SUGGESTIONS FOR HIC CONTINUITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85M00364R002003810008-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 17, 2007
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: August 15, 1983
• Content Type: MEMO

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15 August 1983
PERSONAL MEMORANDUM FOR THE DIRECTOR
FROM : Curator, Historical Intelligence
SUBJECT: Suggestions for HIC Continuity
1. This memorandum is for your information, and suggests certain.
considerations to assure the continuity, independence and integrity of
the CIA Historical Intelligence Collection.
2. Background information regarding the Collection is attached
for your reference.
3. I will be retiring from the Agency at the end of the year,
and believe the DCI might wish to become acquainted with several
issues concerning the Collection and the suggestions of its Curator at
a time such cannot be misinterpreted by some as self-serving.
4. Suggestions and discussion:
a. I suggest the DCI, with such consultation as he deems ap-
propriate, appoint a new Curator, Historical Intelligence, at., an early
date. I suggest further that, if possible, the appointee be an SIS-
level level with considerable Agency experience and institutional knowledge,
preferably one with extensive clandestine services or technical col
lection background (the major service priorities of HIC). Considera-
tion should also be given to establishing a two or three year appoint-
ment cycle for the Curator.
Discussion: I have recommended an SIS, carrying the slot
on his or her back, to assure both the independence of
the Curator and to obtain the level of institutional
knowledge and experience required of the position. The
existing slot, GS-14, I. believe, will not serve these
considerations.
STAT
STAT
(In my case, the abrupt end of security-counterintel-
ligence during the investigative period made the broad
institutional knowledge I had acquired in that work
eminently available. I sought the appointment aggres-
sively, and with the endorsement of such as Jim Angleton,
y situation was decidedly unique and provided the exper-
tise needed to meet the increased demands of the posi-
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tion. As I have been reminded constantly, the work of
the Curator does not serve directly the duties and
functions of the host office, and it has been unwilling
to enhance the slot. I believe that now a more senior
grade level will be necessary.
Ihave suggested a limited term of appointment be
instituted in the belief that a periodic refreshing of
institutional knowledge is more desirable in the post
than continuity. This would also permit appointment op-
portunities among highly qualified officers near the end
of their careers, thus giving the Agency one last oppor-
tunity to exploit and profit from their institutional
knowledge.
The writer has proposed such an appointment be soon
to provide the new Curator--the third in the 27-year his-
tory of the Collection--sufficient overlap for familiari-
zation and "on-the-job training," by his or her predeces-
sor. I have no ego problem with being replaced, and
working for, a more senior successor in my remaining.
months with the organization.
b. I suggest this transition be exploited as an opportunity to
provide the Collection with a protective environiient.
Discussion: Because the Collection's customer base and
activities are at once foreign to the traditional ac-
tivities of the host office, I have confirmed that on at
least one occasion a proposal was advanced that the Col-
lection be eliminated as a means of reducing costs and
recovering both slots and space. A later thought, also
reported to me, is to reclaim the two positions and to
integrate much of the Collection with the main library at
the time of my retirement, i.e. when the Collection would
be most vulnerable.
This transition period might also be the occasion
for attempts by other components to absorb the Collection
to meet specialized needs. Although benefiting the
receiving component, this would have the unfortunate
effect of eliminating broad Agency access to its impor-
tant knowledge base. During my period i was successful,
in small part, in the back-stage defeat of proposals that
would have placed the Collection under Public Affairs or
the History Staff.
In the former instance, I had little doubt the Col-
lection's mission would have been redirected almost ex-
clusively to research for the Publications Review Board
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and for response to ezternal inquiries, tasks HIC per-
forms for Public Affairs on a regular basis. In the
latter case, I feared the Collection would be converted
to a research arm for the writing of histories and
referencing historical inquiries, tasks with which HIC
sometimes assists.
With either, although I am on extremely friendly
terms with the senior managers of the two functions, I
feared the principal. customer base, the clandestine serv-
ices and others, would either be given reduced service or
be reluctant to avail themselves of the Collection be-
cause of the more overt functions of such a new host.
At'the time of the last Inspector General review, a
senior inspector stated, "It is obvious that HIC does not
belong in OCR. Where do you think it should be?" I was
in total accord with his first statement, but could sug-
gest no alternative. I have given it a great deal of
thought in recent months, and suggest these alternatives
for your consideration:
(1) Assign the Collection administratively under
the Executive Director, with OCR continuing to provide
the space and acquisition/cataloging services as it does
now for other specialized holdings in the Agency. This,
of course, would be the ideal protective environment.
(2) The Director,' Center for the Study of Intel-
ligence, OTE, has indicated his desire to acquire the
Collection, and tells me he has already broached the idea
with the Executive Director. With the clear proviso that
the Collection would not be converted primarily to a re--
search aria for work done at the Center or for OTE, this
is an acceptable solution. Again, OCR would be expected
to continue to provide the space and acquisition/catalog-
ing services. An SIS-rank for the new Curator would be
an invaluable guarantee such an arrangement would work
without prejudice to other HIC customers.
