NFAC ACTION PLAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP95M00249R000801120019-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 16, 2011
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: December 14, 1981
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/11/16: CIA-RDP95M00249R000801120019-0
14 December 1981
NOTE FOR: DCI
FROM : Robert M. Gates
SUBJECT : NFAC Action Plan
Following up on my memo to you of 19 November cddcerning the c}[ialityllof
intelligence, I have developed the attached specific actions I intend to take
when I move to NFAC on 4 January. While these are the major actions, there
are other steps that I intend to take and questions I intend to ask. For
example, I will be asking each office how many vacant analyst slots it has;
what tasks do office chiefs see that need doing for which they lack the resources;
who are their consultants and when were they last used; when was the last review
of a draft NFAC paper by an outsider during the past two years; who in NFAC is
on rotation outside CIA; and how much outside training was there in 1981 (who,
where, etc.).
While you have seen most of these ideas in my earlier paper, now that I have
translated them into actual steps to implement, I would value your comments and
suggestions. It will also be important for me to know that I have your support
to proceed with these actions.
I think it would be useful (and tactically advantageous) for me to speak
in the Bubble to NFAC analysts a week or ten days after L take over. At that
time, I would outline with some specificity the above steps in the context of
NFAC performance, outside perceptions of NFAC and the need to revitalize the
Directorate both bureaucratically and intellectually. I will give the two of
you a draft of what I might say in the next day or so for your thoughts and
suggestions.
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14 December 1981
STEPS FOR IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF INTELLIGENCE
1. Rotations to Policy Agencies: Effective immediately, a minimum of
a one-year rotational tour in a policy agency or non-intelligence consumer
of CIA analysis will be required of all NFAC division chiefs. Analysts and
branch chiefs hoping to become division chiefs will not be considered for
promotion to supergrade or division chief positions without such experience.
Division chiefs already in place without this experience will not be promoted
without obtaining it. The DCI, DDCI and D/NFAC will undertake on a high
priority basis to obtain agreement on the part of NSC, State, Defense, Commerce,
Treasury and other agencies as appropriate to host middle level NFAC managers
and analysts on a reimbursable basis for one-year tours. (At the outset, there
will need to be a number of exceptions to this policy, especially in view of
the fact that so few division chiefs or prospective division chiefs now have
such experience. I would expect to begin the program with four to six rotations
each year. In each succeeding year, there would-be fewer exceptions/exemptions.
Office chiefs and deputy office chiefs also will be encouraged to have such
a rotational tour.)
2. Research Programs: All NFAC research programs will be evaluated in
January. As part of the evaluation, each office will be expected to provide
a report on. research underway in other parts of the Intelligence Community
on the subjects described in their research programs. They also will be asked
to identify whether research on similar subjects is-underway outside the U. S.
Government and, if so, where it is being done and whether NFAC has been in
contact to determine the value of the outside work. The research program
for each office will be evaluated in terms of relevance to the needs of the
President and the National Security Council and self-initiated projects that
will alert policymakers to issues that have not yet come before them but are
likely to pose problems ahead. Building block research on important areas
also will be identified and protected. Other projects likely will be pruned.
3. Promotions: Each NFAC office will be required beginning immediately
to develop and maintain a production file on each analyst. This production
file will circulate to members of career service panels when an analyst is
being considered for evaluation, ranking and/or promotion. Evaluation of
this production will be the primary element in consideration for promotion
and in each analyst's annual evaluation. Evaluation of this material will
be based on the quality of the work and on progress in developing analytical
and writing skills. Quality, not quantity, will be the basis of evaluation.
For example, an analyst who has prepared 30 or 40 PDB or NID items in the
course of a year will not necessarily be evaluated higher than an analyst
who has prepared one or two first-rate major research projects. Indeed,
the latter may rank higher. Analysts and managers, working together, will
put together a production file for each analyst for calendar year 1981, which
will serve as the basis of the production file. These files will be maintained
at the division level.
