SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON A CIA MUSEUM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300630025-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 25
• Content Type: MEMORANDUM FOR

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1f) March, 197.9
MEMORANDUM FOR:
is airs Office
SUBJECT: Some personal thoughts on a CIA museum
1. When we talked the other day, I promised to produce a thought paper
on this subject. This is it. This paper is the synthesis of my thoughts, my
research and experience, and my philosophy. Initially, a successful museum is
defined functionally and operationaly in a series of premises. While this
series may seem long and complicated, it was intended to be comprehensive.
There are museums which exist without satisfying all these premises. They are
usually on the scale of a large exhibit and are of little importance or repute,
having but few visitors. Not all of these premises become operational at the
onset, they should be provided for in the long range planning of every museum.
These premises are followed by a detailed discussion of each premise in terms of
our operational environment. Then some observations on administrative and
miscellaneous matters are made.
2. A successful museum is:
a. a repository for a collection of items, which are acquired, indexed,
stored, maintained, and protected from loss, damage, and the effects of time
b. a readily accessable place where there is an open and permanent
display, according to some theme, of part of its collection
c. another place where specially certified visitors may study
restricted items in the collection
d. able to sponsor mobile displays of parts of its collection and items
loaned to it from other collections
e. capable of both designing and executing the design of its exhibits
f. a place where some study and research may be done by both scholars
of repute and serious students of the discipline
g. able to host meetings and sponsor discussions and guest speakers
h. supported by members of an association which is financially self
sufficient and provides financial support to the museum as well as public and
political visibility for the musuem
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i. able to produce a program of activities to keep its associated
members, attract other supporters, and serve the public interest
j. able to sell. books, reproductions, and related items through a
museum store
k. often related informally to one or more professional societies (in
addition to the membership association) to provide dignity, decorum,
authenticity
1. usually affiliated with a non-profit foundation to supply financial
and moral support, this foundation is the unofficial mouthpiece of the museum
and is able to "speak on behalf of the museum but not for the museum", in
matters of public dispute and in soliciting exhibits and grants from appropriate
sources
m. given strategic guidance by a group of directors who possess
financial, political and technical means to advise the operating officials of
the museum
3. The operational environment of today may be characterized as one
which is open to the extent that sources and methods are protected and all else
is subject to the sunshine of the Freedom of Information Act. This period of
partial disclosure is one which permits unconstrained speculation by outsiders
on every scrap of information. The results produce quantities of misinformation
and negative public opinion results. It is unlikely to decrease in the near
future. A display of authentic historical matter could do much to educate the
public and counter the unfavorable image. The exhibition must be from some
aggregation of items which do not have current national security implications.
a. There is a vast storehouse of historical artifacts which though
presently dispersed, could be gathered together and augmented by items in our
Historical Intelligence Collection of the Office of Central Reference, our
archives, and corresponding entities of other members of the intelligence
community. These would have to be carefully updated with exhibits of artifacts
from incidents which have been opened to public vision. All artifacts would be
either unclassified or downgraded from a classified status. They should be
physically turned over to the museum for custodial responsibility. Protective
custodial services would have to be provided by the museum staff. A museum
collection might include the reproduction of Washington's letter, the report of
such things as Lewis and Clark, or the Pike Expedition, George Washington's
surveys, the message wrapped in cigars from the civil war, the message to
Garcia, radio intercepts of messages to German submarines in World War I, wire
taps on battlefield phone lines in France, the matter behind the "gentlemen
don't read other gentlemen's mail" incident, work of the naval security group in
breaking the Japaneese codes, Pearl Harbor artifacts, OSS data, the story of the
part cryptology played at Midway, the photograph of Penemunde which showed the
missilry, the Chinese logistic net that went from the US to the mainland during
the Korean Police Action, incidents relating to the atomic secrets penetration
of the 40's and 50's, the U2 incident, the Berlin tunnel, the Cuban missile
crisis, the age of defectors (MacLean and Penkovski), the bug in the US Embassy,
the ambassador's shoe, the incidents which prevented a repetition of the Soviet
incursion into.Czechoslovakia in Yugos our side of the congressional
investigations, the pictures that appeared and
the downed Korean airliner, the bug on Kruse ev s car e e ? , IX 25X1
missile tracking station here in D.C., the original statue of Nathan Hale.
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b. The display of this collection requires some degree of showmanship.
