QUARTERLY REPORT OF CIA RECORDS MANAGEMENT BOARD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00099A000200060004-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 1999
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 30, 1969
• Content Type: MF

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30 April 1969
MEMORANDUM FOR: Executive Director-Comptroller
THROUGH : Deputy Director for Support
SUBJECT Quarterly Report of CIA Records Management Board
1. This memorandum is a report for your information on the Records
Purge and it includes action proposals in paragraph 8.
2. During the first quarter of 1969 the members of the CIA
Records Management Board continued to assist the component Officers
responsible for the Records'Purge. Their objective is to eliminate
all unnecessary files from the Records Center. To date the progress.
reports from each Directorate and the DCI area indicate the follow-
ing Records Purge accomplishments:
AREA
AUTHORIZED FOR DISPOSAL (Cu. Ft.)
TOTAL
DISPOSALS
REPORTING
Jul-Sep
Oct-Dec
Jan-Mar
TO DATE
DCI
6
32
81
119
DDI
2,074
3,104
2,178
7,356
DDP
364
376
230
970
DDS
129
1,156
592
1,877
DDS&T
--
764
58
822
Archives
--
--
215
215
Records Center
--
--
1,705
1,705
Total Purged
2,573
5,432
5,059
13,064
During the 8-month period of the Purge (July 68-Mar 69) the new acces-
sions received at the Records Center totaled 10,750 Cu. ft. Conse-
quently, the net gain of storage space from disposals over accessions
is 2,314. _An analysis of the net volume changes by types of records
for each Directorate is attached as TAB A.
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Besides identifying and disposing of 13,000 cu ft. of files,
considerable attention has been given to other Records Management
techniques that impact upon the volume stored. The. members of the
Board have reported the following developments: -
Nair
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uLiu. _reaucea in the . offices--
before they are retired. During the Purge new accessions of
10,750 cu. ft. at the Center were 1,534 cu. ft. less than
during the same period the year before.
b. The Schedules of retention periods are being re-examined and
shortened whenever possible. Schedules for 670 files were
reviewed and 100 changed to reduce the retention periods.
c. Office records systems, procedures, equipment, and requirements
are being critically analyzed. More than $250,000 worth of
movable shelving has been requested for NPIC and RID to increase
their office file capacities over 50%. File surveys have been
completed in Personnel and Security.. The Board has been in-
formed of microfilming surveys underway in RID, DDP Systems
group, OSP, Medical Services, OBGI, and the Cable Secretariat.
d. Forty thousand feet of "Inactive Office Records" retired to
the Center come from three depositors RID, Finance, and CRS).
These areas have eliminated 2,500 cu. ft. so fax. CRS reports
it will dispose of 4,000 cu. ft. by July.
e. Twenty thousand feet of extra copies of Agency publications
are stored at the Center for "Supplemental Distribution."
Some 19,000. cu. ft. of that total belong to four DDI Offices.
The largest collection (17,000 from OBGI) is being re-examined
and its printing requirements and stock levels drastically re-
duced. This has removed 1,000 cu. ft. and they expect to
eliminate 8,000 cu. ft.
f. Of the 9,000 cu. ft. of "Vital Records" stored as, emergency
planning, some 7,500 belong to three DDI Offices (NPIC, OBGI,
and CRS). A survey was completed in NPIC and awaits a policy
decision that may remove 3,000 cu: ft. because most of NPIC
is not part of the Agency emergency plan. The Board has not
been able to compel action on this decision. The other
offices are still studying.
g. The Agency "Archives" of permanently valuable and legally
required records oOO Cu. ft.) received two-proposals this
quarter: The Chairman roposes-storing the existing Archives
collection at and the Board recommends having the
Printing Section microfilm it. The members also suggested
that the Archives function be studied.
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4. During this quarter the Board found, as expected, that the Purge
will not provide enough space for Agency records. The continuing oper-
ations produce more files than will be destroyed through normal disposal
and periodic Purge campaigns. The Agency can expect its files to con-
tinue to grow beyond the capacity of its offices and the Records Center.
The annual inventories of the last ten years show the cubic foot volume
of files in the Headquarters area to have grown as follows:
Area
On Hand
1958
Total 10-Yr.
Disposals
On Hand
1969
Net Volume
Increase
Hq. Offices
148,000
292,000
221,000
73,000
Records Ctr.