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4. Evaluation: An NFAC Production Evaluation Staff will be established.
Consisting of four or five professionals, including at least one or two outsiders,
this Staff will be charged with reviewing specific NFAC products, categories of
production (e.g. current intelligence publications), office publications, and
so forth. Their reports, accompanied by comments from the head of the component
producing the evaluated material, will be forwarded to D/NFAC. Evaluations
will consider relevance, timeliness, quality of writing and presentation,
innovativeness, imagination, and, above all, accuracy.
5. Training: Beginning in 1982, NFAC analysts will be expected to refresh
their substantive knowledge and broaden their'perspective through outside
training. This may be a local university, courses sponsored by local institutes
or think-tanks, or other arrangements to be approved by office chiefs. NFAC
will pay the cost of this training and analysts will be allowed time off both
to take courses and for course preparation. This will not exceed six hours
per week. Each analyst will take academic courses for credit and the grade
will be recorded in his personnel file for consideration at the time of eval-
uation. At least one three-hour course will be. required every two I three] years.
6. Instability, Terrorism and Insurgency: A Center for Instability,
Terrorism and Insurgency will be established, probably in the Office of Latin `
American and African Analysis. The existing terrorism unit will be incorporat in this Center. The Center will reestablish the core group for the study of
instability that formerly existed in the Office of Geographic and Societal
Research. A small staff also will be created to work on the general problem
of insurgency. Those in charge of each of the three elements will chair
Directorate-wide working groups to ensure constant interchange between those
examining the problems in a general sense and those analyzing them on a region-
specific basis.
7. Publications Format: Current Intelligence publications will henceforth
present information in two parts. Each story will begin with a recitation of
the facts as we know them. After the reader has been informed of the facts,
each piece will have a "comment" section, which will contain NFAC's analysis
of the factual information just presented. Too often there is confusion in
the reader's mind between what is fact and what is analysis. Also, too often
the present format allows the recitation of facts to pass for analysis and
disguises the dearth of the latter in a piece. There will be more emphasis on
including in each item analysis of real value to the reader.
8. Community Role of NFAC: NFAC lacks both the credibility and the clout
to serve as a Community organization. Furthermore, its Community role detracts
from focus on internal improvements and the quality of its own work. NFAC's
Community functions, as directed by the DCI and DDCI, will be transferred to the
Intelligence Community Staff--where they appropriately belong. NFAC will remain
an integral participant in Community production efforts and will encourage the
development of Community-wide services on the part of the IC Staff, to include
greater sharing of research programs, identification of gaps in coverage,
determination of areas in which competitive analysis is unnecessarily duplicative
or is essential.
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9. Change of Name: With the transfer of Community responsibilities to
the Intelligence Community Staff, the title National Foreign Assessment Center
will be dropped and the Directorate will once again become the Directorate of
Intelligence, and will be known, as in the past, as the DDI.
10. Outside Contacts: Each office will be required to develop an aggressive
program of contacts, conferences and seminars on important subjects. Subjects
of these meetings should correlate closely with each office's research program
and should be intended to inform those in the office associated with such projects
of the views of experts outside CIA and the Intelligence Community. A schedule
of such conferences and seminars will be prepared on an annual basis and will
parallel the research program, although some exceptions will be allowed. Similarly
each office will be expected to develop a roster of outside contacts and consul-
tants who will be asked regularly to review drafts and provide critical commentary.
11. Quality Control: The accuracy, relevance and timeliness of each NFAC
product is the primary responsibility of the branch, division and office chief.
Until further notice, all draft Intelligence Assessments, research papers, Con-
gressional briefings prepared for DCI/DDCI use, and typescript memoranda prepared
for circulation to policy agencies will be provided to D/NFAC before publication
or dispatch. Those which are time urgent shall be so marked, with the deadline
clearly indicated. Each draft should bear the name and initials of the approving
branch, division and office chiefs--those who bear responsibility for its quality.
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