Two important aspects are the theme or message and the exhibitional method. The
there organizes the collection into an integrated display. I would suggest that
first there be a definition of intelligence and a description of its traditional
methods of collection, a description of the intelligence cycle and the
conversion of raw data into a finished intelligence product. The history of
American intelligence should be presented in evolutionary .form such as.: The
Colonial and Revolutionary period, the Western expansion period, the war between
the states, pre-World Warl intelligence, combat intelligence of World War I,
pre-Viorld War II intelligence, the intelligence problem behind Pearl Harbor,
World War II intelligence (sub-divided by theater and service with a special OSS
separate exhibit) , the expansion of intelligence into paramilitary and other
activities, the rise of global responsibilities and of the increased part of
technical intelligence such as the U2 and the satellite. The means of exhibition
should follow the philosophy of the Franklin Museum in Philadelphia, an
involvement climate with the museum visitor. Have a real bug in a seal with a
bug in it "broadcast" conversations to another location to a small loudspeaker.
I understand the Berlin tunnel fimally grew to huge proportions - if so have a
replica and do a walk thru, show a movie of the U2 in flight, have a duplicate
of the coin with the atomic secrets, have a diorama of part of the FBIS
operation at station X somewhere in the mideast, walk the deck of the Pueblo and
look thru portlights into the operations section, have a button one may push to
activate an antenna in a diorama on elint collection, visit the Presidential
briefing on the Cuban missile crisis with a tape of the briefing to the audience
(located where the President is sitting). Somewhere in here should be an
example of the awful uncertainty because the intelligence is not total and of
the necessity to do something in the absence of the truth - perhaps the Gulf of
Tonkin Incident. End with a replica of the Presidential messages and then the
main entrance to headquarters and the Wall of Honor.
c. It may be feasible to have an exclusion area for special material
such as the Psychological Warfare exhibit that used to be in the Library of
Congress, perhaps certain classified products might be stored in a vault for
use. This should not be overlooked as a consideration in the initial plan.
d. To reach the greatest number of people, some form of portability
needs to be incorporated in a mobile visiting exhibition which could travel to
proper exhibit sites such as the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, or
the Golden State in San Francisco.
e. It takes showmanship and crafstrnanship to produce a really topflight
exhibition. The craftsmanship must be an integral part of the museum. It will
have opening dates and schedules to be met and must be self sufficient with
respect to resources and personnel. There is absolutely no form of resource and
personnel sharing that will work properly unless it is for others to share the
museums resources. Any other way will result in a preemption of effort directed
toward the museums goals. There are some of these craftsmen assigned within the
agency now, a small fraction of them could be used as seed-people to get things
started. Maintenance of "hands on" exhibits is always heavy, but it is worth
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f. One of the attractions of a museum is its uniqueness. The
collection is a rare and wonderous thing or it is not worth studying. It is
this characteristic which makes the museum of value, no where else is there such
a collection and to study it is something special for serious students and
practitioners of the discipline. For example, I have a French Foreign Legion
manual on Indochineese home made mines and booby traps From the 1950's. It was
of considerable use to us in the 1960's. There are times when institutional
memory is limited by records administrators, archivists and just the growth of
information without a corresponding growth in storage capacity.. There is a bit
of lore that says we had to economize on space for map storage and the decision
.was made to destroy the maps of an unimportant island called Cuba just weeks
before the missile crises. True or not, it is illustrative of another function
of the archival value of museums and of the utility of having both a classified
and an unclassified collection. Once committed to this concept, it becomes a
waste not to be able to use the stuff for study and research. Several years agcy
I was faced with the problem of finding out just what was going on in a certain
country on a day for day basis for several months. We had information based on
the time it was reported to us, sometimes months after the actual date the event
transpired, and never had the time, resources, and inclination to produce the
equivalent of the NY Times Almanac for that country. This is just the sort of
project that a researcher could do in a museum environment. Thus, this feature
of limited study and research space, similar to graduate carrels in
universities, is a small consumer of resources and holds the potential for a
disproportionately larger payoff.
g. Facilities for conferences hold twofold payoff capability. First is
the internal one. At present, we must travel a considerable distance to host a
true professional type convocation for in-house personnel. A modest auditorium,
and three or four smaller conference rooms, all capable of being made secure
would, in conjunction with some number of larger carrels, make it possible to
conduct a moderately sized conference. This facility could be made available to
outside organizations, such as the Americal Political Science Association, with
us as a sponsor with minimal impact on out present real estate. Under certain
circumstances, such as on a space available basis, it might be made availavle to
public use for a ncxninal maintenance fee. In this environment one could have
speakers who would have created problems at the headquarters auditorium. It is
essential to have this capability to support other functions of the museum.
h. Associational support is by far the rule rather than the exception.
