PAPER ON INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS AND COLLECTION TASKS IN RELATION TO PRIOIRTY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE - DCID 4/5

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00400R000200090027-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 17, 2006
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: June 11, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

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TAC-D-50/5. 1
11 June 1956
I N T E L L I G E N C E A D V I S O R Y C O M M I T T E E
Paper on Intelligence Requirements and Collection Tasks in
Relation to Priority National Intelligence - DCID 4/5
V
1. The attached paper was submitted to the Director of
Central Intelligence by Special Assistant to the Director for Planning
and Coordination, Mr. Richard M. Bissell, Jr.,, in fulfillment of
the assignment explained to the IAC in IAC-D-50/5, 20 January 1955.
In the preparation of this paper informal consultation was held by
Mr. Bissell's office with those principally interested, Army, Navy,
Air Force, JIG and State, and the paper is designed to reflect the
various facts obtained in that consultation.
2. The Director has accepted this report_ and requested that
it be disseminated to the IAC members for their information. It will
not be placed on the agenda except at the request of a member of the
IAC.
WILLIAM P. BUNDY
Secretary
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C IAC-D-50/5. 1
11 June 1956
INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS AND COLLECTION TASKS IN
RELATION TO PRIORITY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE --
DCID 4/5
25 May 1956
1. You requested that, in collaboration with representatives
of IAC agencies, I conduct a review of the existing provisions for the
development and coordination of information requirements and col-
lection tasks in conformity with established Priority National Intelligence
Objectives. This was explained to the IAC in IAC-D-50/5, 20 January
1955.
2. Description of the existing provisions:
a. Priority National Intelligence Objectives, as approved
by the IAC and noted by the NSC, authorize the fundamental
direction which the community's intelligence production and
collection efforts should take. They do not, however, serve
as the sole or exclusive guide to the work of either research
or collection offices, each of which devotes a portion of its
effort to meeting "departmental" intelligence needs. These
"departmental" intelligence needs coincide in many instances
with the needs expressed in the Priority National Intelligence
Objectives.
b. In the course of research to meet Priority National
Intelligence Objectives and departmental needs, research
offices ascertain gaps in available information which require
collection action to fill. Such research will in certain fields
be subject to some coordination: for atomic energy thru
JAEIC; for science and technology, SEC; for guided missiles,
GMIC; for economics, EIC; and for basic intelligence, NIS.
Such committees have in the past engaged in some coordina-
tion of requirements, most usefully in regard to those
requirements rating a high priority. Requirements thus
endorsed are translated into requests for collection action
by the agency responsible for the research.
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c. Available to all research offices are "Requirements
Officers" who serve as middlemen between research and
collection components. Their services are essential because
of the size and complexity of our intelligence system which
makes extensive direct individual contact between analysts
and collectors administratively unfeasible. It is the function
of these Requirements Officers to insure (a) that Washington
resources have been exploited before requests are sent to the
field; (b) that the desired information is expressed in the form
most clearly understandable and usable by the collector(s);
and (c) that the request for information does not duplicate
other requests. It must be remembered that the research
officer is responsible for determining the substance of the
information desired. The Requirements Officer can con-
tribute thru his understanding of research needs and
collection machinery and capabilities and can frequently
suggest other informational needs and other possible sources.
The need expressed by the analyst in turn depends upon the
research tasks to which he has been assigned. It should
also be noted that the "coordination" performed by these
Requirements Officers is essentially limited to requests
originating within their own research components.
d. The collection offices of the IAC agencies also
include "requirements" elements whose task it is to act as
a focal point in dealing with research components and further
to insure that any given requirement does not duplicate one
Requirements emanating from the research components of CIA, or
submitted from any part of the intelligence community to a CIA
collection facility are subjected to a further "coordination" by the
Office of Central Reference. This office reviews the selection
made by the research office of the collector most appropriate to
obtain the desired information, makes a determination of the
collector to be requested to assume the responsibility and
insures that a request does not unprofitably duplicate other
requests already levied.
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which has already been received and acted upon. They are
usually a part of the collecting offices reports machinery
which engages in a cyclical system of requirements, re-
ports, and evaluations. It should be noted that these officers
do not decide if collection will be undertaken. That is a
command decision of collection supervisors, depending upon
the capacity to collect and his other responsibilities.
3. The above outline delineates the general procedure by which
the need of an analyst for information is transmitted to a collector
whose task it is to obtain the information. There are, of course,
exceptions and special interagency arrangements have been established
which permit decisions on priorities for collection as limited resources
might require: USCIB and IPC.
4. In considering the problem posed in IAC-D-50/5 in the light
of the procedures generally followed by the intelligence community as
outlined above, certain lines of inquiry are explored below:
a. A review of the existing provisions for the develop-
ment and coordination of information requirements in
conformity with Priority National Intelligence Objectives is
not concerned basically with the activities of requirements
officers attached either to research or to collection elements
since these officers do.not have the primary responsibility
for determining the substance of requirements, or whether
collection will be undertaken. Rather, it is their task to
establish efficient and effective arrangements to those
collectors who may be able to meet the need expressed in
the requirements. Such a review, rather, must directly
involve the administration and management of research
components, since the substance of requirements stems
principally from the tasks assigned the research components
by their chiefs and the collection of information finally de-
pends on the inherent capabilities and the administration of
the collection facilities. In other words, the degree to which
requirements are "developed and coordinated" in conformity
with Priority National Intelligence Objectives depends upon
the degree to which the tasks undertaken by the research
components have been developed and coordinated in con-
formity with the Objectives.
