MEMORANDUM FOR: MR. BANNERMAN FROM (Sanitized)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00780R002200080002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 24
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2002
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 8, 1968
• Content Type: MF

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Mr. Bannerman
Dr. II has submitted a second report in which
he recommends positive steps to plan for the development of Agency history in
an intelligent and systematic way. On 4 October 1968 Colonel White asked to
hear from you within the next few days (a telephone call will do) giving your
reaction to the concept set out by Dr Your reaction, along with
those of the other Deputy Directors has apparently been requested by the
Director.
STAT
Dr. lias commented on the partial histories
which have already been written STAT
He also noted that now a time lag of 18 years in the
writing of the ovrall history of the Agency and 15 years in. the history of its
components, an his gap is increasing. He believes that the interval between
the completion of a given volume of history and the present should be kept
within three to five years. He further recommends that our history effort;
a. cover the entire Agency;
b. be concerned with the roles of the Director and
CIA in the national intelligence effort, and with the organization,
structure, activities, and operation of the Agency;
c. include the historical writings previously done and
being done in the Agency;
d. make provision for the identification, creation,
needs, and retrieval of the records for historical purposes, and;
e. be under the direction and control of a Chief Historian
and Historical Staff, assisted by a Historical Board in each
Directorate. The Historical Staff would include a historical
officer for each of the four Directorates.
Dr. defines the catch-up program as concerned
with the overall history of the Director/CIA, 1950-1965 and the historical programs
of the four Directorates, 1946/47-1966. Dr. I I notes that this catch-up STAT
program will take an effort of some magnitude an a number of additional writers
to complete all of the programs as they now stand prior to 1971/72, at which point
the ongoing programs, largely written by the proposed Historical Staff, should begin.
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Dr.
of 13, including four secretar es.
proposes a permanent Historical Staff
I certainly see no objection to the proposal made by
Dr. that a permanent Historical Staff should be set up, nor do I differ
with him on the scope of the problem as he outlines it.
The Support Directorate is now deeply involved in what
he calls the "catch-up program" and experience so far has certainly proved that it
is a voluminous, lengthy and difficult program to bite off. The main problem
naturally is writers; on this point Dr. 0 makes no recommendation other
then that we continue with staff employees and contract personnel. At least this
comment should focus the attention of the Director and Colonel White on our
continuing need for contract help in the historical program.
I suggest that you concur in Dr. basic
recommendations for the permanent Historical Staff set up, possibly emphasizing
to Colonel White the continuing need of the Support Directorate for re-hiring
annuitants in order to keep our program going.
STAT
STAT
STAT
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4 t3ctob 1968,
ORANDUM FOR : Acting Deputy Director for Intelligence
Deputy Director for Plans
Deputy Director for Science and Technology
pity Director for Support
As you know, the Director desires that we
take some positive steps to plan for the development of our history
in an intelligent and systematic way. It was primarily to help us
decide how we were going to proceed that we asked Dr.
to join us.
Attached is Dr. report propos-
ing a specific programs which would catch us up and keep us current.
I should appreciate hearing from you within the next few days (a
telephone call will do) giving .e your reaction to this concept.
Please don't bother to comment on the staffing, grades, etc. What
I want to know is whether or not you agree that this is a proper
approach to the problem. The report has been reviewed by
and I have discussed it briefly with the Director,
who requested that I seek your reactions before launching the
program on a more formal basis.
Attachment
A Historical Program for the
Central Intelligence Agency-
Second Report
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Deputy Director for Support
ROOM NO.
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HQ
REMARKS:
FROM:
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FORM NO 24 I REPLACES FORM 36-8 (47)
WHICH MAY BE USED.
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bat
A HISTORICAL PROGRAM FOR THE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
SECOND REPORT
1. On 30 April, I submitted an interim report, consisting
of some observations and suggestions for a historical program
for the Agency, with a Historical Staff to direct and carry out
the program. Underlying this report were three strongly held
beliefs: (a) the program should make full use of the historical
writing previously done in the Agency and that being done by
the present Historical Staff and in the historical programs of
the four directorates; (b) a sharp distinction must be made
between a.continuing, permanent program and a catching-up
activity, with a very considerable effort being made to eliminate
the present backlog; and (c) work on the ongoing and on the
catching-up programs must proceed simultaneously and inde-
pendently of each other. The present report repeats these
.beliefs, discusses the problem of catching-up, especially as it
affects staffing; and includes some. further observations on the
organization of the Historical Staff and on the nature of the
permanent program.
