INFORMATION HANDLING STUDY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00933R000100310017-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 17, 2002
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: April 17, 1979
• Content Type: MF

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17 APR 1979
MEh1ORANDUM FOR: Secretary, Executive Committee
F DM : James H. Taylor
Comptroller
Don I. Wortman
Deputy Director for Administration
SUBJECT : Information Handling Study
REFERENCE . Comptroller Memo of 21 Nov. 1978 to Deputy
Directors and DCI Admin., Same Subject
1. This memorandum recommends Executive Committee approval, as '
stated in paragraph 9, for an Agencywide study to develop a strategic plan
in information handling. A definition of the problem is proposed, based
on comments from Agency components, as well as management arrangements
and a basic methodology for the study. %
2. The proposed study is intended to fulfill the Agency goal proposed
jointly by the DDA and the Comptroller and adopted at the DCI's Goals
Conference in September 1978:
To develop a comprehensive information handling
strategy for the Agency and a structure for more formal
continuing coordination of the Agency's ADP, communications,
records management, and word processing activities.
The reasons for pursuing this goal are manifold; the referenced memorandum
reviews several of them. In general, there is a growing sentiment among
managers at all levels on the need to set a long-range course in Agency
information handling and to find a way for managers to work together better
in setting the course and pursuing it.
3. Given proper guidance, resources, and expertise, the proposed study
should result. in a strategic plan which will govern the development or
revision of informat-iorl handling systems and provide a framework to ensure
that major investment decisions are consistent with our long-term needs.
Within five years, if our planning is effective, we should be in a position
to assert that CIA's information flows through well understood, carefully
constructed systems, automated where cost effective, compartmented where
security dictates, and capable of relating smoothly and efficiently with
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other systems when such interrelationship is necessary or desirable.
The plan will not be static; it must be flexible enough to accommodate
new needs and solve unanticipated problems as they arise.
4. The plan should serve both senior managers, by proposing manage-
ment adjustments and advising them on the kinds of issues that warrant
their attention over the next five years, and systems and component managers,
by providing guidance to them on requirement priorities and recommending
methods for achieving "a system,. of systems."
5. In order to develop guidance on what we want to see in the
end product of the study, an attempt has been made to define the Agency's
information handling problem. As a first step, responses On several
questions relating to information handling were solicited from all Agency
components (see reference). These were reviewed carefully (and with some
difficulty because of the diversity of views)., Attachment A contains the
results of the analysis of the responses. The following summarizes this
analysis:
a. The-topic. Information handling in CIA is the
systematic cr~ eat o , movement, use, storage, retrieval,
and disposal of intelligence and management information
with the support of automated or other clearly identifiable
processes and with due regard for control of sensitive and
compartmented data.
b. The-problem. CIA handles enormous amounts of
intelligence an management information. It has devised
numerous manual and automated systems, some of them highly
successful, to assist in the generation, movement, use,
storage, retrieval, and disposal of this mass of data. In
far too many cases, however, these systems interact and
relate to one another on a random, unplanned basis. Where
exceptions exist, where "systems of systems" have been
developed by forward-looking managers and systems analysts,
there has existed no mechanism to relate these "systems
of systems" to other such systems. Additionally, no
Agencywide standards or policies exist to govern the
development of new systems or the beneficial interfacing
of existing systems. If we are to develop more orderly,
systematic methods for managing our information, we need
to know more about our existing information handling systems,
about the ways in which these systems do or do not interact,
and about how certain systems should interact.
c. The ma.or issues.
(1) There is no-central organization responsible for
policy formulation, planning, and tracking the
effectiveness of the many information handling
systems in use or proposed for use in CIA.
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i%le *.601
(2) Growth in the volume of information handled by
CIA components places a premium on development
of more effective means of moving, selecting,
retrieving, displaying, and discarding that
information.
(3) No common standards and policies exist for planning
and guiding the development of information handling
systems and the selection of software and hardware
to automate those systems.
(4) Technological developments are blurring the tradi-
tional functional boundaries between information
handling organizations, and we have not developed
mechanisms to deal effectively with cross-
functional information handling techniques.
6. The identification of the Agency's information handling problems
leads to the next step: establishing substantive guidance for those
responsible for the planning study. This will require some interaction
between the Executive Committee and the manager of the study when he/she
is identified. As a takeoff point for this interaction, a list of questions
that the study should address has been drafted. They were derived from
the issues listed above and from our perception of top-level management
concerns. The first cut at this guidance for this study is in Attachment B.
