RECORDS MANAGEMENT BOARD REPORT JANUARY THRU JUNE 1970

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00780R003600140005-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 20, 2002
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: July 21, 1970
• Content Type: MF

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WEB
CJs
AUG 197r/'%' `
Registry
Shirley in Colonel
White's office made a low-
key check on this outstanding
suspense item today. Do
you know where we stand?
Miriam 10/9
Mr. B - I had this suspended for
1 Jan 71. Ellen
j~~u i5 ~~, S~ tL~ Y
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MEMORANDUM FOR: Colonel White
The report of the Records Management Board
covering the period 1 January - 30 June 1970 is
attached. I recommend you approve the Board's
proposal that we discontinue regular reporting
and report to you annually or when we have some-
thing which warrants your attention.
I am reviewing the value of the Records Manage-
ment Board in terms of the increasingly apparent
inter-relationship between records management and
information processing and expect to have a pro-
posal for your consideration in the near future.
61610 R. L. Rai sari an
2 3 JUL 1970
10-101
FORM NO 101 WHICH RELACES
MAY FORM
I AU
(DATE)
DD /S Distribution:
orig - Adse w/orig & 4 cys of DD /s 70-3006
,.- DD/S Subject w/cY of DD/S 70-3006
1 - DD /S Ch-o
1970 to ExDir-Comet fr Chairman,
DD/S 70-3006: 'Memo dtd 2111 `Board, sub): Records Mgmt. Board Report -
.Records Mgm .
Jan thru June 1970
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SECRET
2 1 JUL 1970
MEMORANDUM FOR; Executive Director-Comptroller
THROUGH : Deputy Director for Support
SUBJECT Records Management Board Report
January thru June 1970
1. This report is primarily for your information but does
contain a recommendation for your approval in paragraph 9.
2. The period covered by this report is for six months rather
than the usual quarterly reporting established two years ago. We have
done this in order to include progress on major items pending at the
time the quarter ended. Also this enables us to provide sum-nary
statistics on progress made during the two years of effort devoted to
purging the Records Center holdings.
3. During this six-month reporting period Agency components
disposed of 10,000 cubic feet of material from the Records Center
and deposited 6,400 cubic feet. The effort to reduce the volume on
hand resulted in a net reduction of 3,600 feet in the past six months.
This latest rather significant reduction is primarily attributed to
purging the DD/I Supplemental Distribution material.
4. Since the campaign to purge material from the Records Center
began two years ago we have disposed of a total of 40,750 cubic feet.
The space gain has been offset by new accessions of some 32,600 feet.
The overall net gain was 8,150 cubic feet of freed storage space. This
can accommodate about eight months of new accessions at the recent rate
of records retirement. Although the component reviews will continue
as a regular part of the Records Program, it appears that we have gained
our maximum benefits from the Purge Campaign. The overall results of
the purge confirm earlier estimates that in spite of concentrated efforts
by all components to reduce their records retired to the Center the
Agency requirement to augment its storage capacity will continue. The
purge was successful to the extent that for the first time in the history
of the Agency we were able to effect a significant net reduction in
component records holdings at the Center over a two-year period. Our
Exctuded from auromat7e
j#CRET downgrading and
declassification
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emphasis will now be focused on the improvement of records systems in
the offices, careful screening of material scheduled for retirement,
and miniaturization when it will serve a useful purpose in an informa-
tion handling or records system.
5. The Office of Logistics has primary action for the instal-
lation of motorized shelving on the second floor of the Records Center
and for the conversion to a
temporary records storage facility. That office has contracted with
the to administer this
project. When completed these actions will result in an additional
38,000 cubic feet of storage capacity. Target dates for completion
are December 197U for the and September 1971 for the
motorized shelving in the Records Center. The engi-
neers are drafting detailed specifications for bidding purposes.
6. In January the Office of Logistics completed an inventory
of Agency microform equipment and its use. This data has been reviewed
by the Records Board and our initial conclusions are that there is
valid justification for differences in the nine major microform systems
identified in this survey. These include various reel films, minicard,
three different aperture cards, two types of microfiche, WALNUT , and
Computer Output Microfilm (COM). Within these nine major microform
systems there are approximately 55 microfilming applications in current
use. There is adequate compatibility among the 55 applications with-
in their respective microform systems.
7. In February we received a final draft of the National Ar-
chives and Records Services (MARS) regulation on Federal Microfilming
Policies and Procedures. Federal policy emphasizes that the micro-
filming of material now in Records Centers to reduce storage apace is
prohibitively expensive and not generally recommended. The payoff
from microforms is measured in a systems context after it has been
established that a microform systlem is actually appropriate. Micro-
forms are an appropriate tool if there are systems benefits to be
derived by improved speed, efficiency and accuracy of information
processing. Usually, space savings are subordinate to systems con-
siderations. Standards in the MARS regulation permit the microfilming
of permanent records and destruction of the converted hard copy. This
opportunity may be utilized when the systems related to such records
are developed.
