INSPECTION REPORT OF THE FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
S
Document Page Count: 
24
Document Creation Date: 
December 27, 2016
Document Release Date: 
September 19, 2012
Sequence Number: 
1
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
December 8, 1980
Content Type: 
MEMO
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PDF icon CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6.pdf1001.51 KB
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 C.k) t !PER/MONS GROUP 711.1- - (c cif/ 8 December 1980 MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Science and Technology FROM: SUBJECT: REFERENCE : Director, Foreign Broadcast Information Service Inspection Report of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service Memorandum from MCI, dated 10 September 1980, Same Subject Attached is the FIS response to the Inspector General's Report on FBIS, for your signature as requested. Attachment: As stated SECRET 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 - Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 0/D/FBIS Distribution: 0 - Addressee, w/att 1 - D/FBIS Chrono, w/att 1 - FBIS Registry, wo/att - C/Ops, w/att 1 - C/Prod, w/att 1 - C/AG, w/att 1 - C/E&PS, w/att 1 - C/AS, w/att 1 - all field bureaus excep 1 C/DRD 1 - C/FCS 1 - C/EDSS (5Dec80) AT, Is?bad Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2012/09/19 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 SECRET Center. Because of the enormous volume of reaction monitored by FBIS daily, we believe that such a service should be carefully coordinated and screened through the OCO to ensure that the DCI's specific interests are served. In addition, FBIS will select items of possible interest from press coverage and analytical production for the DCI as appropriate. 2 QrrCr? -r Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 R Next 2 Page(s) In Document Denied Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 SECRET Dl. The D/FBIS take action to enable the Liaison and Requirements Staff to conduct regular and effective evaluations of the FBIS product including JPRS. In the fall of 1980 FBIS began to develop a new system for indexing and revalidating collection requirements levied on FBIS by Agency offices and consumers throughout the government. In the course of contacting each office which has levied a requirement, FBIS will be discussing the value of the FBIS product and how the requirements can be updated. In the future, Liaison and Requirements Branch will contact each office levying a requirement once a year to evaluate and update that require- ment. All of the above evaluations include JPRS. 6 C CPT Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 SECRET place. Though it is impossible to judge with any high degree of accuracy what the future holds, it is our view that BBC will continue to receive funding adequate to maintain present operations and meet inflationary adjustments, though funding for any expansion of service or new initiatives will probably not be possible. Given Britain's traditions of bellicose labor relations, the possibility of a strike by BBC employees, particularly their engineering union, cannot totally be ruled out. There have been several close calls over the past few years, but nothing really disabling to the Monitoring Service actually has taken place. The unions see no public advantage in harming the Monitoring Service, so it is likely that a strike at BBC would be only of a few hours or days duration. In the event of a short-term strike at BBC, FBIS is in a good position to provide emergency coverage of the Middle East and could monitor the main USSR and Eastern European broadcasts from the bureau in Vienna. If circumstances warranted, the Vienna, Russian, and East European language staffs could be reinforced by TDYing translators to Vienna from London Bureau's Press Monitoring Unit or from Headquarters. FBIS also has Russian capability at its Nicosia, Seoul, and Okinawa bureaus. If the FBIS bureau in southern Africa, which has been a planning objective for over three years, should become a reality in the FY-81 period, some limited backstopping of BBC's African coverage would be possible. Thus key BBC-monitored broadcasts can be backstopped by FBIS in Europe, the Middle East, and Far East. 7 RPriPPT Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 A D4. The D/FBIS establish a policy that reception surveys be conduaed before new FBIS bureaus are opened. Response. It is standard FBIS policy that an on-site reception survey e conducted before any new field bureau is opened. DS. The D/FBIS take steps to improve radio broadcast coverage of Centra-T America (particularly of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala) to ensure that policymaker and analyst needs are met. Response. Significant improvements in coverage of Central America were accomplished during the past ten months. The Chief of the FBIS Panama Bureau visited Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua and recruited local part-time contractors who feed broadcasts of news develop- ment carried by local transmitters to the Panama Bureau, either on a real-time basis or from recordings. Leased telephone lines were arranged on a continuing basis for this purpuse. In addition, the contractors obtain and mail local newspapers, which cannot be obtained on subscription on a timely basis, to Panama for processing. The contractors and their equipment are located in the U,S. embassies in each country. Consumer response to these developments has been enthusiastic. FBIS expects, in the FY-83 timeframe, to replace these remote monitoring arrangements with a new, automated remote system now under development. This new system would rely on either the SC-3 SKYLINK terminal or an FBIS-developed meteor scatter communications system. Feasibility studies for both approaches will be completed in the FY 81-82 period. 