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2. The historical program which is described in the
present report, is one that (a) covers the entire Agency; (b)
is concerned with the roles of the DCI and CIA in the national
intelligence effort, and with the organization, structure, activ-
ities, and operations of the Agency; (c) includes the historical
writing `previously done and being done in the Agency; (d) makes
and control of a Chief Historian and Historical Staff, assisted
by a Historical Board in each directorate.
of records fdr historical purposes; and (e) is under the direction
provision for the identification, creation, retention, and retrieval
3. In addition to the distinction between the ongoing,
permanent program and the catching-up program, a distinction
should be made between the overall history of the DCI- CIA
and the histories of the four directorates. Closely related to
these differentiations are three determinations: (a) the location
of a line setting off overall history from directorate history,
(b) the location of a line separating the catching-up program
from the continuing program, and (c) the length of the time-
lag between the terminal date of a history and the present.
4. The overall history is history at the highest policy
level and includes the DCI and the CIA in the intelligence
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community, the DCI as head of CIA, the Office and Area
of.the DCI, and the relations of the DCI and the Deputy
Directors of Intelligence, Plans, Science and Technology,
and Support. The area of overall history may be shown
graphically on an organizational chart of the Agency. A
line drawn across the chart, through the center of the offices
of the four deputy directors will set off the area of overall
history from that of directorate history. This can not be a
sharp division, for the overall history reaches down into the
directorates, with policy decisions and actions, and the work
of the directorates extends upward. It is intended, however,
that the histories of the offices of the four deputy directors
be included in the directorate programs. Drawing the line
through the middle of the offices of the four deputy directors
emphasizes this duality. Overseas activities and operations
of the Agency, fall in one or the other area, depending on their
nature, magnitude,, and significance.
5. For a date to mark the end of the catching-up program
and the beginning of the ongoing, permanent program, there
are good choices, for the overall history, in.1961 or 1965.
The first. marks the end of the administration of Allen Dulles
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as D,Cl;'the second that of John A. McCone. It seems preferable
o periodize by terms of office of DCIs, rather than by admini-
strations of presidents of the United States. A third possibility
for pe'riodization is found in the occurrence of some substantial
change in the organization of CIA, or in some aspect of its
work. For the historical programs of the directorates the
dividing date has already been assigned as 1966+, that is, at
the end of 1966 or 1967.
6. Several reasons suggest 1965 rather than 1961 as
the dividing date between the catching-up, program and the
continuing program of the overall history. There is some
advantage in having the dates of the overall and the directorate
programs coincide or very nearly so; in having the members of
the Historical Staff and the historical writers working together
on the same period of time. It is desirable not to have too
great a time-lag in the overall program. If 1961 should be
the dividing date, it might 'very well happen that it would be
1971/72 before the history of the McCone administration was
completed and that of Admiral Raborn was begun. There
would then be a six'or seven years' time-lag, and a new
catching-up period might soon be required. Since the
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5.
Chief, Historical Staff, is likely to come from outside the
Agency, and since he is to write the overall history .at the top
level, there are practical grounds for having him start with
1965. He will have 'less of a research job to do before getting
down to writing and can be in a better position to carry out
his other responsibilities with respect to the entire historical
program. Meanwhile, men with long, personal experience in
the Agency can write the earlier years of CIA at the policy
7. There is 'now, as will be seen, a time-lag of eighteen
years in the writing of the overall history of the Agency and
of fifteen years in the history of its components, and this
gap is increasing. While a historian normally works with a
time-lag, and usually a very considerable one, this should
not be the case in the present instance, where it is highly
important to have an up-to-date record based on firsthand
documentation, knowledge, and experience available for
current reference and use. Here the interval between the
completion of a given volume and the present should be kept
within three to five' years. Such a brief interval gives maxi-
mum usefulness to the work. It gives time for identifying,
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gathering, and organizing the source materials, for constructing
a chronology and outline, and for the writing. It even allows
time for some interpretation and for seeing what happened in
a perspective, even though brief. Once the catching-up has
been completed, and the backlog of histories has been eliminated,
it is strongly recommended that the time-lag be held to not
more than three-to five years for all histories that are to be
updated and continued. Where an office has been abolished or
a drastic change in structure or organization has taken place,
or where an activity or operation has been completed, its
history should be written as soon thereafter as possible.
