RECORDS PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-00433A000100030014-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 8, 2002
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: September 1, 1969
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Ruse 2002/05/13 : q 78-00433A0.0100030014-4
FOR. .ecutiv Director- Comptroller
Records Prograr.
1. Paragraph 8 of this s:i randun. o
your approval.
reasons purging, does snot sews to offer a solution to our records stor-
age problem. We find that we have four major categories of material
stored at the acords Center, but only one of theta, the inactive records
have again examined the overall problem in an attempt to discover th
have in storage resulted in a net reduction of 4,196 cubic feet. 'f e
2. Our efforts during the past year to Pur
aaate each of these casteguries and define totem in terms that are
, qualifies technically for Records Center storage. We need to
acceptable geueraally to assign responsibilities and devise storage
sy'ste for each of t w44 and to develop new policies and procedures
to govern the records program of the Agency and provide for the manage--
went of the personnel, primarily concerned with it.
3. At the and of August 1969 the ? cocy's records holdings
d 98,91; cubic feet;
17,686
a. 8uD a e ntal D rihuti.on
91095
64,281
d. Archives (including materials 7,853
identified for Freesidenti..:l. Libraries)
4. Supplemental Distribution (17x686 cubic feat)
aa, The Sipplcmental iatributjaas category is composed,
of extra copies of finished intelligence publications which
have been distributed throughout the Intelligence Couu-Uty.
So individually deter.ued quantity of each of these publica-
tions is held in reserve to satisfy requests from custom rs for
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copies or additional distribution. The Central
e in the Intelligence Directorate gives the Records Center
actions for storage and must authorize the release of 4ocu--
meats to offices outside the Agency. There is a sigh turn,-over
as individual publications are re--issued, up--dated, or revised.
Activity averages 250 services a day.
b. Responsibility for storing and distributing these
publications as a service to the Intelligence Directorate was
accepted by the Records Center several years ago when the vol-
Ach smaller and space was not a problem. The Records
Center has continued to furnish the storage and distribution
service over the years because it represents a convenience to
the Agency and records cater storage space has been the cheapest
kind of available space suitable to the activity.
c. Nevertheless, the problem is not a records probl.
It is a problem of distribution and space. It should not be r
part of the Records Program and neither the Records Management
Board nor the Records Administration Bran should he held
accountable for its solution. Responsibility for rnsolutio
the distribution problem and the custody and control of the Late--
rials should be assumed. by the Intelligence Directorate. These
holdings should be carefully reviewed to determine w scther this
volume is really necessary.. Other Agency facilities are presently
being examined to determine whether documents held for supplemental
distribution can be stored elsewhere and removed entirely from the
records management pro&raa.
3. Vital Documents (9,095 cubic feet)
a. Vital `accents are documents selected by the various
components of the Agency 4 as essential to the reeconstitu.-
ion and continued operation of the Agency in the event a catas._
ophe strikes the headquarters building. They exist as a
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separate collection as a part of the ergency planninng program
and must be where they Sri, be accessihie in time of emergency.
The is the emergency relocation site
for r-ue Agency a this ; t h e reason the Vital Documents are
located there. They are stored in the Records Center only
because, incidentally, the Records Center is at the relocation
site. They were seovred into the Records Center from Build
In 1961 to make the space available for other purposes and
to save manpower.
b. As long as the Emergency Planning Program of to e
remains unchanged, these documents should continue to be
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stored at the relocation center. -r-sere are a Lit, xeowev *r,
ab
t 2
300
u
,
cubic feet of vital doemueuts stor-ad by
aXpected to be co -lo te,a with the Department, ..of efee
ase.
XC vital ciocua nts should be rawv ? fra2 the A aac7 relocation
"nttr and tr'a fern j to the apart eut of T~afenae relocation
site where ffIC is expected to operate in time of emergency.
Thezeaaiu4at of the vital documents a could be Grit--
__. ,~ :.. w,rx~~aceaaa + u1.
the overall eaereacy plan.
6. Archives (7,853 cubic feet)
AL. Archives are torical docu Bate which test be ke
t
p
ently. They are di.ffarent from inactive rece
d
Th
rr
a.
e
are historically and scholastically significant while inactive
,?..,.A - __-
dance
eedura ,
vary i -or
or should,
Archival re
08 defined by the Civil. Service Cos mission for the
the i sited States, 4reh1v, are ''(I) those bodies of
vc rea,vsrds are teararyr a .teaaaio of headquarters
ge net historical docu entat.ioa of the % tujcy
Qperatiouaily and administratively significant.
valuable records that form us :f?a.1 cvi-
or&ani. tion, functious, policies, decisions, pry,..,
for offic3,a3.