Membership provides to the individual such benefits as discounts at the company
store, invitations to new exhibit openings before the crowd spoils viewing it,
reduced rates to events, reserved parking, and a host of other things. It also
establishes a corps of loyal elite supporters for political purposes. To)
mention a few there are: Smithsonian Associates, The National Geographic
Society, Friends of the Natonal Zoo, Members of the New York Museum of Natural
History, Members of the Chicago Art Institute, of the National Archives, and of
the Foundation for the Preservation of Historic.... Don't knock it, it is great
PR and like the company store it is usually staffed with volunteers from within
the association. These also serve as docents to guide parties (and possibly
accompany exhibits on the road). No less a place than the National' Cathedral
has them. Membership categories could be based on such things as clearance.
Some would work only at the unclassified area, while others could work the
secure area. They might also be used to maintain a reserve list of personnel
who could become active in time of need to be called upon to help the museum and
even the agency in times of particular need - such as backlog in FOIA cases or a
sudden sequirement for additional staffing in a particular area. It would be
sort of like the reserve forces of the military.
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i. To create a loyal and interested membership requires at least three
things, periodic contact thru such things as a magazine, a program of events in
which they may participate, and a way of taking them in on things which are
going on so that they have a sence of both belonging and of participation in the
victory of the m(iment. Remember, in a museum, the victory may have been twenty
years ago. Nevertheless, they are made to feel that they participated in either
the actual event, or its rediscovery and public announcement. This programme is
one which is self sufficient from a financial standpoint and may even be a
source of special funds for purpr)ses that may have been deleted from the museum
budget. For example, the creation of a lounge for the staff and members, it may
be the mechanism by which the contract for food service is obtained. There must
be a place to eat. Staff, visitors, conferees, and visiting scholars all have
to eat hence it follows that they must eat somewhere nearby. At the Smithsonian
this facility grew so large that it had to divide. The staff still eat at the
castle and Associates eat at the Associate Court in the Museum of Natural
History - its a big deal and Mariott has the contract for both.
j. Another profitable concessionare activity to provide some form of
financial self sufficiency is the "museum store". We have much to sell - for
example: our products that are published by the Government Printing Office, the
Atlasses are superb, FBIS reports, Things such as the attached translation from
FTD and available through the National Technical Information Service of the
Department of Commerce, and this new business which buys one copy of all FOIA
products. They would probably be willing to manage the outlet just to get their
foot in the door. As such they could be awarded the concession and pay a
percentage to the association or to the museum. To cut overhead, partial
staffing by.association volunteers is not unccxnmon. In some cases, the volume
of this activity became so profitable that it bought the printing presses from
the museum just to run the high volume of company store business and in return
for the convenience of colocation ran all the museum and association printing
jobs at either cost or gratis. Just look at how the bookstore in the
Smithsonian History of Science and Technology Museum has grown. Watch the
volume of patrons at the Air and Space Museum Store. Study the counter of the
National Geographic at Explorers Hall and figure the volume. This stuff pays
off and in time, becomes so serious an enterprise that it is contracted out on a
full time paid employee basis. Every item sold becomes a part of good public
relations if they are selected with discretion.
k. Besides the membership association, which is essentially a cheering
section of affecianados, a more serious and professional air is required to
prevent the atmosphere from turning into some commercial venture or worse into a
carnival. This dignity and decorum comes from the affiliation with the truely
professional societies. We have a strong area here because we are a
heterogenius organization and can affiliate informally with such groups as
.geographers, economists, political scientists, newspersons, historians, and
scientific and engineering persons. The process is essentially one of
cooptation by soliciting their opinions and ideas about the substantative items
in the collection and accuracy in the way which they are exhibited. Both
technical and substantive issues are resolved in advance. Often they also pull
the teeth on political issues too. Suppose we would have an exhibit, as I think
we should, on the problem of the revelation of information in a democracy, or on
the abuse of secrecy where actions affect individual civil liberties. Certainly
these are potentially hot issues, and yet they represent a historic problem
which is relevent. Normal PR procedures recommend that these never be
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originated by the guy with egg on his vest. This places the initiative in the
hands of the critics and a vociferous minority can spoil an otherwise good
display by raising the issues. The inclusion of them as part of the event in
conjunction with the legitimate presentation of constructive thoughts by a
professional group could pull the opposition's fangs in advance. By
coy_)_dinating visits of the mobile exhibitions with the local associate groups
and having guest speakers in select professional groups in advance of an
exhibit, one can prevent incidents and also stimulate attendance. There is no
way to beat 'em because they are there so why not join 'em and c--opt their
potential antagonism.