8. Catching-up. - To date there have been two substantial
histories of CIA, both written from within the Agency; that
Organizational History of Central Intelligence Agency, 1950-
1953, completed in 1957 and likewise in ten chapters. The
is a history of the Agency from the establishment of
CIG, in 1946, and is concerned with the infighting that took
place, and with the efforts to establish an effective CIA in
STA
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the face of opposition and competition from other intelligence
organizations. It is written at top level, and is not concerned
with the day-by-day work of the Agency in collecting and
producing finished intelligence, or with the mission of the
Clandestine Servicds. It is a very fine effort for what it does.
Some portions have been published in Studies in Intelligence.
Organizational History, is a
detailed account of the various offices of the Agency during
the administration of General Walter Bedell Smith. It lacks
the treatment of the Agency at the policy level, which is the
history. Since
go back to 1946 in tracing the organizational development of
the Agency, there is some overlapping
it is more a matter of supplementing than of repeating, as their
intent is different. There has been some further writing by
and some by
for the years 1953-1956 and 1960.c This, also, is of
the organizational type,. and deals with offices in the Directorates
of Intelligence and of. Support. The writing is fragmentary and
unfinished, and again does not give an overall picture of the
Agency.. Despite differences in approach and treatment in all
this historical writing, the achievement, in each instance, has
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been solid and useful.
9. The catching-up program is concerned with (a)
the overall history of the DCI-CIA, 1950-1965, and (b).the
historical programs of the four directorates, 1946/47 -
1966+.. As has been stated, the overall history includes the
role and position of the DCI in the national intelligence effort
as the principal intelligence officer of the Government and
as head of the Central. Intelligence Agency, and the organi-
zation and 'structure of the Agency and its activities and
operations, and, as necessary, down through offices, staffs,
centers, services,- stations,. and bases. The detailed treatment
of the components and of their roles in the activities and
operations of the Agency, apart from those of the O/DCI and
DCI Area, belongs, however, to the historical programs of
the directorates.
The catching-up program so far as it relates to the overall
history of DCI-CIA may be divided into (a) rounding out and
adding to the
histories, . 25X
1946-1953; (b) writing the overall history of the Allen Dulles
and John A. McCone administrations, 1953-1965; and (c)
writing the histories of the various components of the O/DCI
and DCI Area, 1946/47 - 1965.
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10. As has been pointed out, the
history was 25X1'
written at the top level, with little on the offices or on the
intelligence activities. of the Agency. There was little on
the Clandestine Services either. The question, then, is how
far one should go in accepting this as sufficient for the purposes
of overall history. Help comes from two sources; from the
Organizational History which extends
back to 1946 in its treatment of CIG and CIA offices, and so
helps to fill a gap in the
history, and from certain 25X11
histories in the directorate programs, which likewise, go
back to the beginnings of CIG and CIA. These latter histories
include the Clandestine Services. The great omission, then,
History is any substantial examination and
consideration of the role and position of the Clandestine Services
at the top level of the Agency, 1946-1950. This. lack might be
met by an additional chapter to
11. For the administration of General Smith, the great
history is of a top level treatment
of the DCI and CIA, and also of the role of the Clandestine
Services. Aspects of the CS during these years are being
covered in the historical program of the Clandestine Services.
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What is needed then is an overall consideration and appraisal
of the Smith period, including the CS. This may require two
or three additional chapters, but it is essential that an estimate
of this important era in the life of CIA be made. The same
person might handle both this and the
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12. For the Allen Dulles period, 1953-1961; there is
at present no overall account. There has been some writing
by
of a preliminary and interpretative char-
acter, dealing 'particularly with 1960, and some chapters
on sup-port functions, 1953-1.956, by!