8 PP( Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 S Cl"*? ET D7. The D/FBIS direct a survey of U.S. embassies in West Africa and customers in Washington to determine to what extent the Abidjan Bureau's coverage meets or exceeds their needs and adjust the bureau's requirements accordingly. Response. A survey of consumers of FBIS reporting on West and Central Africa has been undertaken. Several NFAC offices, State country desks, and embassies in the pertinent parts of Africa have responded; we are awaiting additional replies before collating the results. Initial indications are that Abidjan reporting has been a significant source for many Washington desk analysts. Embassies responding have indicated that Daily Reports received by pouch are virtually useless because of the time delay, and several have requested direct wirefiling from the Abidjan Bureau. As a result of the survey, at least one Embassy, at Nouakchott, praised the bureau for prompt transmission of a Presidential speech "which significantly speeded along Embassy analysis." D8. The D/FBIS continue to monitor closely the dollar costs of FBIS operations at the Austrian and Okinawa bureaus--especially the costs of foreign national employees--with a view to determine if some parts of the bureau mission may be cut back or performed efficiently elsewhere. Response. The dollar costs are closely monitored by the Chief, Executive and Planning Staff, who reports monthly to the D/FBIS on the status of funds for all bureaus. The advisability of moving some work done at Austrian and Okinawa bureaus to other locations has been considered over the past few years but rejected because of operational efficiency and doubtful savings. Okinawa provides round-the-clock coverage of China's central media; this requires an extensive Mandarin-language staff which in any case would have to be recruited primarily in Taiwan. Govern- ment housing for Bureau staff already exists in Okinawa from construc- tion in the early 1950's. Relocation of Austrian Bureau coverage of East Europe would be difficult operationally and not result in signifi- cant savings. Austrian Bureau, by its location and its staffing, also provides essential backup to BBC monitoring. D9, The D/FBIS institute a system for providing regular feedback to field?Ebreaus on the substantive and editorial quality of their reporting. Response. The Managing Editor, a newly created position in the Daily Reporting Division, has been given responsibility for guidance to the field. A, program has been established which provides regular guidance to the bureaus on the substantive and editorial quality of their files. 9 rft% t Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 t-Ja D11. The D/FBIS extend the directed assignment policy now in effecT?For employees below GS-14 to all officers in grades GS-14 and above eligible for overseas assignment. Response. The directed assignment policy in FBIS has applied only to persons qualified for certain overseas operational positions which must be staffed. It has been assumed that senior personnel, when required, would accept assignment overseas when in the interests of FBIS and the Agency. Nevertheless, the notice outlining the policy on directed assignments is being revised and reissued to make clear that managerial personnel, GS-14 and above, are subject to directed assignment when required. D12. The D/FBIS develop training programs to assist newly appointed bureau chiefs and their deputies in areas of supervision and financial management and to familiarize new editors with field procedures and area background--and to provide, as required, some language training for employees and their spouses--before they depart for overseas service. Response. In regard to better preparation of bureau chiefs, FBIS will utilize the facilities of OTR for such courses as Fundamentals of Supervision, Fundamentals of Administration, Management Seminar, etc., and will develop several FBIS courses: a tutorial program on bureau financial procedures, a seminar composed of former bureau chiefs, a program with the Department of State on the interagency wage and classi- fication system for foreign national employees, and FSI area courses. For better training of editors, in addition to continuation of the 12-week foreign field operational training, FBIS is providing a formal in-house editorial training program that includes 2 weeks of daily D FIT Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 - courses (2 hours each) on field procedures, a week an the FBIS Wire Service, and work on the Daily Report area publication related to the area of projected field assignment. Language training is encouraged to the extent possible within the constraints of limited training money and the personal time available of the individual. In addition, FBIS employees are enrolled in language classes in French and Spanish now conducted by OTE in the Key Building. 