Dove rat by r
ined
assent al to historians
Ir i s , a axciolo i sts , or other scbiola
aspect;i of our society*..,
b. In addition to the 7
853 cubic f
,
caw W&csa4s
already segregated as archival and Preaidexiti.e.l Library ateriaei
orris recalled fr the
Arc ifv of the Unitod tar_
n. of the Director of Central lutel.l.igence.
c feet of t:IA material d"ira ates. tot peg"--.
of
e
000
_
.,
feet of a d_ _r
feat of i 15,000
pet osazt Age= Y ra u.ire screerd%
to select those docc nta WI-loch are truly archi.. . t y
are screened the total collectio s of 241000 CUbU 144t Wowt be
considered as part of the archives,. just"d of 7 c is f*et
of archives, therefore, in reality we have 31,453 e-too feet of
archhival material.
served for their Informational couteot......{
document official actions and serve as
sources
rence in the pro acutiou of the affairs of
3
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under
It shoo
parsonue
.c premises of records die-_
position. The objective
of the other is to die; o
to retain and the objective
d. Professional archival work involves the
but not =Mutually exclusive, functions,
appraisal and disposti
(3) preservation and rehabilitation,
(4) documentary publication, historical
editing and exhibit of archival materials, and
(5) reference service.
(2) arrau eaeut
A sampling of these functiousa are described below to
further clarify the professional distinctions between
srchivjaty a. recd :dr management Officarsi
(1) Records appraisal and dispostion involves
e analysis and evaluation of inactive records to doter,.,.
me ity and Federal. Covernjaea t at large;
the scholarly ccnirity.
other agencies and activities in the into
and uudcrsta ing of the history, organization and opera--
tio of t1l,e ancy, , the le :.alativ s authorities and
responsibilities of the Agency as theca relate to the
development and retention of records; the organizational,
factional and records relationships of the Agency to
:iou. Archivists ems loy a comprehensive knowledge
78-00433AQQ0100030014-4
rid appraisal should be conducted by,
sign of, qualified professional archivists.
basic premises of permanent archival retention
be left to records officers or records center
cozntinuis,, values and to provide advice or
a decisions ab auL their destruction or permanent
study the origins, the orgauirational and functional
(Z) Archivists engaged in record arreugo
of orni2ation and function.- and facilitate their loca_
boon, description asr:d use.
icance; protect their integrity as historical evideac
They aualyzc the records to decide the arran,
y and administrative proc.dures of the producin,
that will beat reveal their character and
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atiou involves safe uardiu the
al material from deterioration or i k~a
value through alteration. it considers the Coo-
-f the records; the aattaro of their evidential
erently, require a higher quality of atora a space
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to amore their learnt preservation, and require a
kind and frequency of servicing than other categories of records,
Prof"sionaly and Administratively, archives are different from
the basic principles of records ma Gage a tt and they should not
a part of the records r a aaa ent program. Archives are t i.e-
torica,l. documents used primarily by researchers and histcoriana.
Tey are the sources from w i.ch historical narratives are
writter. s such they are - uc a more closoly related to the
f netisans of the Ustori ,1 Staff than to the records s an ;eaaut
futtetlo . A position, for at least one senior archivist should
be created ou the t:istoricsl Staff and responsibility for the
archives pro4ra of the Agency should be assigned to that Staff.
' archiv function, over, should not be considered as
subordinate to the historical function. Some historia are
or Informational values; the extent of their us and
the cost of repair or reha:billtatioa.
(4) Archivists involved in publication work
carefully study the documents to be published to resolve
questions of origin and authenticity. They employ a
thorough knowledge of than at atance of the documents and
Persons, circumstances, or events to which the documents
a. Ott only do archives require professional. compete-ace
differs from that of records officers, but they are ad-
WO feel that the docent can be destroyed ter the
has been written. 't-his, of course, is a misconception.
i iffereat historians interpret history differently and a si to
t can serve more than one historical or scholarly purpose
including Political, sociol xlical, and ecouo$c cons idera tioas
,
for example. For these reasons it is suggested that there
should be a sarat.e archival function a part of the overall
rpon3ibility of the Historical Staff,
f. Ar'cidv a require a higher quality of storage space
than other record materials do, more like a library than a
warehouze, wit a air conditioning, neat and b idity controls
`fh low level of activity a ad requests for service make-the
archive a logical choice for location s ary from th
titan feasibility of a ovlug the archival
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Itival storage. nwhile we are eva luatin, ? space
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Inactive Records (64,21l cubic fee
currant action is completed and which are required so 1nfre--
qu stly it. the conduct of current business that they may be
rimed from offices and stored els> here without impairin d
operations. They are records which must be retained for a defi.-_
site period of time ism ord&Ar to comply with established le;al or
operational requir' meats. Certain financial docsasac nits, for
ammple, must be retained for 56 years, others must he retained
for twelve years, and official peraonuc1 files must be retained
for 75 years. Inactive records of these types with fixed
records cast be retained permanently according to isv. Perma-
uent iaactive records eves iu.ally become archives. with the iataet
Lion that they will be retained forever.
eng the four categories of records disscusaa
storages only inactive records meet the criteria establish by
law and the Archivist of the United States for such storage.
