TRANSFER OF AGENCY RECORDS TO NEW GSA RECORDS CENTER TO SUITLAND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP72-00450R000100160010-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 3, 2001
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: January 6, 1967
• Content Type: MF

Approved,Eox Release 2001/08/30 CIA-RDP72-0045OR000100160010-4
i JAN
MEMORANDUM FOR: The Deputy Director for Supga_
SUBJECT : Transfer of Agency Records to New GSA Records Center
at Suitland
1. Paragraph 4 of this memo requests action by the DD/S.
2. Background:
a. In January 1964 the Chief, Records Administration Staff sub-
mitted to the_Deputy Director for Support a projection estimating that
the Agency Record Center would reach its capacity about April 1967.
He was instructed to find means other than new construction to prolong
the life of the present Records Center. He arranged with the General
Services Administration to use about 60, 000 cubic feet of vault storage
space in a new Federal Records Center under construction at Suitland,
Maryland. The Office of Security established physical security stand-
ards and GSA altered the building specifications accordingly. The
Chief, Records Administration Staff also obtained agreement among
Agencies of the Intelligence Community as well as organizational
components within CIA that USIB produced documents could be stored
in the Federal Records Center, but with the understanding that CIA
would retain control over them. About 25, 000 cubic feet of records
have been identified for removal from - and storage at Suitland, 25X1 A6a
and GSA has told us that we can plan our move any time between May
and September 1967.
b. In May 1966 we went forward to the Office of Planning, Program -
ming and Budgeting with a request for an increase of three (3) ceiling
positions in FY 1968 for the Agency Archives and Records Center to
permit us to maintain custody and service requests for retrieval from
records which we plan to move to Suitland. These positions were
stricken by OPPB during the Agency review of our budget on the premise 25X1A6a
that reduction in records at -would relieve the workload there,
and, therefore, it should be possible to service the same records at
Suitland without an increase in personnel.
After our request for three positions was denied we considered
several alternatives.
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a. New construction at our own Records Center at a cost of about
$750, 000 is considered impractical at this time not only because we
have not planned or budgeted for it and could not be prepared with
architectural plans and specifications in time to give the immediate
relief that is needed even if funds were available, but also because
we would still need additional personnel to service the additional
record capacity.
b. We considered and discussed with GSA the possibility of having
them service the materials we plan to store at Suitland and were informed
that they would be unable to assume this responsibility because of the
security and control procedures necessary to ensure that access would
be limited to authorized customers. This decision by GSA made it
unnecessary for us to seek Security and Community approval to relin-
quish control.
c. We considered the possibility of moving records other than
those planned which would be less active and therefore require less
effort to maintain and service. Inactive financial records, for example,
which we are prevented by law from destroying until they have been
audited by the General Accounting Office are considered too sensitive
to release. The need for an exemption from this prohibition against
destruction, or special legislation has been discussed several times
in the past with the General Counsel and other interested parties in
the Agency. The question will have to be raised again and pursued to
some kind of a conclusion but it requires treatment separate from the
purpose of this paper. We have raised with NPIC the question of storing
some of their inactive photographic materials at Suitland, but the ques-
tion of sensitivity again becomes a controlling criterion. Preliminary
judgments are that even if agreement can be reached to store some of
these materials at Suitland, it would still be necessary to ask GSA to
make some alterations in the space to provide an added physical security
protective barrier. These discussions are continuing, but sensitivity
combined with the need to make funds available in FY 1967 or early
FY 1968 to alter the space lead to the preliminary intuitive conclusion
that this, too, will prove impractical at least in a time frame that can
give us the relief we need when we need it.
d. We have considered the possibility of deferring our occupancy
of the Suitland facility until FY 1969 but GSA is unable to give us a
commitment that the space can be held available beyond calendar year
1967. In fact, they urge that we begin our move not later than September
1967 and preferably earlier in order to assure possession. In any case,
r9f~'RfT
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the 1964 prediction that the Agency Records Center would be full by
April 1967 is proving to be quite accurate. The Records Center
capacity is 106, 000 cubic feet and the volume of records now stored
is 91, 011 cubic feet. Storage criteria for Federal Records consider
that records centers are full when they reach 90% of capacity. At the
present rate of growth we can expect to reach 90970 of our capacity by
April 1967 as predicted.