1)14. The D/FBIS consider publishing a handbook which explains promotion criteria and the procedures of the new panel evaluation system. Response. FBIS has considered the recommendation for an RF Career Subgroup Evaluation Handbook and we have reviewed the DDO Career Service Personnel Evaluation System handbook. We believe an FBIS Handbook would be worthwhile and useful to desk officers, supervisors and managers alike. Mich of the material on employee evaluation now exists in the form of FBIS Notices but these Notices have been issued over a period of several years and are not grouped together for ease of reading. In addition to material on evaluation, we will broaden the contents of the handbook to include all current issuances pertaining to career development/career management in FBIS. An RF Career Subgroup Personnel Handbook would indeed supplement the DDSU and pending Agency handbooks on personnel management. The FBIS Career Management Officer has been instructed to begin preparation of the FBIS Handbook. D15. The D/FBIS require the Production Group to strengthen the supeliTgory responsibilities of division and branch managers within Production Group with regard to both performance standards of personnel and the quality of their product. Response. Group nanagement will pursue the following: 1. Require greater involvement of division and branch chiefs in monitoring the obligation of funds for translations by JPRS Independent Contractors (IC's). Branch chiefs have already been instructed to include in the PAR's of their program chiefs a specific duty focusing on 11 SECRET Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 SECRET the tracking of obligations/expenditures. Branch chiefs will similarly be held responsible for branch expenditures and division chiefs for division budgeting. Limited funds require a hard look at the content of the product, which should sharpen quality control. Decisions on reprogram- ming funds within the branch or division will require increased awareness by managers at those levels of the value and quality of the product as well as the performance standards of individuals responsible for the Initial selection that leads to the obligation of those funds. 2. Require division and branch chiefs to strengthen the AWP system by eliciting ideas for special projects from line personnel commensurate with the latters' talents and interests. This will involve a thorough review by division and branch chiefs of AWP's prepared by program chiefs for and with the line officers before the AWP's are made final. 3. Provide appropriate training in managerial, counseling, and BU practices for division and branch chiefs to the degree that availability of training courses, funds and time permits. 4. While recognizing that program chiefs have first-line super- visory responsibility over line officers, insure that branch chiefs assist in providing new Information Officers/Foreign Documents (IO's) needed guidance on selection of materials for JPRS translation, on shorter forms of processing where feasible and warranted, and on pre- paration of Contract Service Order (CSO) cards, to sharpen their responsiveness to genuine Intelligence Community needs. 5. Require division and branch chiefs to do more questioning of selections made by IO's, to insure that quality control begins properly with the divisions; possibly by including a provision for establishing a mechanism for regular review of selections in the program chiefs' AWP. 6. Require periodic branch meetings to discuss current themes and trends in the processed media and in the branch's areas of expertise, so as to help refocus the selection effort. 7. Encourage periodic meetings among Production Group, Analysis Group, and DRD/Operations Group personnel, possibly attended by appropriate NFAC office representatives, such as are now being sponsored by East Europe Branch/ELAD, to discuss current substantive matters in a given geographical area. 8. Require division and branch chiefs to establish closer contacts with primary consumers to elicit feedback on product quality and responsive- ness of selections to Community needs. 9. Encourage division and branch Chiefs to seek contributions from desk-level employees in the formulation of policies which affect the way the divisions and group are run; e.g., include them in budgetary pro- cedures and reprogramming decisions, and in the writing of contributions to division and group staffing papers. 12 7:r_P PT Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2012/09/19 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 D16. The D/FBIS and C(Production Group explore ways in which to encourage more effective use of and greater recognition of the unique talent and knowledge of some officers of Production Group. Response. When the IG report was written, the Foreign Press Note and Foreign Press Nbmorandum were relatively new innovations of then C/Produc- tion Group intended to provide IO's a means of showing creative initiative. They have since proved successful in achieving that purpose and are being used more frequently and by a growing cross-section of the IC's of the three divisions. Since FPN's sent to embassies have drawn enthusiastic comment and resulted in establishment of mutually beneficial information exchanges, Production Group will seek to arrange with State that FPN's be routinely sent to appropriate embassies through INR/OIL and relevant desk officers. Since its inception in the fall of 1979 the Language Incentive Program and its concomitant awards, particularly the Language Use Award CLUA), have been the single most effective innovation in recent years for recognizing Agency language talents. Morale among Production Group staffers has shown a marked improvement. The LUA has been a factor in recruiting area specialists with the required political or SU knowledge and language talent. The depth of appreciation of that program will be cause for proportionately greater disappointment among IO's when word reaches them of the recent proposals by the National Academy of Public Administration which will significantly weaken the Language Incentive Program. In particular, the NAPA