1. The museum must exist as a legal entity. To do so, some form of
incorporation is necessary. Unless one is interested interested in tax problems
and the like, it is easier to incorporate in a form which drastically reduces
all this paperwork. The ideal form of this is to become a part of an existing
entity. For this reason there is a great temptation to stay a part of the
government, or to join another museum, or to affiliate with some other ongoing
legal activity. Each has its merits and problems, most hinge around control,
budget, and legally prohibited activities such as fund raising, gift giving, and
political activity. The Smithsonian, for example is only half governmental.
The creation of a foundation as a non profit corporation is a simple matter and
it is worth doing. Suppose, for example that there was a desire to have the
mobile exhibit visit Seattle but there was no money for this or some
internal-to-the government reason absolutely prohibited it. The foundation,
being outside-the government, could talk to some business in Seattle, such as
Boeing Aircraft and ask if they could host such an exhibition. Because this
business was doing business with the government it might be a conflict of
interest situation for them to do so for a governmental entity, but not so for
the foundation. Suppose there was a desire for the first camera used in
intelligence work to be on display and that only Cannon Camera in Japan who
manufactured the device still had one. It wopuld be a real problem to have than
give the camera to the government intelligence community where it would be no
problem at all to give it to a foundation. Likewise in the raising of funds, in
the selection of men of importance to serve on the board and in the issuance of
public statements, the foundation would be a necessary and desirable bufer.
Contracting procedures are much easier when pervormed without ASPR's to
constrain them. Contracts will be needed in all sorts of things. Any claims
that might arise would be claims against the foundation or the museum itself
rather than claims against the government. The parent relationship could be
maintained by a contract between the government and the museum or its director.
I suspect that all sorts of food, cleaning, and security services could be
provided at more favorible conditions than those now provided by GSA.
in. Every major organization in this arena has a group of strategic
advisors or direstors. They are usually the officers of the foundation, the
director of the museum, and personalities of note. Law requires certain
business meetings at least annually. Politics may require special ones in
between. The "governors" usually include a member of each of the houses of
Congress, some membership from within the offices of the presidency, a historian
of note, representatives of the media in the form of a publisher and a station
owner, someone from academia, and presidents or members of the board of some of
the nations largest corporations. In our case, it would not hurt to have a
lawyer, a religious leader, a labor leader, a college president, someone from
another foundation, and someone from another museum. Other suggestions might
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include a scientist, a Nobel Laureate - Herb Simon would be fantastic, an
ex-President or National Security Advisor, retired senior officials from the
intelligence community - not too many to be suspect, and the chairman would be -
ex officio - the LCI. The mechanism by which these people are selected is an
interesting one. Usually there is a less important group, called something like
an advisory panel, which is convened semi-annually to provide technical details
and advice on more specific questions. Some have standing sub-committees where
the object of study is. ongoing, One serves his apprenticeship in these environs
first. After it has been determined that he has his head screwed on right and
will not prove to be an embarrassment or trouble maker, he is elevated to the
more senior group. I know it sounds cumbersom but its worth the effort just to
save later embarassment. Note that the mission of these groups is to advise the
operating officials. This leaves the operating officials free to ignore the
advice when operational considerations merit it. A couple of years back there
was one of these little flare-ups at the Corcoran. It resulted in one advisory
official and an operating offical in a fistfight on the "for insiders only"
preview of the Russian Exhibition on loan from the Hermitage. It made the
press, and someone resigned - very bad form. They did not have the
apprenticeship organization, and someone made a poor selection of the person to
occupy the position. Yes, it's worth it, the furor it caused in the arty circles
had repercussions for weeks as people lined up and chose sides. This thing kept
recurring in the art columns for a long time. Art is so un-newsy thay only the
fight made the metropolitan section, but we are front page all the time.
