country Y the reverse
may be true. Newspapera in certain countriee may yield more useful data in a
given amount of time than a processing of deepatches from the same countries.
The problem varies from source to source, from country to country and from area
to area and is beyond the competence of a scissors-and-paste crew which might
devote its energies for a day to clipping an inaccurate biographic dictionary
sad burying in a backlog highly significant telegrams. General supervision or
directives are not the answer. The problem can only be faced document by
document and day by day, by those on the intake firing line.
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
11/4,
Approved For Release 2000/04/185: tIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
(5) Factual data, Kent states, must be in a central file where it can
serve telephone customers. Presumably these customers are to be served by the
scissors-and-pasts crow. That is another misconception. The satisfactory ans-
wering of requests oven of factual data, whether by telephone or in writings
requires in many cases alertness, initiative, judg,-Reat and knowledge of the sub-
ject. Ite requester's use of the service is dependent upon his confidence in
tlie person performing the service. Nearly everyone may be able to determine when
a person was born - if the fact is readily available in a Who's Who (and one may
a.sk whether it is worth maintaining a special unit to parrot a Lhols Who, when
it would be cheaper to have a copy of the publication on the desks of all con-
cerned). If the item is not immediately available it requires research to uncover
it. As Kent points out it is impossible to say where factual data begin and end,
before the anm.,,er is found. A biographic unit providing an adequate service -
and if it isn't, ono of its main reasons for existence is eliminated - must be
staffed by persons who can discriminate, recognize what is involved in the re-
quest and proceed to answer it, fully informed about the subject matter. In
fact, from the point of view of efficiency, a well-informed person can usually
answer an inquiry in far less time 'than an untrained non-professional.
(6) The Committee's comments have been restricted so far to examining the
-Implications of Kent's proposals for a central file of factual material main-
tained by a clerical-plus staff. The Committee has attempted to emphasize that
the job even in those terms requires a competent staff of professional caliber ,
trained in the techniques of collecting and processing biographic information,
=A well inforned in languace and area knowledge. However factual data is
rely the point of departure for the more important information which Kent
desnribes as "critical appraisal" or tho "critically evaluative part". Kent
suzgests two possible ways in which this work might be done: first, by building
a biographic staff with high [rade professionals or secondly, by decentralizing
the file into the regional units. Io rocoarionds a compromise between the two with
a central file maintained by.a clerical-plus staff, with the biographic research
work handled by high grade professionals who would put in the requisite hours on
biocraphical business. Be recognizes that there mould be a tendency for this
staff to starve bio::raphical work in the face of other deadlines or higher
work but he somewhat piously states that this must not happen".
Tho Committee does not agree mith Kent's compromise. It has all the
disadvantages of compromise and none of the advantages.
Kent's proposal ia unsatisfactory because:
(a) Precisely this tendency to starve biographic work has appeared
in overy case in which this system has hem tried. After tho war
ID esta'aished a biographic program similar to his proposal*
Biographic work, however, soon was starved out and whatever new
files that were maintained were reduced in value because of tho
para=unt fact that Woraphic information must be collected
Leforo it is needed; it's usually too late to start when the need
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
Approved For Release 2000/04/186. CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
(b) It would present an extremely complicated administrative problem.-
Quite apart from regulatinE ft time that professionals in re2?1onal
units are to devote to bio '%usiness, how are they to relate
their activities to the VOV:, v1.0 olericsl-plus,group? Who is to
t ioct tho proLram, procedures and priorities of the latter? The
sum total of professionals in the roc:ions' units? In addition,
Othough Kent states it is impossible to draw the line between
factual and evaluatory infor.aation, he proposed an administrative
paration of filo staff based on just such a distinction*
(a) The evils which Kent aces in a biocraphic staff with "hich
grade professionals" are more imaginary than real. Virst, he
'elieves that since it is ridiculous to divorce people from things
they do, the biographic staSf may become a cluster of regional
research units duplicating a good part of the business or the maim
regional show. Secondly, ho belie-cies it is a poor practice to
stop the duplication by telling the main regional units that they
should not have professional knowledge of the personalities in
their respective areas.
As outlined above any biographic activity requires arca knowledGe and any
control file worth the effort muat be staffed by professionally competent people
and not b,y a scissors-and-pasto crew. If tho Committeets thesis ia valid, the
evaluatory data could be bandied more e1intiy, nd vithout tho administrative
1,,,car-pecua rtyluired by Kentl,? compromise, by a 4ml pro:es3iona1 additions to an
alroady existing and operatin3 proresaional staff than by many high grade pro-
fl:,ssionala in the main regional units. True, the biographic staff on an adAin-
isirative chart miffht look like a cluster of 0:1211 recional research units but
there iv no other way to develop a central filo adequatelyi it would not, how-
ever, and has not duplicated the work of the main regional show. Secondly, this
Committee does not believe that BI's existence has over been predicated on the
assumption that the main reFional umit a should not have professional knowledge
of the personalities in their respective areas. BI's dutiea are, among other
thins? to supplement that professional knowledge with specialized intelligence
on perz'ons in the arca. In essence the regional officer is a generalist on his
country or area. Le is supported by, or works with, specialists in certain
bjects (ninerals, agriculture, industry? etc.) including ono of the most p?rt-
ant persons, the importance of which in the total understanding of a country
underlines the need for close working relations between the area generalist and
the bikahio specialist*
In brief the Committee has acreed vith part of Kent's analysis of the pro-
blem but has chaagreed with his conclusions* The job of collection, filing and
re:,orting bie7raphic intellnce is essentially a research operation, requiring
a competent .2rofessiona3. staff.