It is this volume ties::, to which the records nouagi-iont program
y should h rliaarily dir
a are about 3,000 cuoi.c feet of OSS and ared ee
organization records, and about 15,000 cubic feet of CIA record
a the inactive records iioldiags which 'a": been scheduled for
pnsant retention, and should be considered as part of the
archives collection. If this 24,000 cubic foot volume is de-
-ducted from the total currect volume of 4,281 cubic feet and
reed to the archives, there will re In only 40,
ion periods are considered to he teporary. Some Inactive
records are those records up&
e records qualify. technically for records center
s' foregoing discussion o
of Inactive records. These are the only recor<
Agan
?ncy. Control over the growth of this volune should b
responsibility of the records management program
d. We are in the proco-as of tiating a contract for
the conduct of a study aat to records center to deter- 25X1
mine the feasibility of instaa a e ec rically driv-in, movable
sheiv:in to permit a si gif icant compaction of the uateriala
stored. If feasible, it is eatimated that such an installation
will increase the present svor,se capacity by about forty t)er-
cent. We are also planning to create a group of technically
qualified fersoirael to study the systews practicaabilit y of
adopting microform techniqu s to provide storage a and retrieval
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systems suit:
the Agency.
he various record keeping operations in
a and r-iovable shelving, however, will pro-
vide only teaaej orary relief for a few years and will not ao
to store them. of only does hard copy grow at the rare
cubic feet per exployee par year, but there are rapidly
growing requirement for the atoraza of film, magnetic tapes and
d
other forms of electronic recording media which may well excee
whatever capacity we may gain by improving the utilization of
present space.
Under the present policy, we operate a central store
ity but exercise no control over what or bow much comes into
anti a this practice. Even aaore basic tiara control
to gain control over the growth of records in storage
over ta storage, however, is the need for systematic anae ;lent
_
of records beginning with their creation. Total records : na,
e has always been an disposition, with periodic con
include creation, maintenance, and disposition.
a purging. we used to systematically
once-titration and direct our attention to correspon-
dence man eraent, forms manag en:t, reports management _,
esimcially computer reports -., copying machines, and all other
thods of records creatioea. There are more than 220,000 cubic
ecords in headruarters office space. We need
entrate on file crcationn and irntenance systems. to
*azure that we maintain only those documents and files that are.
necessary to the day to day conduct of our busLness. We need
to provide a cyst to erasure that only those recd
be retained for a specified period, temporary or per
transferred to the ecorda Center.
S. These purposes can only be accomplished through the
cation of a single records program under unified a e e at.
ill be necessary to put such a program into being
(1) The creation of a Senior Records Kane
Board under the I)D!S with specific authority to direct
a centralized program;
selection, from aging the more than 400
positions in the AAancy identified with records responsi-
bilities in one form or another, of those pore
should be devoted fully to records tnagent
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(3) the craation of a career service or some
equivalent pearao.l manage:-nt system to provide for
the training and long term caraer development of
viduals primarily :oncerned with records arzage tent
responsibilities;
(4) the eyate atic designation of offices
record which will be responsible for maintaining
records of a particular category in order to avoid
multiple filin& a d retention of the same docu en
to provide the framework for suet, an overall records
anent pro&
(a) the review of regularly produced reports
1 aourcea to validate their continuing iee:d and
or record retention purposes,
(b)
planning and control of
e to rmusg room much like co puters
done dhsrin the past fifteen years; and
(7) the publication of policies and procedures
,eponsibility for the storage and s rvicinr; of
Suvole ntal Distribution decuitents be ossumel by the Depu
for Intelligenc4~ who tian the basic rasp sibi l.t7 for
Lion and that space be eou ht for their location away
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t;cords Center;
practicality of the Emergency Planning
of the envy be reevaluated; that meanwhile vital docut
continue to be stored at the lkke cords Center but that the DD/T
assume responsibility for relocatin vital documents stored by
SPIC to ita relocation site;
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the Historical staff; that apace
at be sought a other suitable location away
from th Record* Center, and that permanent archives
apace be iz:cl u-- c. n loo term building plans; any
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ar e;ivist; the responsibility for the archives prot;ra
e, a positiot.. be created on the ist.orical. staff for a
the development of a
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the concept of a centralized records man
be approved and the /S authorized to procee
development of a program as outlined in paragraph if
R. L. -e ierr
Deputy Director
for Support
DDS/SSS/PHt: jm:s (12 September 1969)
Distribution:
Orig & 1 - Adse
I - DD/S Subject
1 - 1D/S Chrono
1 - SSS Subject
1 - SSS/RAB
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