(3) Affirmation of interest by the DCI and the ap-
pointment of an SIS-rank officer as the new Curator would
permit the Collection to remain unthreatened in OCR for
the time being. This would he the easiest to implement,
albeit only a temporary solution.
c. I suggest that in any transition as described above the
staffing be restructured, raising the grade level of the Assistant to
the Curator and adding a clerk-typist. I offer that an Assistant at
the GS-09/11 level and a clerk-typist at the GS 05/06 level would
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provide the minimum support necessary to the new Curator under present
condition:.; and service levels.
Discussion: The HIC reference system is not automated, a
situation not of my choice. The storage and retrieval of
intelligence more:- in running the library, mail
run:_, and the production of endless photo-copies for files
and customers. I believe strongly that the skills of the
Assistant should be focused on reference and customer
service. Second, I believe the Collection should have a
typing capability for production of its product. During
my tenure, I have been the Collection's production typist
for most items, and have been forced to beg assistance
from other offices for the rest, including those of cus-
tomers. This, of course, should not be, and would be
remedied by addition of a clerk-typist.
5. This memorandum has not been routed, coordinated or dis-
tributed. However, after thirty-two years with the Agency and the ap-
proach of retirement, I feel the issues important enough. to bring 'Co,
your personal attention unaltered, despite the bureaucratic faux pas
in the way it is done.
STAT
Historical Intelligence
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CIA HISTORICAL INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION
Location: The CIA Historical Intelligence Collection [HIC] is located
in Vault 1E41A, CIA Headquarters. It functions administra-
tively under the Office of Central Reference, DD/I, and its
personnel [Intelligence Officer (Curator), GS-14, and Assis-
tant to the Curator, GS-071 are slotted in the Office of the
Chief, LSD, OCR.
Access: HIC is available for use by all personnel with Staff or
Staff-access CIA building badges, including those o
intellicence community organizations. Itsmaterials aretloan-
ed to other community elements and are made available from
time to time to authorized. foreign liaison.
History: The CIA Historical Intelligence Collection was created at
the direction of DCI Allen W. Dulles on 31 January 1956. Dr.
Walter L. Pforzheimer, the former Legislative Counsel and an
intelligence literature collector in his own right, was ap-
pointed Special Assistant to the DD/I and tasked with estab-
lishing and managing the Collection. Ultimately, the Collect-
ion was placed with the Office of Centra1.,Reference, and its
chief was designated Curator, Historical intelligence.
An early study notes that DCI Dulles conceived the Collect-
ion to be a working repository of books and perii.;iicals on all
aspects of intelligence, beginning with the earliest written
accounts of intelligence operations and continuing to the
present. He saw it as a reservoir of knowledge recording both
the "how to" and the "how it was done" of the intelligence
profession. Ile believed the literature contained sufficient
precedents on which professional intelligence officers might
draw, much as an attorney draws on old and new law volumes.
tie saw the usefulness of such materials for training purposes,
and hoped the existence of such a collection would imbue young
intelligence officers with the traditions of a uniquely-
American intelligence service.
The greatest growth of early materials dealing with intelli-
gence occurred during this period. As one author described
that time, "The Curator, a senior career official by trade but
by avocation.a bibliophile of some note, is annually allocated,
a handsome budget to travel around the world in search of rare
books and documents on espionage." From an initial holding of
some 1,500 books assembled internally, the Collection increas-
ed ten-fold during Dr. Pforzheimer's period. It was then, as
well, that an extensive Congressional holding was acquired.
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These early years experienced a growing number of works deal-
ing with World war Ii, and the first trickle of books discuss-
ing CIA. The primary users of the Collection were the Counterintelligence Staff ~aandoDivi~sionxD,al
DD/0; and the Security Research Staff, Office of Security.
Yet, another author was not far from the mark when he referred
to oth:,r users as "properly cleared researchers who want to
dress up their learned re-ports."
The appearance of books dealing with the Agency sparked an
unusual authority being granted the Curator. DCI Action Memo-
randum A-311, dated I November 1963, empowered the Curator to
call on anyone in the Agency with the necessary expertise to
provide informed analysis of new materials, and to alert the
DCI and other senior officials when such publications appear-
ed. The informed analysis responsibility of the Curator was
overtaken by events of the decade that followed; a growing
number of books, press disclosures and the like, shifted
analysis and damage assessment to the affected Agency com-
ponents. HIC surrendered the process, yet remained integral
to it.
On 15 June 1974, ormer Chief, Special Ac-
tivities Operations, Security Research Staff, was appointed
Curator to succeed Dr. Pforzheimer, who retired.
The Collection took on a new focus, much attributable
directly to the tunes--congressional investigations and press
disclosures--and the need to discover and document the events
of the past. HIC assumed a prominent role in this process.
Yet another assignment to HIC was determination of historical
and procedural precedents supporting the contested Agency ac-
tivities.. The flood of books and articles since that time
have swelled the Collection to almost 22,000 titles and
tripled its topical files.