Trhat are tta, essentiai characteristics of a biographic intelligence
operation? Kent he. described an intelligence organization as a "strange and
wonderful collection or devoted specialists molded into a vigorous production
mit % This is certainly a true description of a person encased in biographic
intelligence*
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 7CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
The person on whom the success of a bicTraphic intelligence program de-
pends ic the biographic analyst lie must be intelligent and he must have a
variety of skills. Ve must have a firm unrkins knowledge of the language of
the country or area to which be is assigned, so that 'Ihe source materials from
that part of the world are open to him. Ile must be Erounded in political
neionce to understand the policies and activities of different governments.
Ho must have eelved into the history, culture and tonnerawnt of the people of
the land, prnforably by residence in the country itself, so that the behavior
of the people will not escape him in his analysis of incavidual members of that
nation. The biographic analyst must have the power of concentration and perse-
verance in searchirr, out the pertinent information. He must be able to discern
the sif;nificant and to discard the ninety-five per cent of chaff. Le must
evaluate, analyze, collate and interpret data which by themselves man little
but which placed in their proper context tell a story. Last, the analyst must
'oci able to write clearly and concisely in order to communicate his findings
(2fective1y. The daily routine of the biographic analyst will strike the
uninitiated as dull, as a lot of grubbing, as any work amonc the minutiae and
trivia that do not draw headlines. Yet this i$ the foundation of intelligence',
it is a task for the penetrating eye and the reasoning mind.
Secondly, a biographic intelligence operation to be successfull'must have
vast amounts of materials at its command; these range from large unsorted col-
lections of infornation of potential 'biographic significance, possibly not even
located in this country, to carefully selected and pruned data actually placed
in the files. Thirdly, the material must be organized in such a way that the
known but unexploitod data is available for use given a change of program,
enqphasis or emerEency and that the actual files are maintained with uniformity
of technique, but flexibility of area, need, immediately ready to be brought to
tear on any biocraphic problem as it arises.
In c ieiinr the activities and record of the idvision, and taking a long
ran po point of vicu, the Committee believes the Division has gone through
several cenoral stages of devslopment. First it had to organize itself, then
develop and regularize the collecting and oranizing of materials into a work-
able scope. It had also to develop a reporting program which itself has gone
throuth several stages from the marL'Oelivery of a biographic file to a eusto-
nor, to summarising pertinent parts of the file, to summarizing the whole file)
to evaluation of tLe individual on Vie basis of the file. host of the Divisionts
reporting activities are at this stage; occasionally they have gono a step fur-
ther which nay be an indication of the road towards a full biographic intelli-
gence operation. The size of the files and the depth of information about
individuals my provide a menna by Vdich to evaluate and measure porsons on a
scale Thr moro accurate and significant than in the pt. The Divisionts future
r:our se - and the ultinate objective of any biographic otration - is not to
become a cluster of regional units duplicating the main show and writing bigger
and better cabinet projects. Rather it is to got the information and by the
various processes of research study persons in detail and in depth se aa to
suggest their intentions and capabilities, and in turn provide the regional
and oporalional units with a more accurate yardstick for their own work.
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
?
Approved For Release 2000/04/16:-CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
The Connittee feels that this objective sLould constantly 't.e kept in
land' ,1ose enazed in tho administrative and operation of the Division,
allo those %,.ho make use of the Division's product.
A ;Aor:ranhic operation is a new and relatively untried activity. It has
t_re.-len6.ous votsntialities. The Conittee believes the day is not too distant
ss.lo of these potentialities can be realized and biographic intelligence
can tahe its place a e of the important and recognized arms of total
Prcpared in 1919
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5
STATI NTL
App
-----
L 00200060010-5
r t$
rovea or Keiease ZUUU/U4/1 : Ulik-KUVol bUUUU1 K
SENDER WILL,CHECK CLASSIFICATION TOP AND BOTTOM
UNCLASSIFIED CONFIDENTIAL
SECRET
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
OFFICIAL ROUTING SLIP
TO
NAME AND ADDRESS
DATE
INITIALS
1
2
3
4
4i024,
5
6
ACTION
DIRECT REPLY
PREPARE REPLY
APPROVAL
DISPATCH
RECOMMENDATION
COMMENT
FILE
RETURN
CONCURRENCE
INFORMATION
SIGNATURE
Remarks:
fiatoet 16e Z.; C st.. r: 475'4. C-144/.
..,6t -'1-eli'40. r
4 f22.," _ilk
-7-cae/er 04- *
ocz,784 -Y h4 ez-4,
e..(74/ '/Z---?? fie c1/4,-? 5,
'IQ?
ei
i
1-tLe--
f_
.e..-fr
're
FOLD HERE TO RETURN TO SENDER
FROM: NAME, ADDRESS AND PHONE NO,
DATE
S r4-144 t/c le 671?&-.,
e'07/
1 UNCLASSIFIED I I CONFIDENTIAL I
SECRET
FORM No.
2-6 .137 Use previous editions
1 Z.
(40)
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE /961 0-5872.82.
STATI NTL
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP81S00991R000200060010-5