4. The direct implications of these characteristics to the CIA involve
resources and the amount of desired control to be exercised under two options:
having the museum operated by a contractor, and having it operated by in-house
personnel. These issues are addressed below:
a. Items in the collection would be procured by the museum and/or by
the CIA for the museum. The CIA should specify the procedures for the care of
the collection. Items on loan would have the treatment specified in the loan
agreement. Those which were donated would probably have the terms specified in
the grant. If operated by the CIA, one custodian would be required as a full
time employee. His duties would be devoted to the artifacts. In addition, the
exhibits would require construction and maintenance. The services of one
wood-worker, one metal-worker, one electrician, one cabinet maker, and one
commercial artist would be needed, as a minimum to care for the exhibits. There
may be some advantage to procuring these services contractually. Lastly, two
positions to serve the museum functions should include a librarian, and either
an archivist or historical researcher.
b. While it is important that the loaction should not be coexistant
with functional intelligence buildings, this condition reduces direct control.
There are some interesting possibilities: the old OSS headquarters building
near the South Building, a part of the building on F Street, something on
Lafayette Square, and the Army and Navy Club which is renovating its entire
building to make several floors available for commercial use (Farragut Square is
a good tourist location) . The important thing is accessability to the people
who will want to visit the museum. The safe house on the eastern shore which is
now for sale would be ideal, except for this problem of accessability.
c. The restricted part of the museum should be built in to facilitate
control under both CIA and contractual operation. Some impact on the size of
the security force is expected but beyond my means of determination. The number
of positions would be the same under both alternatives.
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d. Mobility is a state of mind. It should be incorporated :into} every
exhibit. It increases problems of control and would necessitate having a
security officer who could also serve as an administrative assistant to the
custodian, in addition to providing the supervisory security function required
in paragraph c above.
e. Design capability requires the assignment of one designer. Control
of the design effort would be much easier if the Agency kept the museum
in-house. It would be harder to request that the museum's resources be applied
to augment the Agency's if the museum were a separate entity. To ease this
problem, a Basic-Ordering-Arrangement (BOA) contract could be let whereby the
CIA would task the contractor who operates the museum to perform the desired
services.
f. Study areas impact on floorspace resource requirements. They have
little effect on personnel, control, and identity of the museum operator.
Meeting capability - the same as f. above.
h. There are at least three organizations which would be willing
supporters of this museum. The problem is to combine them into an integrated,
viable organization. This requires one person to administer the organizational
roster and account for dues. The special membership category could be
controlled by using a micro computer, as a fringe benefit of the regular
membership operations.
i. The program of exhibits, speakers, and mobile exhibitions would be
normal functions of the museum staff as part of their regular duties. Control
is easier if the staff are in-house personnel. The closeness of this
association may inhibit the type of activities and people who would participate.
If the museum were operated under a contract, the Agency could task for desired
activities but would have a problem in vetoing other activities.
j. The sales store impacts on floorspace. It should be an intrinsic
function of the museum staff. If the staff are Agency employees, it would
probably be better to have the sales store operate under contract with either a
business or with the membership organization.
k. The relationship with professional societies is another museum staff
function and would be best facilitated by direct CIA control if the professional
societies feel comfortable with this arrangement. To preserve the CIA interest
in this activity, the museum staff security officer should be involved.
m. Directors are usually easily recruited. Their duties are specified
in the charter. Appropriate verbiage prevents problems of control. Resources
are minor, some funds for an annual meeting (perhaps a banquet) and minor
clerical support from the CIA, with most coming from the museum staff. Under
both alternatives, once appointed - control is lost.
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5. The above suggests that a museem is feasible. Personnel needed at the
start would be a curator, a secretary, and a designer. They should come up with
a detailed concept within three months. If approved, the concept would serve as
the basis for determination of accurate floorspace and personnel requirements.
This should take another month. Based on this, a specific schedule involving
location acquisition, and schedule of exhibit completion could be completed
along with the time-phased expenses. I would guess another two months would be
required for this.
The Navy Memorial Museum has 3000 square feet of floorspace and is
administered by a staff of ten. Because it is part of the Navy Historian's
Office, ita budget is buried among other line items and is hard to detect.
Commander Damon, the director says this is low by national standards. My
impression is that our situation requires a staff about double this number.
One thing which the study must address is the feasability of having the
museum operated under contract. I see no great objection to having the work
done under contract as long as the agency retaines sufficient control of the
project to protect its interests. This would not be difficult, for example, the
Curator or Deputy Curator could be the principal duty of an agency employee.
One of the major duties of the employee would be to administer the contract
under which the museum is operated.
Another specific item to be studied would be the specific museum
functions to be implemented. The time phased sequence of these, along with
their respective costs would be an appropriate topic reported upon by the
study.
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