SURVEY OF PROCEDURES AT THE AGENCY ARCHIVES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP10T01930R000200070001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 12, 1977
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/04: CIA-RDP10T01930R000200070001-0
12 August 1977
MEMORANDUM FOR: Chief, Information Systems Analysis Staff
VIA: Chief, Records Administration Branch
FROM: STAT
Records Administration Branch
SUBJECT: Survey of Procedures at the Agency Archives 25X1
1. I A survey of procedures in use at the Agency
Archives was scheduled for the period 11 July - 1 September
1977. Because of the many substantive and procedural changes
in records management throughout the Federal Government that
have occurred within the last one-two years, it became obvious
within a short time after the start of the survey that most
of the procedures at the Archives were badly out of sync
with current requirements. Therefore, rather than try to
record and evaluate out-of-date procedures, it was decided
that a more useful approach would be to focus on recommending
changes that would make procedures more compatible with
those changes in the Agency Records Management Program that
are required by federal law.
2. The following activities and procedures were of
particular interest and concern and are symptomatic of the
general conditions existing at the Agency Archives.
a. Absence of Written Procedures
The Agency Archives has operated under a
loosely knit collection of unwritten procedures
that has been developed in an ad hoc fashion over
the past ten years. These procedures have been
modified or changed as new requirements emerge or
old ones disappear, but such modifications and
changes are subject to wide variations in indivi-
dual interpretation as management of the facility
changes hands. No systematic review, revision,
coordination, and publication of procedures has
ever been undertaken.
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Recommendation
Task the Chief, Archives Branch to prepare
written standing operating procedures for the
routine, daily functions of the Agency Archives.
Additionally, Chief, Archives Branch should be
tasked to prepare a draft HHB on archival acti-
vities for coordination with RAB. Publication
of these two documents would provide uniform
instructions to both employees and customers of
the Agency Archives on the proper use of the
facility. These documents should be prepared
immediately. .
b. Questionable Methods of Accessioning Records
At present, records are being accessioned
by the Agency Archives in three different ways:
(1) Transfers from the Agency Records
Center. Records that have been in the Records
Center for ten or more years, that are identi-
fied on the records control schedule as perma-
nent records, and that have low reference
volume are transferred to the Agency Archives.
This method is not being pursued at present.
(2) Special Offerings. A component records
management officer or other individual may
believe some records to be of permanent value
and offer them to the Agency Archives for reten-
tion. The Chief, Agency Archives and Records
Center may concur with the opinion of the
RMO and unilaterally decide to accession such
records into the Archives.
(3) Initial Distribution. Record copies
of finished intelligence reports and directives
series are automatically sent to the Agency
Archives by P&PD/OL upon publication.
Recommendation
It is absolutely imperative that only those
records that have been determined by the Archivist
of the United States to have sufficient historical
or other value to warrant continued preservation
by the U.S. Government are kept in the Agency Archives.
-2-
n [ATIAL
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The appropriate mechanism for determining proper
disposition is the records scheduling process.
Draft procedures for the Agency Archives should
specify that forms for accessioning will contain
the schedule and item number and description of the
records being deposited. The accessioning unit
at the Archives should inspect the records upon
arrival to verify this information. NO records
should be accessioned into the Archives unless
they are either on an approved records control
schedule or if unscheduled, listed on an SF-115
to obtain disposition instructions. "Special
offerings" should not be permitted. "Initial
distribution" of reports from P&PD/0L should be
scrutinized and a determination made as to whether
this practice should continue. There is merit to
the proposition that it should be the responsi-
bility of the originating office to see that record
copies of permanent records are deposited in the
Agency Archives. "Transfers from the Records
Center" should be vigorously implemented to make
much-needed space available for temporary records
in the Records Center.
c. Filing of Duplicate Copies
At present, it is not unusual for the Agency
Archives to receive four copies of the same report;
a "hard copy" from the originating office, a "hard
copy" from P&PD/OL, and, if microfilmed, a silver
and diazo microfiche from P&PD/OL. Apparently, the
original intent was to provide archival quality
microforms in the expectation that the paper copy
of a report could be eliminated to save space.
However, before the paper copy can be destroyed, the
microform copy must be verified for completeness
and accuracy and this fact certified by a responsible
official (41 CFR 101-11.503-2). Unfortunately, it
does not appear that the microfilm now being filed
has been verified, as required by law. Thus, the
Archives, in the absence of any clearly enunciated
policy, has filed both hard copy and the silver and
diazo microform copies. In some instances, Archives
technicians have even been pressed into doing file
preparation for the microfilming.
IAL
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Recommendation
Develop an Agency policy regarding substitution
of microforms for paper copies of permanent records
held in the Archives. This policy should address
the question of what to do with microforms already
filed and stored in the Archives. The need for
verification must be recognized and a clear defi-
nition of "verification" must be provided. Ideally,
the media for the archival copies of records should
be specified in an approved records control schedule.
d. Inefficient Staffing Pattern
At present, there is a geographic division
of labor within the Agency Archives, with archival
technicians organized along Directorate lines. The
result is that common functions (e.g., accessioning
and reference) are subject to individual interpre-
tation and application according to the needs and
priorities of the individual technicians.
Recommendation
A separate memo was prepared recommending reor-
ganization of the Agency Archives on a functional
basis to insure uniformity of procedures and their
application. The importance of approving this proposed
reorganization cannot be overemphasized and immediate
approval is recommended.
e. Lack of Comprehensive Research Aids
The Agency Archives is preparing only a
minimum number of research aids. This is due largely
to the organizational structure wherein each Archives
technician has individual discretion and responsi-
bility for the records of a particular Directorate
rather than a functional responsibility. Thus,
one technician may emphasize preparation of research
aids and another may emphasize another aspect of
his total responsibility. The present machine
listing is also laboriously prepared on an outdated
punch card system.
Recommendation
Initiate a feasibility study concurrently with
one for the Records Center to seek a replacement
machine system for the antiquated Electric Accounting
CONFIDENTIAL
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Machine (EAM) now used to prepare the machine listing
of archival holdings. The EAM, belonging to OCR,
limits us to an 80 column punch card to describe
each series or job of records and is clearly
inadequate. One Archives technician should be
assigned to work with RAB and ODP to devise an
alternative system and to prepare/write the research
aids.
3. (Because of the shortened time for the survey and 25X1
change in focus, this is not an all-inclusive report. In
theory, however, the Agency Archives activity can be reduced
to fairly simple, straightforward objectives. In the writer's
opinion, the Agency Archives should be the repository for
only the noncurrent permanent records of the Agency, until
such records are transferred, as ultimately they must be,
to the National Archives. Logic dictates that only the
official record copy (or archival copy).should be deposited.
The media of deposit should be specified in the records
control schedule and duplicates should not be accepted for
deposit, regardless of the media. The approved records
control schedule (for unscheduled records, an SF-115) should
be the mandatory and only vehicle to determine which records
do or do not get deposited in the Archives.
STAT
cc: Agency Archives
CONFIDENTIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/04: CIA-RDP10T01930R000200070001-0