recommendation to limit the LUA to overseas positions will effectively deprive the program of its intended purpose to provide recognition of and incentive to area specialists who use language as a tool of their trade. FBIS feels that the NAPA recom- mendation and its acceptance by Agency management is ill advised and that the net result will be to leave the morale of Headquarters-assigned area specialists in a worse state than before the program was instituted. One of the more effective recent steps to recognize the unique talents of Production Group officers has been the latitude worked out in consultation with PMCD for awarding incumbency-only, non-supervisory GS-13's to a limited number of exceptionally skilled personnel who are recognized experts in their field. This has provided advancement opportunities for some personnel and a heightened sense of personal and professional value for many others. The Group will maintain its interest in identifying suitable officers for this program, which does, however, suffer in FBIS eyes from a major drawback: that PMCD reserves the right to approve or disapprove FBIS candidates for incumbencies. Production Group is reviewing certain of its more specialized areas of concentration--particularly in the SU field--to determine whether the value and depth of the expertise required warrants PMCD review with an eye to upgrading assigned grade levels. While a rather tentative step in this direction has been taken by way of the incumbency alloca- tion program noted above, the purpose of such PMCD review would be to 13 ccryiNoeT Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 SECRET locate some grades permanently at the GS-13 and GS44 levels to recognize unique contributions without requiring the expert involved to move from substance to administration. We will also seek to arrange the addition of badly needed clerical positions, one to each division, to permit line officers more time for substantive work. C/Production Group has held a series of meetings with groups and individuals within the Group to elicit their views an the IG recommenda- tions. Their suggestions are under review and will be implemented to the extent that they are both practicable and responsive to commonly felt needs. Within the limits of the feasible and the constraints on use of the ADP Coordinator's time Production Group management will continue to press for implementation of plans now in various stages of completion for ADP projects which will facilitate the way IO's perform their daily tasks: Automated production of language glossaries, automated processing of contract service orders, and computerized storage and retrieval of U.S.-Government-completed or planned translations; and further down the road, full storage and retrieval of JPRS materials with concomitant indexing of their content. As a further means of recognizing unique talents, C/Production Group has issued a policy statement encouraging wider use of QSI's, Special Achievement Awards, and other forms of recognition for deserving employees, acknowledging the fact that Group management may have been unduly conserva- tive in granting such awards. D17. The D/FBIS issue unclassified written directives defining the aafibrity of foreign national associate editors, including policy guidance to enable them to cope with most of the selection and dissemina- tion problems that might arise while they are exercising their responsi- bilities. Response. provides an unclassified definition ot the authority of foreign national associate editors. As regards policy guidance enabling associate editors to cope with unusual selection and dissemination problems, all bureaus have been provided with Executive Order 12036, and FBIS is drawing up unclas- sified guidance based on the provisions of this order as they apply to reporting on the activities of U.S. citizens, U.S. intelligence activities, and dissemination of classified U.S. documents broadcast or printed by the foreign media. Otherwise, FN associate editors are routinely trained in handling selections and dissemination problems by the managers of the bureaus in which they work. 14 CPO =7" Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 SECRET Response. FBIS managers have been alerted to this important aspect of security. Bureaus are being monitored both through field visits of Headquarters personnel and through periodic physical security inspections. Recent inspection reports indicate the bureaus are complying with these directives. D21. The D/FBIS appoint a Foreign National Coordination Officer to coFfainate with appropriate components of the Agency and with the Department of State, as necessary, on natters affecting the administration of FBIS foreign national employees. 15 n r-r Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2012/09/19 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 6EGRET Response. FBIS has established a Foreign National Panel composed of senior IS operations and administrative officers who have been meeting periodi- cally over the past year. The panel is permanently constituted and addresses every aspect of Foreign National management. The appointment of an additional officer is considered redundant as the chairman of the FN Panel fulfills the role envisioned for a Foreign National Coordination Officer. D22. The D/FBIS expand the Foreign National Panel to include the ForeQFNational Coordinator and invite other Agency components to appoint representatives to the panel in order to examine the status of FBIS foreign national employees worldwide and make appropriate recom- mendations for change. Response. The FN Panel calls upon other Agency components to contribute to its deliberations. However, because of the variety of subject matter addressed by the panel the appointment of personnel from other components on a regular basis would not be effective. As an example, a representa- tive from PMCD would not be a contributor unless the subject matter dealt with wage or classification. Response. Arrangements have been made for safety inspections on a continuing basis for all FBIS components. D24. The D/FBIS determine the propriety of sanitizing Agency regulaions for dissemination as FB's and determine if more effective and efficient options are available than the duplication effort now involved. Response. FBIS has obtained approval to utilize Agency field regulations vice our sanitized versions and these have been distributed to the field. 