e. We have reconsidered the feasibility of proceeding with the
transfer of records as planned and having them serviced in their new
location by our present personnel. We concluded that this is not
practical because the distance between and Suitland prevents
realistic commuting and because the transfer of 25, 000 cubic feet of
records does not result in a corresponding transfer in workload. The
Records Center is now responsible for four principal functions:
(1) Operating the Archives for CIA and predecessors;
(2) Operating the Records Center for inactive records;
(3) Operating the CIA Vital Records Repository; and
(4) Providing)storage and supplemental distribution for Finished
v
Intelligence Publications, including maps.
f. Production standards for records center operations are based
upon the number of "actions" one person can perform in one year. An
action is the receipt of one cubic foot of records, the destruction of one
cubic foot of records, or a reference furnished. The average number
of actions for six Records Centers about which we have information is
5335 per man year with no more than 5% classified records. The CIA
records center production is about 10, 500 actions per man year with
100% of the records classified and many of these requiring special
control and storage procedures superimposed upon the normal require-
ments governing the handling and storage of classified documents.
g. The current volume of 91, 011 cubic feet of records is composed
of 19, 345 cubic feet of Finished Intelligence Publications and maps;
59, 128 cubic feet of inactive records; 9,085 cubic feet of Vital Records;
and 3,453 cubic feet of Archives materials. We plan to move about
19, 000 cubic feet of Finished Intelligence Publications and Maps, and
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about 6, 000 cubic feet of inactive records. The Vital Records and
Archives materials will remain at While about 98%
by volume of the Finished Intelligence Publications will be moved,
this represents only about 80% by publication (i. e. OBI/NIS; NPIC/PR;
ORR/EIC; etc). The 20F by publication that will remain have all
categories of special clearance requirements, including codeword
sensitivity indicators. The procedures for receiving, controlling,
servicing, and destroying this 20F require about as many man hours
as do the 801 which are to be moved. It seems clear, therefore, that
the transfer of records does not result in a corresponding transfer of
workload, On the other hand, beginning with commencement of the
move all Finished Intelligence Publications classified Secret and
below will be delivered directly to the Federal Records Center at
Suitland. The net growth per month of these materials this fiscal
year has been about 120 cubic feet. These must be received, locator
cards prepared, other processing completed and they must be shelved.
At the same time, materials being moved from-in a phased
move over a period of about nine (9) months to a year, will have to be
received, processed in and shelved. Meanwhile, the net growth at
will continue at the rate of about 500 - 600 cubic feet per
month of inactive records; 75 - 100 cubic feet of Vital Records; and
75 - 100 cubic feet of Archives. In addition, of course, the increasing
emphasis being placed upon the writing of the Agency history repre-
sents a significant increase in the workload placed upon the Archives
and Records Center.
g. As a matter of additional interest, the Agency records center
has not had an increase in staffing complement since its original move
to in April 1955. At that time our records holdings amounted
to about 19, 000 cubic feet and the staffing complement included 18
positions. We now have 91, 000 cubic feet of records and 15 positions.
This reduction in the number of positions results from the transfer of
two courier positions to the Mail and Courier section of the Office of
Logistics in 1963. A consolidation of functions permitted the further
reduction of one position. Realignment of other functions; procedural
innovations; creation of and adherence to records handling criteria;
the installation of improved equipment and several other management
improvement actions have made it possible to handle an increase of
nearly 500% in volume of records with a net decrease of one position
in the staffing complement.
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We see no alternative but to reaffirm our earlier request for
three (3) staff positions and funds to support them and recommend
that the Records Center ceiling be increased accordingly.
Chief, Support Services Staff
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