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b. In the present framework of the intelligence
community, collection tasks, developed in accordance
with the needs of the research components, are allocated
to collectors within certain areas of responsibility in
keeping with the NSCIDs (NSCID 2, 5, 7 etc.) and DCIDs.
The individual collection office, acting within the sphere
assigned to it by appropriate directives, endeavors to
meet the needs expressed to it by research offices trans-
lating requirements into requests for collection action by
the responsible agency. A review of the "development of
collection tasks" thus again leads back to a review of the
administration and direction given to research components,
from which derive the needs which collectors try to meet.
c. Collection offices do not and in the nature of things
cannot concentrate all their efforts, plan their activities,
and strive to build their resources toward meeting Priority
National Intelligence Objectives. Each collection facility has
been allocated a definite sphere of responsibility by NSCID,
and must operate within that sphere. External considera-
tions place definite limitations upon each collector. The
Department of State, for example, is responsible for overt
collection overseas of political information. if requirements
stemming from research to meet Priority National Intelli-
gence Objectives were the primary or only factor governing
the allocation of the political reporting resources of the
Department, the distribution of overseas personnel of the
Foreign Service would be vastly different from what it
actually is. In reality, however, the Department's alloca -
tion of resources is dictated by such factors as the
limitation on the number of diplomatic personnel who can
be stationed at posts behind the Iron Curtain, limitations
on the useful information which such personnel are able to
collect, and by other demands for political information not
related to Priority National Intelligence Objectives. FI
provides an equally striking example of the same phenomenon.
A substantial portion of FI resources are necessarily al-
located to areas and activities which, though not directly
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related to Priority National Intelligence Objectives
produce information of use in important research of
lower over-all priority.
5. The above considerations lead to the conclusion that the
allocation of effort within his collection resources to various tasks
is a command decision by the Chief of each collection facility, in
the light of all the factors affecting the capabilities and limitations
of the facility, as well as all of the requirements placed upon it.
6. Insofar as collectors are faced with competition for their
capabilities, they might well inquire of the originator of the require-
ments whether they are identifiable as supporting PNIOs and if so,
which PNIO. This procedure has, in fact, been applied thru the IPC
and to a certain extent the USCIB.
7. NSCIDs and other directives specify areas of responsibility
among collectors, either by subject area (NSCID 2, 10), or by method
of collection (NSCID 5, 7). NSCID 2 and DCID 2/1 provide a mechanism
for coordinating overt collection tasks overseas. With regard to the
coordinating responsibility assigned to Chiefs of Mission overseas by
DCID 2/1, the Department of State has, over the years, endeavored to
insure that coordination is effected thru procedures appropriate to
each post. As a result of these efforts, DCID 2/1 is now, in general,
being implemented in a reasonably satisfactory .manner. The IAC
agencies under the leadership of the Department of State have in the
last two years sent instructions to their representatives urging co-
ordination of collection requirements as received in the field in order
to obtain maximum benefit from the capabilities available. The
replies give evidence that the field is complying with those instructions.
I do not believe a further review of overseas coordination, as it
pertains to the problem at hand, is required. NSCID-5 places upon
the DCI responsibility for coordinating overt and covert collection
activity. This is accomplishe the DCI principally in the field
thru coordination between the fllrepresentativ6 at each post, and 25X1
the representatives of other agencies, and at headquarters by CIA
not accepting for clandestine collection by CIA requirements which
can be obtained thru overt means.
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8. At the outset of its Post Mortem experience the IAC requested
that the members prepare a single report on actions they had taken in
pursuance of a Post Mortem, This was done in the case of China--
SE 27 (for report see IAC-D-57/1). Thereafter and in lieu thereof,
the agencies have been asked in response to each Post Mortem to take
such action within their own spheres of responsibility as they deem
appropriate. It is presumed that "such action" initially means research
with requirements for collection following as necessary. While the
original procedure might be profitably reinstituted it would not be
responsive to the problem at hand inasmuch as the requirements
emerging from Post Mortems are not necessarily, and in many cases
are not, in line with PNIOs. Post Mortem review is only one of the
measures takers by research offices to initiate appropriate action to
fill gaps which become obvious in the course of research. The re-
establishment of the original Post Mortem procedure is not recommended
as a means of making collection more responsive to PNIOs.
9. There is a possibility that the IAC might establish a sub-
committee to expand the PNIOs into an IAC approved requirements
list in an effort to insure that requirements are indeed responsive to
PNIOs. However, valid requirements cannot be developed in a
vacuum; they must relate to an actual research need. The subject
areas regarding which the IAC agencies can usefully coordinate their
research programs (and thus their requirements) in terms of PNIOs
have already been identified and subcommittees established, and
additional coordination can be directed by the IAC as needed. It is
believed unnecessary and unwise to try to effect "coordination" where
a major overlap of interests does not exist.
10. Each agency or research component thereof has stated that
its research program is responsive to PNIOs. Such programs will be
affected as changes occur in national problems as reflected by needs
of the NSC, its Planning Board, or individual operating agencies, as
well as by revisions of the PNIOs. A new IAC subcommittee either to
coordinate research programs over-all or to insure that research
programs are responsive to PNIOs is not recommended.
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11. Summary Conclusion: That no new provisions are required
for the development and coordination of information requirements and
collection tasks in conformity with DCID 4/5.
/ s / RICHARD M. BISSELL, Jr.
Special Assistant to the Director
for Planning and Coordination
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