I. RECORDS MANAGEMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77-00389R000100230035-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 19, 2002
• Sequence Number: 35
• Content Type: SUMMARY

ADMI
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RECORDS MANAGEMENT
1. Records Management Board
A Records Management Board consisting of senior represent-
atives from each Directorate, the Chief of the Historical Staff, and
the Agency Records Management Officer was formed and has met three
mos. The primary purpose of the formal meetings has been to
develop and approve in draft form a new HR I khich defines an STATINTL
Agency-wide records management system. Frankly, the Board as a
mechanism has not been of great value in this nascent period. The
membership has been of great value in providing ready access for
ideas and communications to each Directorate. In other words, the
Board functions best when it is not a Board. There may well be a
greater role for the Board to play in the recommendation of policy
decisions to an appropriate top-level management structure in terms
of some specifics which will be discussed subsequently.
3leadguarters Regulation L
As noted above, a draft of HR~ the basic records STATINTL
management regulation, has been completed and is circulating for
formal coordination. This regulation calls for the establishment
raining standards, personnel selection criteria, and operational
collection for such a system.
Records Management Conference
The Records Management Conference was held in October
STA INTL at This was the sixth
annual conference. The agenda for a conference, was prepared by
the participants rather than imposed from outside and concentrated
on a Directorate approach to Directorate problems. It seems to
have been highly successful if only in increasing the amount of ego-
gratification for the participants. When you consider that records
management has been looked down upon within the Agency by all
other programs, ego- gratification is a reasonable accomplishment.
A records management conference is in planning stages for calendar
year 1973. Terms and topics have yet to be identified. It will be a
conference which will be problem oriented and will attempt to deal
directly with the production and recording problems of the components.
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4. The Records Administration Branch
The Records Administration Branch has operated with a full
table of organization during this period. The Branch has consisted
of three Support generalists and three technicians. It has slowly
ed itself around from a group offering only technical advice on
a passive basis to a more active group stressing management rather
than records. This turnaround is by no means completed and
probably will not be until there has been a complete turnover of
personnel. This is a delicately balanced problem because the
technical expertise of the specialists is needed to deal with spec-
ialized problems but a much broader approach is necessary for
the Branch to be of total service to the Agency. RAB is initiating
a program of records surveys in the various components. The
first such survey will begin in the Office of Personnel on 1 March 1973.
This will be a comprehensive survey incorporating all aspects of
records management from creation through disposal. It will be a
test bed to assess the contribution records management can make to
the Agency. RAB has also established a program of comprehensive
form review. For the first time, the National Photographic Inter-
pretation Center forms program will be integrated into the rest of
the Agency. In addition, all forms for overseas useage have been
reviewed with an eye to utility. This has resulted in the removal
of some 75 forms from the overseas inventory and the complete review
of all forms used by the Office of Finance. Incidentally, this program
is the one which can be most readily identified in terms of declassi-
fication or downgrading actions. Over 4-1/2 million impressions of
forms have been declassified under this program.
. Records Center Operations
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Records Center Operations have continued on a normal basis.
The Records Center has had a good reputation for service. This
reputation has continued. Analysis of the utilization.of Records Center
space indicates that this relatively inexpensive space is being poorly
utilized. The assumption is that cheap Records Center space remains
unused while valuable Headquarters space is occupied by inactive records.
The reason for this is probably the ceiling which has been imposed upon
each Directorate in terms of volumes of records that can. be accessioned
into the Records Center on an annual basis. This policy will be reviewed
and a recommendation forthcoming which will remove this ceiling and
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manage accessions to the Records Center on a basis of active record
control schedules.
The Records Center and the Archives operation have been
separated and moved into different parts of the Records Center
building. The Archives collection has also been established as a
separate collection, no longer intermingled with the active and
vital records. For the first time In over ten years, the interior
of the building has been painted, carrels provided for researchers,
and the working areas renovated. This has resulted in improved
working conditions and better morale.
6. Technical Committee
The letter of 26 May 1972 called for the establishment of a
technical committee to serve as a staff for the Records Management
Board. This committee has been named but to date has not met.
There seem a to be no real purpose for such a committee. Technical
advice is available to Board Members through their own Directorates
and ad hoc task groups can be formed to study specific problems and
dissolved when such studies are completed. A subsequent recom-
mendation will be forthcoming to effect the dissolution of the committee.
. Special Areas of Interest
As a result of a recommendation from the Deputy Director of
upport, favorably endorsed by the Executive Director- Comptroller,
the Records Management Board has been charged with developing
Agency policy relative to the use of copiers and duplicators. No
action has taken place on this study yet but a request is pending
Printing Services Division to develop the technical parameters of
such equipment.
In addition, the Agency Records Management Officer chairs
a newly formed task group to develop technical parameters for the
Agency for word processing and text editing equipment.
U. ARCHIVES
Physical Separation
The Agency has had a highly informal archival collection
1964. This collection is a catholic accumulation of papers from
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the attics of the components. It has not been formally accessioned:
nor screened for duplication. Most of the activity in Archives falls
into two fields; organizational and operational.
From an organizational standpoint, Archives have been
separated from Records Center operations and informally established
as a separate unit. This has permitted the development of separate
program objectives for Archives. Separate space has been found in
the Records Center building for the housing of an' archives collection
and renovations are under way on that space. The initial phases of
accessioning and screening have been undertaken.
Headquarters RegulationL
A draft Headquarters Regulation establishing an Agenc,
wide archival program has been drafted and circulated for commeni
It is now in the process of formal coordination.
Archival Training
I was detailed to the Special Assistant
for Information Control by the Director. CRS. remains STATINTL
on the Central Reference Service development complement for the
time being. At some point in time, he should be slotted against a
records management slot. specific tasks are to STATINTL
establish an active Agency archival program and prepare a compre-
hensive handbook defining archival material for use by Agency
records management officers. He is presently in training at the
National Archives and Records Service. It is anticipated that he will
begin to execute his primary functions in late spring or early summer
1973.
M. HISTORY
Subject of a separate report.
IV. EXECUTIVE ORDER 11652
This task has proven to be the most time-consuming one
contained in the original May 26 letter. The implementation of
EO 11652 has called for the establishment of a systematic approach
to public and official requests for deeclassifi.cation on a scale at least
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an order of magnitude higher than previously encountered. Some 35
requests for declassification have been processed through 31 January
1973. From experience gained, pragmatic guidelines have been
developed for OSS material and for the materials being reviewed in
conjunction with the Department of State publication, Foreign Relations.
A program involving three annuitants was established by the
CS to undertake the review of the 0SS records located in the National
Archives. That program began in December 1972 and is approximately
one-sixth completed.
The Records Management Officer has served as the policing
point within the Agency for instances of classification abuse and as
Lie staff support to the Agency member of the Interagency Classification
Review Committee for the preparation of required reports to that body.
A conservative estimate of the impact of the Executive Order to date
would be the full involvement of three personnel and the involvement
n additional five personnel at an average grade level of GS-15 for
rr than 75% of the time. Each request also impacts upon some or
all of the Agency' s diffuse records management system. Continuation
at the present rate would probably result in identifiable cost to this
Agency of in excess of $200, 000 per annum.
One unexpected consequence of the impact of the Executive
Order has been the development of more direct and closer relations
with the records management and historical systems of the agencies
directly involved. This Agency seems to be on good terms, profession-
ally speaking, with National Archives and Records Service, the
Department of State, Department of Defense, Department of the Army,
and the Atomic Energy Commission. Our relationship with the ICRC
staff in lacking the same warmth.
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