37,000
88,000
104,000
67,000
The currently intensified Records Purge Campaign with the special atten-
tion of some 80 professionals and hundreds of clerks for nine months
eliminated 13,000 cu. ft. of old files but new accessions of 10,700 re-
duced the net gain to only 2,300 ft. All members report the peak of
large disposal volumes has passed. Only DDI/OBGI and CRS forsee any
sizable purging. Several offices are only half through their reviews
but they see it as a prolonged clean-up and no bulky disposals can be
expected. All areas report reviews and purging will have to continue
indefinitely, with or without any accompanying campaign.
5. Agency Management must take action to correct its problems of
records growth and storage. The Board believes the solution to records
growth is not in an "after the fact" Purge but in an aggressive Agency
Records Program adequately staffed and supported. This action is eco-
nomically necessary because Agency records are a multi-million-dollar
problem, they involve thousands of clerical personnel, impinge upon the
development of modern information systems, and influence the efficient
conduct of Agency operations. Remington Rand and other private organi-
zations as well as the Federal Records Service calculate that one clerk
is required to maintain and service 100 cubic feet of records in offices.
Using this rule of thumb and applying it to the total records volume of
221,000 cubic feet currently on hand in agency offices we can estimate
that we have 2,210 people occupied with office files. If we were to assume
that all of these were GS-3 clerks at $4,000 salary per year it would
suggest that we are spending $8,840,000 annually to handle our office
files. Add to this a factor for space cost at $4 per square foot,
knowing that in safes each cubic foot of records requires 1 square foot
,of office space, and on a shelf 4 cu. ft. require 1 sq. ft. With about
half our office files in safes and half on shelves we have an additional
cost of $550,000 per year for space. This suggests that we may be
spending as much as $9.3 million each year for headquarters records
maintenance, and we are still growing,. averaging 7,300 cubic feet per
year for the past ten years. Growth at this rate means 73 more people,
a $292,000 increase in salaries, and an $18,250 increase in space costs
each year. This is a statistical analysis which we have not attempted
to validate by actual agency experience, but even if there were a 250
error the problem would still be of significant magnitude. Records
Management Officers are responsible to reduce all such expenditures.
Many Records Officer positions already exist. But the use of
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those positions on records problems must be insured. The Board members
report they find there are too many unqualified Records Management
Officers. Also many RMO's have been assigned several "priority" duties
other than records. The Board feels the Records Program requires .
greater concern about the types of duties and persons being assigned to
the Records Management Officer positions. Only through the expressed
concern and continued interest of Top Management will the Deputy
Directors stimulate the Office Heads to examine the qualifications,
activities, and accomplishments of their Records Officers and initiate
corrective action where necessary.
. 6. To solve the records storage problem the Board examined
several alternatives indicated in the next paragraph. To make pro-
jections concerning actions to take in lieu of constructing a Records
Center addition, the Board calculated the capacity of existing storage
facilities, and estimated volume of records on hand after the Purge,
and the anticipated new accessions and disposals. The resultant net
total indicated the volume of files for which storage would not be avail-
able and on which corrective action must be provided. The Board calcu-
lated the volume of microfilming that would have to be done each year if
no other action is approved and implemented. If the strengthened Records
Program can reduce the net annual growth to 6,000 cu. ft. at the Center,
the Agency would have to film at least that amount every year. The Agency
microfilm experts and Printing Services Division inform us this will
require 12 cameras and 22 new positions. A like amount of filming would
have to be done for the Offices at Headquarters in order to stabilize
their growth if it continues at the rate of the past ten years.
7. The following suggestions for the records growth and storage
problems have been examined by the Records Management Board:
a. Increase Outflow from Center:
(1) Destroy unnecessary records now.
(2) Shorten scheduled storage periods.
(3) Transfer files to non-Agency jurisdictions.
(4) Establish positive disposal dates for all "Indefinite Deposits".
b. Reduce Inflow to Center:
(1) Establish qualified RMO's to manage component records.
(2) Require screening prior to retiring records to Center.
(3) Apply "Office of Records" concept to eliminate duplicates.
(4) Improve Office file systems and procedures.
(5) Advocate fewer copies and control records creation.
(6) Remove Supplemental Distribution function from the Center.
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c. Increase Storage Compactness in Offices and the Center:
Instal]. movable shelving to use aisle space
Microfilm more Headquarters and Records Center files.
Find and use other miniaturized data storage systems
(e.g. magnetic tape, video tape, microfiche, etc.)
Convert Agency reports and publications to Microfiche.