The severe loss of institutional knowledge and records de-
struction which occurred in the 1970's has resulted in more
reliance on the Collection by senior management and opera-
tional components. Early authorization for HIC to contact
Agency retirees to aid in reconstruction of specific events
has proven a highly effective tool in this regard.
HIC has been a frequent way-station to visitors from foreign
intelligence services, academia, the Media and the Congress,
by request of sponsoring components. It has received mention
in the public and professional prints, most often in favorable
terms. One called it "the finest library of overt intelli-
gence materials in the world." Yet another described it as
"resembling nothing so much as a large used-book store on the
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seedier side of Manhattan." The most amusing, perhaps, were
two Jack Anderson pieces. The first of the ;c began:
The full history of the United States, given the
secretiveness of government oficials, has never been
told. Many of the nation's most fascinating histori-
cal documents are still classified, under lock in an
unusual library--the "Historical Intelligence Collec-
tion," maintained by the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Curator: The Curator, Historical Intelligence, is a professional
intelligence officer. Of the two who have directed the Col-
lection during its 27-year history, neither has been a librar-
ian, although managing a specialized library. Neither has
been an historian in the strictest sense, although employed in
seeking out the past in the literature of intelligence and
other sources to meet current needs. The Curator must be a
bit of both of these, but of greater importance is a degree of
experience in the craft with which he works. Where most
analytical and research positions involve abstraction from
actual personal experience, the Curator is required to meld
such personal knotti>ledge and institutional memory with those of
contemporaries in the conscious reconstruction of events. The
Curator must be prepared to perform a wide variety of research
tasks for senior constituent groups and have a positive desire
to assist Agency officers in performing successful research in
the Collection and directing them to productive sources else-
where in the Agency. The Curator's time schedule and priori-
ties are usually established by those of the consumers; yet,
the Curator works with a high degree of independence and has
direct control over how the product is developed and presented
to the consumer.
Consumers: It is an anomaly that although the Collection is "rationed
and quartered" in the DD/I, that Directorate is only a minor
customer in its operation. Some 90% of the Collection's re-
search activities are in support of the clandestine services
and the several offices of the DCI. The largest portion of
the remainder is in support of the Office of Security regard-
ing foreign and domestic espionage cases and leak investiga-
tions. HIC's research product is delivered directly to the
consumer., and has not been subject to normal DD/I'review and
release procedures, a result of both the compar.tmentation
desires of some of its customers and the frequent sensitivity
of the information sought for operational application.
Support: Although the Collection's support activities have varied ac-
cording to needs of the time, the type of assistance given is
illustrated by the following current activities:
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I1TC scans many U.S. and foreign publ.icat:i.ons for arti.c1e on
intelligence. Concerned elements are notif.ied o
those
rc-
flecting coinprontise or having adverse impact on the Agency,
and standing requirements of such components are also ser-
viced. These and other materials meeting retention standards
are categorized and filed in the Collection for later re-
covery.
HIC reviews various bibliographic and selection li-:1:ings for
information on forthcoming books of intelligence interest and
makes appropriate notification to senior officials and con-
cerned elements at that time. Copies of the actual book or
article are provided when they appear. Recommendations are
made for possible review of important works in Studies in In-
telliaence. HIC is also called on when necessary in damage
assessment preparation.
HIC guides Agency and community officers in the exploitation
of the Collection, with recommendations of suitable (and un-
suitable) works addressing the problem being studied, research
methods which may be productive, etc. Assistance to career
trainees on their initial desk assignment:; and to interns has
received enthusiastic and favorable ".feedback" from them.
HIC assists Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act and
declassification review officers in reseurc:h of the public
domain-prior disclosure-Executive disclosure status of
specific items of contested information. It also performs
reviews as required for the Publications Review Board,
generally of those matters involving clandestine services ac-
tivity. .
HIC conducts research for senior-level customers as re-
quested. The product may be used for publication, public and
congressional responses, speeches, public affairs purposes and
other official applications.
HIC recommends and provides in many languages, materials to
be used for training of staff and agent- personnel and for
other operational purposes.
HIC conducts liaison with other governmental and sometimes
non-government historical elements to see;; their answers to
official questions. In return, riIC fields questions from such
elements. (The type of inquiries dealt with here are distinct
from those the History Staff might have with the same ele-
ments.)
In sum, HIC offers internal researchers a knowledge base
dealing with the profession, including the flood of books and
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article, of the last decade by former employees and critics
alike. Often, of late, the Collection has been the only
source of the desired information. Senio.zc officers to be
posted abroad, for example, regularly brief themselves with
the Collection's country files, and some have commented that
the Collection has more information about the past activities
of the Agency and those of the intelligence services in the
host country than is available on the area desk. Agency
speakers have said repeatedly that more resource material
dealing with the. desired topics may be found in the Collection
than found in the speakers' parent offices.
It is pleasing to note that several foreign liaison or-
ganizations have developed similar collections modeled after
HIC, often incorporating duplicate books provided from the
Collection.
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