RETENTION OF CERTAIN OFFICE OF FINANCE RECORDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-00433A000100050029-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2002
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: August 6, 1971
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Relea% 2003/03/28E I P78-00433A000 4050029-6 7/, 31S'o
6 AUG 1971
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Support
THROUGH Director of Finance
SUBJECT : Retention of Certain Office of Finance
Records
REFERENCE Executive Director-Comptroller's Memorandum
dated 10 June 1971 (ER 71-3488/1),
Subject: Control of the Agency's Records
Storage Growth
1. This memorandum is primarily for the information of the
Deputy Director for Support. However, we seek the DDS concurrence
to paragraph 9 which outlines a course of action this Staff pro-
poses to pursue in resolving subject issue with the DDP.
2. The recently instituted policy established by referent
memorandum, limiting each directorate's deposits to the Records
Center to 1,000 cubic feet net increase in FY 1972 and successively
smaller increments during the ensuing years, makes it imperative
that we take early and definitive action to live within the "quota"
assigned to the Support Directorate. There are many avenues open
to us and one of the more obvious steps we can and should now take
is to destroy records that have exceeded their functional usefulness
for Support Offices and whose retention is no longer required by law
or other Federal records retention standards. In some instances we
are keeping large quantities of records for "contingency" purposes
at the insistence of DDP/CI Staff.
3. The Office of Finance has a large volume of records
which according to the National Archives and Records Service and
the Comptroller General standards require legal retention for 12
years. These records are headquarters vouchers and field station
accountings, both of which contain travel accounting records (PCS
and TDY) as well as operational entertainment and expense vouchers.
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4.. For ten years the Office of Finance and the CIA Records
Administration Officer have tried to remove the impediments which
have forestalled orderly disposal of these records after the legal
retention requirements have expired. Initially the problem was one
of securing agreement from the Comptroller General that the records
could be destroyed without GAO audit, and that CIA audit would
suffice. This was resolved 2 November 1967 on which date at CIA
request the Comptroller General approved a financial records retire-
ment program which included. authority to destroy these records after
the legal retention period of 12 years has expired.
5. Unfortunately, the subject field records contain inter-
mingled indigenous payroll records, the retention period for which
is 56 years. On 29 March 1968 the Director of Finance addressed a
memorandum to the Deputy Director for Support seeking to have a
12-year retention period established for the indigenous payroll
records to permit their disposal coincident with the disposal of the
other records contained in the headquarters vouchers and field
accounting collections. This memorandum was referred for review
and comment to the Director of Security; Chief, CI Staff, DDP; and
the Deputy Director for Plans. The Director of Security concurred
22 April 1968. In an 8 May 1968 memorandum, the Chief, CI Staff
nonconcurred on a broad basis, objecting to the legally approved
12-year retention period for headquarters vouchers and field
accountings and specifying that CI Staff needs the records to be
retained for 30 years. In sum, the CI Staff rationale for retain-
ing these records beyond the 12-year legal retention period is
based on their expressed need to effectively carry out their
responsibilities in highly important sensitive CI cases. They
state that:
a. Financial records permit detailed reconstruc-
tion of travel and assignments of Agency personnel which
CI claims is impossible to obtain from any other records
in the Agency. They claim that these records are an
essential source for determining that a certain individual
is in a certain place at a particular time.
b. CI's rationale for retention of operational
entertainment vouchers is less clear (particularly since
these vouchers do not have true name identity of agents
or prospective agents -- these are presumably maintained
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in project operational records within the DDP), however,
CI Staff contends these finance documents may reveal
"other actions" (other than contained in the official
CS ops files) on staff, staff agent, and contract
personnel which become highly important in cases in-
volving operational security.
The Deputy Director for Plans on 17 May 1968 agreed with the Chief,
CI Staff memorandum. On 23 August 1968, the DDS returned the
Office of Finance proposal to the Director of Finance without
approval.