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d. Acquire additional storage space:
(1)_ Request time extension for use of GSA Center at Suitland.
(2) Retire selected inactive records in Federal Records
Centers and the National Archives.
(3) Use Federal underground storage for non-emergency type
Agency Vital Records.
(4) Renovate space in o store Archives.
(5) Build addition on Records Center at m
(6) Rent. space or store in office buildings'.
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8. Of the 20 suggested actions above, the first nine are being imple-
mented to the extent the various Components permit. The balance require
additional study and proposals before appropriate management action may
be taken. The Records Management Board submits the following recommended
proposals for immediate action:
Proposal One: Purchase Movable Shelving for Records Center.
Agency management should approve the $859,000 requisition,
being submitted separately, for motor driven, movable shelving
that will increase the capacity of the Records Center by 40,000
cubic feet. The vendors promise delivery in 6 months. Another
six months to a year will be needed for installation and reshelving 25X1A
of 80,000 boxes. If approved soon, the project can be completed
by December 1970 in time to move 20,000 cu. ft. out of - as
scheduled. The anticipated extension of our time at is
no longer tenable because the flood of government records is greater 25X1A
than expected and GSA announced last week that they expect 25X1A
to be filled to capacity within 18 months.
Proposal Two: Authorize Seven Contract Personnel to Relocate Records.
Vendors include installation in-the purchase price of shelving,
but the shifting of 80,000 boxes off and then back on to the shelves
and then moving 20,000 out of Suitland, plus the indexing, controlling,
and servicing the retrieval system for Agency components during the
relocating of the records in the Center will require seven contract
employees (GS-3 level) for a year to assist the existing Center staff.
(In 1968 the moving of 18,000 boxes to required ten months
and a staff employee and two contract employees plus a once-a-week
assist by two other staffers.)
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Proposal Three: Compel Component Support of Program.
The Agency's Records Management Program must be-intensified
to control records creation, improve file procedures, and to find
and implement new records keeping systems. The records review.
and purge must continue both in the offices and the Records Center.
This requires a continuing endorsement by Top Management, cooper-
ation by Office Heads, and the undiluted energies of qualified
Records Management Officers. The Executive Director-Comptroller
should emphatically reiterate his original charge to the Deputies
that "the DCI Area and each Directorate appoint a senior, full-
time.Records Management Officer to (1) Supervise the Records Pro-
grams in their several offices, (2) to serve on the Records Manage-
ment Board, and (3) to study the Agency records problems and
recommend solutions." Also every Office Head should be reminded
to appoint a Records Management Officer and insure that his "primary
responsibility is the Records Program for that Office."
Proposal Four: Institute the First Part of a Massive Microfilm Program.
In.addition to the Records Purge, movable shelving, and
strengthened Program, a massive microfilming campaign must be
undertaken throughout the Agency. The existing use of microforms,
although extensive and beneficial, is inadequate from an operations
standpoint as well as from the records storage needs in the Offices
and the Records Center. The greatest time and space benefits gained
from microforms are realized in the expensive offices with large
staffs and many files. Much of the long-stored inactive records in
the Records Center may be profitably microfilmed too. The new
shelving in Proposal One will provide approximately six years for
the Agency-to convert its existing reporting techniques, procedures,
and publications to a microminiaturized form. It is recommended
that the printing'services units at M and Headquarters be rein-
forced to service the Agency's accelerated microfilming effort.
The first step in this microfilm campaign requires that at
25X1A a force of six personnel and four cameras be approved and in-
stalled to immediately proceed with the annual filming of 1,500
cu. ft. of Agency Archives each year for the next three years.
Additional long-term records from the Records Center should be
scheduled for filming by the _ microfilming force.
Secondly, the Printing Services Division at Headquarters
should plan to be increased in FY 1971 with an additional force
of 22 personnel and 12 cameras with an objective to annually micro-
film 6,000 cu. ft. of component records that are scheduled to-be
retired to the Records Center. If the-shelving in Proposal One
above is not approved, then these two microfilming-units must be
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established and authorized to begin work immediately to film
7,500 cu. ft. a year to stay. ahead of the current volume. of
Agency records being sent to the Center.
No proposal is made now for a comparable microfilming effort
to stabilize the growth of a similar volume in the offices. This
will require more study of office developments and use of existing
Printing Services facilities.
9. Upon your approval of these proposals in principle, the Board
will follow up to insure the necessary actions are initiated for their
0
Records Management Board
Attachment:
A. Net Change in Volumes
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