ORR, OSI, and OBI, by
and on ' 25X
With these excep-
tions the whole of the Dulles administration has yet to be
written at the overall level. This is not an easy assignment,
for this period includes the Bay of Pigs and other episodes.
Similarly, the John A. McCone administration, 1961-1965,
remains to be written at the overall level, and in this case no
preliminary writing has been done. In writing the history of
.these two administrations, the plan followed should more nearly
approximate that of
programs now in effect in the four directorates largely eliminate
the need for the organizational presentation used by
Increasingly, the writing of the overall history
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of DCI-CIA requires that attention be given, beyond the earlier
and customary topics of interest and concern,' to the newer
methods and techniques of intelligence collection and processing,
to activities and operations abroad, some of which have attracted
,public attention, and to the public image and the position of
13. For the first two parts of the catching-up program at
the overall level, as stated in Section 9, the minimum needs
in staff are: a historical writer to supplement the
histories, 1946-1953; a second
historical writer for the Allen Dulles period, 1953-1961; and
a third for the administration of John A. McCone, 1961-1965.
For the first writer, 12 to 18 months should be sufficient to
complete the assignment; for the second, three to four years;
and for the third, three years. In addition to these three, who
may be regular staff members assigned to this task or-contract
employees, there should be a research associate or research
assistant and one clerk-typist.
14. The third part of the catching-up program, at the
overall level,. consists. in writing histories of the offices and
other components of the O/DCI and the DCI Area, including the
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United States Intelligence Board, the Office of National Estimates,
the Office of National Intelligence Programs Evaluation, Office
of the Inspector General, Office of the General Counsel, Office
of the Legislative Counsel, Office of Planning, Programming,
and Budgeting, and- the Cable Secretariat. These should be
written as part of the catching-up program in the same way
as histories of the directorates programs: by regular staff
members assigned to this duty or by contract employees. Once
the backlog of these studies has been, eliminated, help in the
permanent program will come from the Deputy Chief, Historical
Staff.
15. The historical programs now in effect in the Direc-
torates for Intelligence, Science and Technology, Plans, and
Support are very substantial programs that will cover in
detail, when completed, the many offices, staffs, centers,
divisions, stations, and bases of the Agency, and also the more
important activities and operations. In existence for several
years, these programs have. already resulted in a number of
histories, some of them quite good, but the flow is uneven,
since writers are lacking for a number of studies, and in other
instances, the writer assigned to a history has been reassigned
to other duties before the completion'of his work. There is,
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then, a .considerable backlog, and it will take an effort of some
magnitude and a number of additional writers to complete all
the programs as they now stand prior to 1971/72, when, according
he ongoing programs should begin.
16. As the historical programs of the four directorates
proceed, and more and more histories are written, these
programs should be examined and evaluated, at frequent inter-
vals, to determine (a) the quality of.the histories that are being
produced, (b) how adequately each directorate is being covered
as to its structure, work, and achievements, and whether there
are any serious deficiencies or omissions, and (c) the extent to
which directorate histories contribute to Agency history on the
policy level and supplement it.
17. Proceeding simultaneously with the catching-up
program will be the ongoing, permanent program of overall
histories and histories written in the programs of the directo-
rates. It is important that in the effort to eliminate the backlog,
the ongoing program should not falter and a new backlog be
created. The time-lag in the continuing program should
not exceed the three to five year interval, whether in regard
to new studies or older ones to be updated, or whether these
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are in the overall program or in the directorate programs.
As mentioned earlier, the Chief, Historical Staff, assisted by
the Deputy Chief, is to write the overall history at the top level,
while the Deputy Chief and historical writers will write the
histories of the O/DCI and the DCI Area. These historical
writers will be members of the regular staff of the Agency or
contract employees.