7. The following steps should be taken in carrying out this study:
a. The Executive Committee should direct the DDA
to designate. a senior Agency officer as the full-time
project manager, and provide a small professional staff
of one or two officers and a secretary. Candidates from
the Agency at large should be considered for these
positions.
b. The project manager should develop terms of
reference and a study plan and obtain Executive Committee
approval to proceed. The project manager should explore
the advantages of using contractor support to assist with
the project. Funds should be allocated for this purpose.
c. Under the guidance of the DDA, the project team
should, over a period of about one year, develop a strategic
plan for information handling, reporting progress to the
Executive Committee as the DDA and the DDCI deem appropriate.
d. The Executive Committee should approve the plan
after appropriate Agencywide review and begin to monitor
its execution.
8. In reviewing alternatives to the proposed approach, the Executive
Committee should consider the following points:
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a. It should be clear that. while there are differing
views on many aspects of this topic--its definition, the
problems and possible solutions--there is general agreement
that the problem needs attention.
b. There is a fundamental question about the scope
of the study that is concerned not only with one's concept
of what is or is not to be included under the definition
of information handling, but also with the manageability
and cost of the effort. We believe the study should be as
comprehensive as possible, within the limits imposed by
a rather fixed schedule and the resources and talents of
the study team.
c. The most basic question, of course, is
whether to undertake the study. While the payoff
is difficult to predict (primarily because the Agency
has never undertaken such an effort), the results
to be expected from our current methods of dealing
with our information handling future are equally as
unpredictable. New information systems will emerge;
old ones will be modified. Without a strategic plan,
the managers of these systems will continue to be
plagued with the problems we see today and their
efforts will at best produce only incremental improve-
ments in our current situation in system design and
interaction, procurement, data flow procedures,
standards--all those issues mentioned by Agency
components and summarized above.
9. It is recommended that the Executive Committee:
a. Approve in principle the proposed information
handling study.
b. Endorse the general statement of the problem
and the issues stated in paragraph 5 as the basic
guidance for the study.
c. Endorse the general methodology for the study
as proposed in paragraph 7 and ensure the support of
all Agency components in the data gathering and analysis
tasks of the study.
James H. Taylor
DON WORT'MAN
Don I. Wor tman
Attachments:
As Stated
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 Attachment A
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MEMORANDUM FOR: James H. Taylor
Comptroller
Don I. Wortman
Deputy Director for Administration
FROM Bruce Johnson
Acting Director of Data Processing
i t R 1979
SUBJECT : Information Handling Study; Problem Definition
REFERENCE : Comptroller Memo of 21 Nov. 1978 to Deputy
Directors and DCI Admin., Same Subject
1. An Agency goal in information handling was proposed jointly by
the DDA and the Comptroller and adopted at the DCI's Goals Conference in
September 1978. The goal has been stated as follows:
To develop a comprehensive information handling
strategy for the Agency and a structure for more formal
continuing coordination of the Agency's ADP, communica-
tions, records management, and word processing activities.
.In November 1978 the Comptroller solicited comments on the goal from all
Agency components, requesting responses to the following four questions:
a. How, fdr management purposes, should we define
information handling? So many define it so differently
that we need to develop a composite definition.
b. What are your major problems in handling infor-
mation that presently affect or will in the future affect
the performance of your component and/or other Agency
components?
c. What are the Agencywide management issues in
information handling that you believe need attention
in this study (e.g., planning, utilization of technology,
internal organizational relationships, others)?
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 d. What programs, now under way or being ri.anned,
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need to be addressed in this study?
Component and directorate responses of varying length and comprehensiveness
were received in December. The purpose of this memorandum is to present
the results of the analysis of these responses.
2. Definition of information-handling: The most common processing
elements among those included in e e anitions offered by various compo-
nents were dissemination (also referred to as transmission, transfer,
communication, ow, ex ange or sharing), storage (also called recording,
preservation, or filing), retrieval (the query process), and transformation
(also manipulation, processing transcription,"editing, or reoorganizi.ng).
Most definitions assumed a common understanding of what kinds of information
were being stored and retrieved, but a few explicitly included references
to management information as well as intelligence information, and there
were several mentions of information needed to,support decisions and to
assist in the accomplishment of Agency missions. A brief composite
definition would be:
Information handling in CIA is the systematic creation,
movement, use, storage, retrieval, and disposal of intel-
ligence and managment information with the support of
automated or other clearly identifiable processes and with
due regard for control of sensitive and compartmented data.
3. Major information handling problems and management issues:
B y far the most common pro em i enti i has to o W.I. e-st is ing
Agencywide information handling policy. A majority of those commenting
on this problem suggested organizational realignment as the most logical
solution, calling to mind the conclusions of the July 1977 report to the
then DDCI on "ADP Issue No. 3," which recommended among other things the
establishment of a new component at the DDCI level, charged with responsi-
bility for Agencywide ADP planning, policy formulation, and performance
review.
Information-Handling Issue No. 1: There is no
central organization responsible for policy formulation,
planning, and tracking the effectiveness of the many
information handling systems in use or proposed for use
in CIA.