6. At present, the problem of the comingling of indigenous
payroll records with other financial records is being resolved. Upon
the arrival of field accountings in headquarters, the Office of Finance
is screening these files to segregate and remove indigenous payroll
records (for 56-year retention). Steps are being taken to have the
accounting files established in the field separately from indigenous
payroll records; thus, headquarters screening will eventually become
unnecessary. Non-current field accounting records, including those
in the Records Center, will also be screened by the Office of Finance
on a time available basis to remove indigenous payroll record material.
7. As of 21 July 1971, there were 2,500 cubic feet of head-
quarters vouchers and field accounting records over 12 years old.
It is of interest to note the volume which will become 12 years old,
thus subject to legal destruction, during the next 3 years:
In 1972 - 450 cubic feet
In 1973 - 450 cubic feet
In 1974 - 530 cubic feet
Taking this volume into consideration, as well as newer records
accumulations in this category, it is apparent that during the next
ten years approximately 500 cubic feet per year could be legally
destroyed but for the CI Staff request that they be retained for
30 years.
8. We are aware of the difficulty involved in challenging
the CI Staff's contention that there exists a valid justification to
retain these records for CI contingency purposes, however, it is
clear that the operational and legal use in the Support Directorate
ends when they are 12 years old. This is the largest single collec-
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tion of records in the Support Directorate and it is now growing at
an annual rate of 500 cubic feet. The DDS simply cannot live within
the 1,000 net cubic feet annual allocation if we cannot destroy these
records when they reach the 12-year legal retention period. Addition-
ally, from a cost effectiveness standpoint, long term retention is an
ever increasing burden. For example, the 2,500 cubic feet that we
could now destroy will occupy new motorized shelving at a capital
investment cost of $15,000 and requires another $2,500 in annual
overhead costs. If nothing is done this collection would continue
to grow at an annual rate of 500 cubic feet, costing $4,000 in capital
investment and overhead charges each succeeding year. By 1979, the
first year we could begin to destroy records on the 30-year reten-
tion basis, costs would have mounted to $42,000 in capital investment
and over $41,000 in overhead charges. Conversion to microfilm is an
alternative if DDP insists a 30-year retention basis but this even
is more expensive. Although DDP/CI has already taken the position
that the frequency of their requests for searches of these finance
records is not a substantive basis for judging their value, we contend
that it should be a significant factor. In this regard, Office of
Finance reports that they have no record of a DDP reference request
during FY 1970 and 1971 involving accountings that are past the 12-year
retention period.
9. Subject to concurrence of the DDS, we intend to pursue
the following course of action to resolve this problem:
a. At the Support Services Staff level formally
request the DDP/RMO and DDP/CI Staff to: (1) review the
subject 12-year old records again in view of the lack of
reference activity, the costs (dollar and space) of
retaining these records, and the validity of CI Staff
rationale on retention in relation to other Clandestine
Services record retention priorities. See attached
memorandum.
b. If the DDP review results in their desire to
maintain the current 30-year retention policy, transfer
Records Center space allocation "charges" on these records
from the Office of Finance to the DDP. Additional
records in this category would also be "charged" to the
DDP as they pass the 12-year legal retention period
(approximately 500 cubic feet per year). Office of
Finance would retain technical control over the records.
It should be pointed out that such an immediate transfer
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of 2,500 cubic feet of records (unless offset by reduc-
tions in other DDP Records Center holdings or by the
DDP undertaking a major program to microfilm this collec-
tion) would cause the DDP to exceed by 1,500 cubic feet
its FY 1972 allocation for Records Center deposits.
This no doubt would trigger our first major test of the
new records storage policy and would presumably end up
with the Executive Director-Comptroller for resolution.
Chief, Support Services Staff
Attachment
CONCUR:
r_'LLLL .Y . V V J4i %y . I
eputy Director 4"r- 6-
for Support
QJ
cl a
r
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Y. E. Bush
Director of Finance
6 AUG i tl
II
WAO 34ooo100050029-6
25X1A
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