16 cr c-r Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 (p. 17, Personnel Management) The D/FBIS strengthen the integrity of FBIS fitness reports. Response, The importance of the Performance Appraisal Report is being emphasized through the new panel procedures, by instructions to supervisors and by inclusion in a Personnel Management Handbook. (p. 23, AG) The D/FBIS examine and clarify the role of the Analysis Group in the quality control of FBIS publications. Response. The Analysis Group's integral role in FBIS, including the part it plays in the quality control of FBIS reporting, has been defined in a memorandum from D/FBIS to the DDSU dated 29 February 1980, subject: "Review of Analysis Group Role in FBIS." The D/FBIS is satisfied that AG's quality control function is generally understood and appropriately exercised. (p. 23, AG ) The D/FBIS, in consultation with the Comptroller, resolve the issue of the GS-14 position for the senior China analyst in the Analysis Group. Response. The position has been reprogrammed internally and is filled with a highly qualified specialist in Chinese political affairs. Approval of the grade level awaits PMO D review. (p. 65, Ops Group) The D/FBIS continue to address and seek to improve the staffing and morale of its Communications, Field Coverage, and Engineering staffs. Response. Significant progress has been made during the past year. Several new officers who were seeking a career Change were transferred into FCS from within FBIS, notably from the Communications Center. These officers are now undergoing Headquarters training. An ambitious series of training and cruising TDY's have been planned for FY-81 to bring these new FCS employees up to full professional competence. However, stringent controls over travel funds may prove to be a barrier to full attainment of this goal. In addition FBIS has established a new full-time staff cruising position at Tel Aviv Bureau. This position has been filled by one of the new transfers from Communications Center and it is expected that he will provide cruising support on call to the other Middle East bureaus. In the Engineering Design and Support Staff, a major step forward was made with the assignment of a senior OSO officer to the position of Chief, Engineering Design and Support Staff on a rotational basis. This move was a major force behind a marked upturn in morale and staff confidence. This officer brought into FBIS a dynamic and imaginative approach to FBIS technical problems. Owing to his personal qualities and his contacts with industry and throughout the Agency and other parts 17 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2012/09/19 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 ?0, of the Government, he conducted a major overhaul of FBIS engineering philosophy and planning and has developed roadmaps for the forward movement of our engineering projects for the next several years. Among these achievements is the development of the fully automated remote monitoring system. This forward-looking management has gone far to raise morale in the Engineering Design and Support Staff. Nbreover, he has been able to recruit several talented junior technical officers who are beginning careers in FBIS, There is, however, no escaping the fact that morale and replacement of essential skills in the Communications, Field Coverage, and Engineer- ing staffs continue and will continue to be adversely affected by the PMCD regradings of 1977. Communications Center's grade structure, capped at GS-08, offers little in the way of career incentive or upward mobility, and morale in Field Coverage Staff and in the Engineering Design and Support Staff have still not recovered from the effects of the PMD review and downgradings. We are continuing to discuss the engineering positions with PMCD. 18 41.1.11Or Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2012/09/19 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 The following recommendations and responses relate to FBIS field bureaus: 1. C/London Bureau institute a standardized editorial policy at LondOE Bureau. Response. Developing a standardized editorial policy for London Bureau as been studied and determined to be impractical. We believe the IG may have been attracted by the fact that London Bureau's Press Monitoring Unit (PMU) has a fairly structured editorial policy and may have felt something similar could be usefully applied to relieve pressure in the editorial room. The two operations are essentially quite dissimilar and thus follow dissimilar editorial procedures. The PMU deals with a finite number of countries and sources, and source content can be predicted with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Specialization is the rule. There is no shift work and time pressure is considerably less than in the editorial room. PMU also is backstopped by FBIS Headquarters