The second most common set of problems and issues cited by Agency
components involves the amounts of information which must be handled,
the timeliness with which existing automated systems deliver the information,
and the limited resources available to deal with the volume and improve
the movement and retrieval. Selectivity, in collection, in retention,
and in dissemination, is seen as essential. Reference is also made to
the disparity between the investments made in sophisticated collection
systems and those made to develop systems which will make the collected
data available for analytical review and intelligence production.
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n'ormation Handling Issue No. 2: Growth in the
volume of information handledby -CIA components places
a premium on development of more effective means of moving,
selecting, retrieving, displaying, and discarding that
information.
Related to the coordination problem already discussed is the matter of
common standards, or'the lack thereof, for the development of information
handling systems. Not only software standards are lacking; there is no
common policy governing the choice of hardware, and this lack is perceived
as particularly shortsighted. as decentralized use of mini- and micro-
computers and word processors grows. Standardized approaches are desired,
but preferably those which still permit tailoring to meet unique require-
ments of individual components. "Systematic" is the term most often
used or implied in the discussion of this issue.
Information Handling Issue No. 3: No common standards
and policies exist for planning and guiding the development
of information handling systems and the selection of
software and hardware to automate those systems.
(It should be noted that in a parallel development a task force organized
by the DDA at the request of the DDCI recently completedta report which
recommended the establishment of a permanent Agencywide committee of soft-
ware specialists charged with the development of standards to be met by
new software developed anywhere in CIA. The DDCI has approved the recom-
mendation.)
The following issues, while not so commonly cited as those above,
were mentioned in one guise or another by three or more offices and so
deserve to be included in this compilation:
Information Handling Issue No. 4: Technological devel-
opments are blurring the traditional functional boundaries
between information handling organizations, and we have not
developed mechanisms to deal effectively with cross-
functional information handling techniques.
Information Handling Issue No. 5: We have?a
growing need for a common query language to ensure
efficient access to various data bases.
Information Handling Issue No. 6: Restrictive
procurement directives and budgetary decisions inhibit
Agency efforts to select efficient alternative mechanisms
to solve specific information handling problems.
Information Handling Issue No. 7: Any study of CIA
information handling must take into account the growing
demands placed on CIA information systems to support
Community programs.
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 The for ~g r' 9249 ;9P2PPW oP'MRP g ~P 99ll -dot be
taken to mean that there is universal agreement on all aspects of this
complex subject. A number of divergences can be found, of which the most
fundamental has to do with the scope of any study.of information handling
in CIA. On the one hand, we are urged to confine the task statement to
be sure that-task.-is manageable; on the other hand we are told that
"failure to /"include) all of the ways in which data and information are
manipulated within the Agency will frustrate four] efforts and result in
a partial and incomplete answer... likely to be incompatible with functions
not examined." The issue can be"stated as follows:
Information-Handling Issue No.-8: To be useful, the
study or information Handling in CIA must'be comprehensive,
even though no one has suggested that we create a single,
monolithic information control system. A study of
such magnitude will be costly and time consuming.
Can we afford to do it? Can we afford not to do it?
4. Programs planned or under-way,-which must be-addressed-in-any
study of-in ormatbon an g. the programs most commonly cited as having
relevance to e ormation Handling Study are:
SAFE
Interim SAFE
Career Service Studies (ADP careerists, Registry and.
Information Control careerists)
Cable Dissemination System (CDS)
COINS II
ADSTAR
CRAFT
Crisis Management Project
New Standard Soft-copy Computer Terminal and Word Processor
ADP. Standards. Committees and Government Panels
IRO Study Plan
RAPID
AEGIS/RECON (and possible expansion to serve the
Intelligence Community)
Display Conferencing
ETECS
CAMS
Security Task Force Recommendations
Persign
ET'AR
5. The information-handling-problem: The essential elements of
the problem as described y Agency components suggest the following
composite statement of the problem:
Problem: CIA handles enormous amounts of intelligence
and management information. It has devised numerous manual
and automated systems, some of them highly successful, to
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assist in the generation, movement, use, storage, retrieval,
and disposal of this mass of data. In far too many cases,
however, these systems interact and relate to one another
on a random, unplanned basis. Where exceptions exist,
where "systems of systems" have been developed by
forward-looking managers and systems analysts, there has
existed no mechanism to relate these "systems of systems"
to other such systems. Additionally, no Agencywide
standards or policies exist to govern the development
of new systems or the beneficial interfacing of existing
systems. If we are to develop more orderly, systematic
methods of managing our information, we need to know "
more about our existing information handling systems,,
about the ways in which these systems do or do not inter-
act, ark about how certain systems should, interact.
6. The most significant messages conveyed by the responses to the
Comptroller's questionnaire are that we are paying a significant if
sometimes hidden price for the lack of planning in information management
and that we can ill afford to allow vital information systems to prolif-
erate in total independence one from another.
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