18. At the directorate level, the permanent program will
be in char
e of a Historical Officer
one for ea
h di
t
t
g
,
c
rec
ora
e,
assisted by a Historical Board. The Historical Officer will
normally write the history of the Office of Deputy Director
of the directorate to which he belongs. Within the directorates,
historical writers, as at present, will write histories of the
components, the activities, and the operations of their director
rates, but this writing will now form part of a centralized
program, under the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Historical
Staff. Once. the present backlog of historical writings has been
eliminated, the demands of the ongoing programs of the directorates
should not be excessive, since these programs will now involve
the updating of certain histories with some additional writing,,
and the writing'of historical papers covering special operations.
and activities or changes in the organization and structure of
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components of the directorates.
19. While the Historical Staff requires neither a large
library nor an archives under its own control, there are a
few works of reference and some guides and aids to Government
documents and to Agency records that it should possess. The
present Historical Staff has a small collection of materials,
including some original records, and in
Source
Document Index has a most valuable and useful research tool.
The present collection should be maintained within the Historical
Staff. It should be enlarged and broadened into- an all-Agency
historical collection, under a curator and with the services
of a research assistant. Such a facility, when linked with
the records management program, the Central Reference
Service, and a CIA historical' archives, if such should be
established, would.be invaluable to writers in their research
in giving them guidance in locating materials, and would increase
very 'considerably the accessibility and exploitation of documents
needed for historical purposes.
20. The Historical Staff. In the Interim Report of
30 April, the Staff was described, in paragraphs 4-10, as
consisting of.a Chief, Historical Staff; Deputy Chief, Historical.
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Staff; four Historical Officers, one for each directorate, and
each serving as Executive Secretary of the Historical Board
of his directorate; and an administrative assistant and three
secretaries. The Interim Report stated, It is possible that
on further study a small number of additional positions may
be required, though no marked increase in the size of the
Historical Staff over present strength is contemplated. "
.(Interim Report, par. 10) The Interim Report recommended
supergrade level 17 or 18 for the Chief, but did not indicate the
grade of the Deputy Chief or of the Historical Officers. While
it may not be possible to make the appointment at supergrade
18, a 17 is strongly, urged, with a 16 for the Deputy Chief, and
a 15 or 16 for each of the Historical Officers. To these should
be added the Curator, proposed in paragraph 19 of the present
report, at a 15 or 16..
21. The appointment of an administrative assistant or
intelligence assistant is still recommended-, as is the appointment
of a research associate or research assistant, to help the
Curator (par. 19 of this report). A further consideration of
the number of secretaries needed, indicates that three (Interim
Report, par. 10) are insufficient. . The appointment of four is .
recommended; one for the Chief, one for the Deputy Chief, and
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two for'the Historical Officers. This would be a minimal
staff for the ongoing, permanent program, and makes a total
of thirteen positions for the proposed Historical Staff, as
against ten in'the present Historical Staff. However, two
further positions will be required, for the Editor, Studies in
Intelligence, and for a secretary-stenographer. In times of
especially heavy work loads, temporary assistance should be
provided by the employment of one or more persons as an
editor or editorial assistant, on a contract basis, to assist the
Historical. Officers.
25 September 1968
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ANNEX A
Historical Staff, Present
Historian
Historian
Historian
Historian
General
General
General
Intelligence Asst.
Secretary - Steno
Secretary Steno
Historical Staff, Proposed
Deputy Chief
Curator
Historical Officer
Historical Officer
Historical Officer
Historical Officer
(1) Research Assoc. or Asst.
Intelligence Asst.
Secretary - Steno
Secretary - Steno
(2) Secretary - Steno
(3) Secretary - Steno
The numbers (1), (2), and (3) represent additional positions.
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A : istoricaJ Program for CIA
6/-'7 1965 1966+ 1968
T e atc'r.il.g- Pro ram The Conti._uing Program
Tre=:Ovel rail History
The DCI- CIA and the Intellige.zce Community -------------------
O fice of the DCi and treeDCI ~- rea-----------------
Offices of the Deputy Directors---------------------------------
The Directorat Histories
Offices of the Deputy Directors ------I_____________,_____________
Components of the Directorates------- ?-------------- ----
Overseas Activities and Operations ---i -------------------------
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