8. The Board members feel that because of basic differences in
the mission and functions of the various Directorates the developments
of microform systems are best managed at the Directorate level in order
to be responsive to specific needs. If the management of microform
systems is to be handled on an Agency basis it will require a special-
GROUP t
Excluded tram ausematle
downgrading and
declassitical:; ,
25X1
25X1
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 . require.
ized staff, competent in microforms and sensitive to Directorate needs
with an expertise exceeding that in the Directorates. In the mean-
time the Board members exchange information of microform plans and
developments in order to serve the best interests of Agency Management.
Also, the members find that standardization can be a liability if
imposed only to insure the uniformity of component microform appli-
cations, unless there are systems requirements for the component
applications to communicate with each other and to exchange data or
information. Finally, except for the objection of the DD/P represen-
tative, the Board members encourage the contracting of consultant
service's to study whether microforms would be useful in a context
broader than the systems and applications identified by the individual
Directorates. In the coming months the Board will continue to examine
the problems of records miniaturization and compaction.
9. Since the major thrust of activity on the records purge has
been completed, the Board would like to discontinue quarterly reporting.
We recommend that the Records Management Board report to you on an
annual basis in the future with supplementary reports as conditions may
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arman
Records. Management Board
The recommend tion in ;P ragraph 9 is approved: ? e ~~ ..mss v !mil
c.~?~i -G~ .
1.4 V140 7~,~a (e fa,r- /14a tie- 4
r, ire
L. K. White
L
Executive Director-Comptroller
DD/S Distribution:
Orig Adse (Pis retur to C/RAB via C/SSS)
1 - ER .c D L~' S
2-DD/S
1 - C /SSS
Sep j i EXCIUCtJY'f l ~~iTC~t.ilt
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2 0 JUL 1970
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Support
SUBJECT CIA Records Management Board
1. Attached is the Records Management Board Report to the
Executive Director-Comptroller for the period 1 January through
30 June 1970. Paragraph 9 of this report requests that we be per-
mitted to discontinue regular reporting and report to the Executive
Director annually or when we feel we have something of particular
interest to him.
2. The Records Management Board has done an effective job in
managing the records purge during the past two years. It is a useful
mechanism for the senior records management officers to meet and
discuss the Agency's records program. The Board members need some
assurance that their problems are at least being heard, even though
we may be unable to obtain the resources necessary to deal effectively
with them. I have reservations, however, about the Board's ability
to handle the basic issues confronting us such as developing proposals,
programs, and policies for compatibility and expansion of future
Agency records systems; making significant contributions to our
desire to revert to a more centralized "Agency-oriented" records manage-
ment program; or planning for the Agency's future archival programs.
Present members of the Board lack the time, authority, and stature
within their own directorates to address themselves productively to
broad policy problems. Moreover, the Board members are severely ham-
pered even in dealing with the technical and procedural aspects of the
records program because the Directorates, with the exception of the
DD/P, do not have the staff support to do research and prepare issue
papers for consideration by the Board. To the extent that staff work
has been required during the two years the Board has been in existence,
it has been done by the Records Administration Branch of the Support
Services Staff, but given the small size of this unit and its current
workload the time that can be devoted to staff papers and research for
the Board is less than adequate.
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3. I have considered recommending that the Records Management
Board be upgraded to a level equivalent to the Information Processing
Board; that the Records Management Board be abolished and its role and
functions assumed by the Information Processing Board; or that the
Records Management Board continue to function but as a subcommittee of
the Information Processing Board. As presented in my memorandum to you
of 26 May 1970, the relationship between records management and informa-
tion processing management is clear. The future of the Records Manage-
ment Board should be considered in terms of the recommendations in that
memorandum relating to the organizational placement of the records
administration function. In any case, as Hank Knoche pointed out in
his departure memorandum, a Board can only be effective if it keeps
its agenda narrowed to actionable items already well staffed out in
advance. Determining the Agency's future in records systems demands
special in-depth studies and the same "special operational analysis" as
is needed in information processing applications if we are to be sure
that our choice of solutions to problems is the wisest one. A Board
has a role to play in recommending the choice but it is a more complex
task than can be done by part-time officers with no staff support.
Nevertheless, I think the Records Management Board should continue to
meet in an effort to keep the communications channel open and to chip
away at some of the smaller more manageable problems until we can deal
with the broader issues of its ultimate disposition. You should
recognize its limitations, however, and realize that it is clearly
not capable of making significant progress in resolving our major
records problems.
25X1
Chief, Support Services Staff
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