which receives the same source materials. In contrast, London' editors do not have the opportunity to specialize as do personnel in the PMU or editors at smaller bureaus with more limited coverage areas. London Bureau has responsibility for covering some 50 countries and 300 sources. Over two million words of translated material are filed to Washington and lateral consumers each month. The editorial room is open around the clock every day of the year. Information arrives from BBC constantly, randomly, and unpredictably depending upon breaking world events. Thus editors are required to work in a fast-moving environ- ment which demands high flexibility. The editor who is working on Soviet copy one minute may find himself the next minute covering a coup in Uganda. Substantial formal and ad hoc requirements and guidance are made available by Headquarters and bureau management to guide editors in their selection and reporting on events from their extended coverage area. But the very breadth and nature of London/BBC's broadcast coverage of rapidly changing international situations requires editors often to act in advance of receiving written guidance, relying on common sense, their knowledge of current events and basic selection criteria acquired through training and experience, and understanding of Community needs. A single document combining or consolidating existing guidance and requirements would either be so detailed and cumbersome as to be impracti- cal to work with or would be so general as to be virtually useless as guidance. In any case it would be relatively obsolete before it reached the editorial desk. There is moreover a constant interplay, by wire, between London and Headquarters and other field bureaus to coordinate coverage and to receive new requirements and delete inactive ones. 19 rs 171 77-7 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 Since the IG inspection, London Bureau's editorial assistants have been advanced to the status of full associate editors working shifts and performing all regular editorial duties. This has increased flexibility in the editorial roam and has resulted in a lessening of pressure on the bureau's U.S. editorial staff. 20 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2012/09/19 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 bLURET 7. The D/FBIS and C/Tel Aviv Bureau continue efforts to improve recepTion from remote sites in Israel. Response. Efforts to improve reception from the remote sites in Israel have continued since the IG inspection. A. Staff cruising officer has been assigned to Tel Aviv Bureau, and a thorough reception survey of both sites was carried out by this officer and the Nicosia Bureau cruising monitor in November. The Israeli Ministry of Communications has agreed to expansion of the remote operation, including the installation of additional equipment, and their PTT has acknowledged the bureau's request for additional phone lines to move ahead on the project. The exact final configuration of the bureau's remote systems will be decided after the results of the cruising survey have been analyzed. CIAID C'T Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 25X1 Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2012/09/19 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 Response. Plans to establish a permanent bureau in Greece have been a an aned and the FBIS unit in Athens will be closed in January 1981, with coverage transferred to the Nicosia Bureau. 14. The C/Athens Unit be required to prepare fitness reports on the uTa's foreign employees. Response. Fitness reports (PR's) were completed in October 1979 and are now prepared annually. The unit is now being closed. 22 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 ',MOM .0?1114, :risiMMH"P"at.^I Response. The IG team's visit to Abidjan occurred only two months after the bureau's move into permanent quarters and prior to completion of the full antenna array. Since then extensive improvements and enlarge- ment of the bureau's antenna systems have taken place and the following countries have been added to the bureau's daily coverage: Mauritania, Congo, the Central African Republic, and Chad. In addition, coverage of Sierra Leone and Liberia has been substantially improved. Negotiations with the Ivory Coast Government for use of their PTT antenna field are continuing. FBIS' initial request was turned down, but the matter is being pursued with, we feel, reasonable prospects of success. 18. The D/FBIS instruct the Chief, Operations Group, in consulta- tion ;Fah the Chief, Analysis Group and key consumers, to determine whether Hong Kong Bureau may do more excerpting from PRC press articles on which full texting is not mandatory. Response. Action completed. Hong Kong Bureau understands and exercises its latitude to excerpt any PRC press article on which full texting is not mandatory. An SOP has been regularized for Analysis Group guidance, coordinated through Operations Group, to assist the bureau in gearing processing to the needs of key consumers. 23 411.11%, ?rel. Z.4. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 25X1 Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2012/09/19 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6 z .?1 3i 19. C/Seoul Bureau arrange to provide formal English training for foreign national employees, as needed. Response. In progress. English language training has been provided for the foreign national staff on a one-hour-per-day, five-day week basis, under contract with a local English language training institute. 24 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/19: CIA-RDP94-00798R000200170001-6