HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM DCI REPORT TO CONGRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88G00186R001001240026-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 18, 2010
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: March 6, 1985
• Content Type: REPORT

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6 March 1985
HISTORICAL REYIEW PROGRAM
DCI Report to Congress
(Preliminary Draft for Consultants)
1. Objective
On 15 October 1984 President Rea an signed into law the Central
Intelligence Agency Information Act Appendix A), which authorizes the
Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) to exempt certain files from
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Section 3(a) of this Act
also states that
The Director of Central Intelligence, in consultation with the
Archivist of the United States, the Librarian of Congress, and
appropriate representatives of the historical discipline selected by the
Archivist, shall prepare and submit by June 1, 1985, a report on the
feasibility of conducting systematic review for declassification and
release of Central Intelligence Agency information of historical value.
The Act further directs the DCI to submit this report to the Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Government Operations
of the House of Representatives, and the Select Committee on Intelligence and
the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate.
In response to this statutory requirement, the DCI and members of his
staff will meet on 18-19 March 1985 at CIA Headquarters with the Archivist of
the United States, Dr. Robert P1. Warner, the Library of Congress's Assistant
Librarian for Research Services, Dr. John C. Broderick, and the following
three historians selected by the Archivist:
Dr. John Lewis Gaddis, Distinguished Professor of History, Ohio
University
Dr. Richard W. Leopold, William Smith Mason Professor of American
History Emeritus, Northwestern University
Dr. Gaddis Smith, Larned Professor of History, Yale University
(Appendix B has biographical data on all five consultants.)
The 1 May 1984 Re ort on this Act of the House Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence note tat
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The Committee expects the Director's report to explore the full
range of ideas which can contribute to the objective of making available
CIA information of historical value on the diplomatic, military and
intelligence activities of the United States without risking damage to
the security or foreign policy of the Nation. The Committee considers
the Foreign Relations of the United States series published by the
Department of State to be an excellent example of a project which
contributes to this objective. Because of the especially sensitive
nature of the work of the CIA, this type of large-scale chronological
disclosure of CIA information of historical value may not be possible.
However, the Committee expects the report of the Director of Central
Intelligence to explore this possibility on some appropriate scale, along
with exploring other ideas which can contribute to the objective set
forth above.
Section 3 is intended to require the Director of Central
Intelligence to study the feasibility of a declassification program which
would supplement the vuluntary [sic] declassification review program
agreed to in an exchange of letters of October 3 and 4, 1983, between
Director of Central Intelligence William J. Casey and Senator Dave
Durenberger. Those letters refer to "selective" review of materials that
the CIA believes "would be of greatest historical interest and most
likely to result in declassification of useful information." The type of
systematic review Section 3 requires the Director to consider would take
into account similar criteria, but would envisage a greater volume of
declassification.
Some comment on the October 1983 agreement between the DCI and Senator
Durenberger, and on the release of OSS records that followed, is needed
before considering the Historical Review Program that CIA is now organizing.
(Appendix C has copies of the exchange of letters of 3 and 4 October 1983.)
2. Casey-Durenberger Agreement and the OSS Records
This agreement envisioned a CIA historical review program organized after
passage of the CIA Information Act, using additional resources Congress would
then provide for this purpose. In the meantime, however, CIA took steps to
transfer to the National Archives and Records Service (NARS) its entire
holdings of declassified World War II OSS operational records, a large
collection of major historical importance.
As noted in his 4 October 1983 letter to Senator Durenberger, Mr. Casey
had already on his own initiative asked the Chief of his History Staff to
explore a program to permit NARS to accession some 2500 cubic feet of
declassified OSS records in CIA's custody. In June 1984, after CIA and NARS
concluded a Memorandum of Understanding concerning procedures and
responsibilities (Appendix D), the transfer began. On 11 June 1984 the
National Archives opened for research the first 194 cubic feet increment of
OSS operational records. The opening of this collection permits for the
first time documented studies of the role of American intelligence in World
War II. As Mr. Casey then wrote to Senator Durenberger, this transfer
constitutes "an important first step in implementing the selective
declassification program I promised to initiate last October."
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By March 1985 NARS had accessioned approximately 600 cubic feet of OSS
records. The transfer of a collection of this size is a large undertaking
for both CIA and NARS, and the two agencies are cooperating closely to
maintain the transfer pace. The pressure has probably been heavier on NARS,
since a CIA team had already spent almost four years reviewing these records
for declassification before this transfer began. It may be late 1986 before
all of these OSS records are open to researchers.
3. Historical Review Program
The review and transfer of OSS records has been an interim measure,
however, and since the passage of the CIA Information Act the Agency has
moved systematically to establish its new Historical Review Program. As
Senator Durenberger promised, Congress provided CIA with additional
people--10 additional positions--to support this review program. Principal
responsibility for this program has been assigned to the Director of the
Office of Information Services (OIS), in the Directorate of Administration.
The role of the History Staff (in the Office of the SCI) is to consult with
outside historians, and to advise both the Agency's components and the
Office of Information Services on the selection of records of the greatest
historical interest and significance. Of the 10 new positions, eight were
allocated to OIS, and two to the History Staff. Both organizations have
moved to fill these positions.
Since October 1984 OIS and the History Staff have worked together to
establish the new Historical Review Program. They see no purpose in
attempting to distinguish between the voluntary program to which Mr. Casey
committed CIA in his 4 October 1984 letter to Senator Durenberger, and the
systematic program that Section 3 of the CIA Information Act proposes. As
the House Report notes, both take into account similar criteria. After
exploring a full range of options and ideas, CIA has in fact decided to
organize a maximum effort from the outset, to declassify and release the
greatest feasible volume of historically significant records. It is this
program whose rationale, organization and methods we describe below. And it
is this Historical Review Program that we ask our consultants to evaluate,
in order to determine whether it is indeed the maximum feasible program for
CIA.
4. Rationale and Criteria
CIA recognizes that it is accountable not only to Congress but also to
the American public. Congress, historians, the media and the general public
clearly expect us (after proper review) to release documents of historical
significance that no longer require the protection of national security
classification. The Freedom of Information Act already makes this clear,
and our exemption from searching operational records under the new CIA
Information Act increases the pressure to release other records. We need
the confidence of the American public to do our work, and to help keep this
confidence we are undertaking a major program to review CIP, records of
historical value for declassification and release.
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We agree with Senator Durenberger's view in his 3 October 1983 letter to
Mr. Casey, that "The important thing is to make the declassification of
historical information a cooperative endeavor, rather than a test of wills
fought out in FOIA requests and courtrooms." Following his suggestion, we
are establishing procedures to review and declassify material in files that
are either "non-designated" or "de-designated" under the new CIA Information
Act. Moreover, we shall also follow his suggestion to use the same
criterion to select material for review that the Act sets forth for file
designation review, that is, "the historical value or other public interest
in the subject matter". The Chief of the History Staff will take into
account the recommendations of other historians--e.g. the historians of the
Departments of State and Defense, the Archivist of the U.S., and academic
historians--in determining what records meet this criterion. Our objective
is to evaluate material in light of the contribution its release can make to
an understanding of intelligence, foreign policy and international
developments.
In selecting records, as Mr. Casey noted in his 4 October 1983 reply to
Senator Durenberger, we expect to concentrate our efforts on files that are
of the greatest historical interest, and are most likely to result in the
declassification of useful information. As a general rule this latter
criterion will mean focusing first on the Agency's oldest records, as
opposed to more recent material. We are beginning with our oldest records
not only because we expect them to produce the most releasable material, but
also because we hope to conform as closely as feasible to the regular
procedures followed throughout the U.S. government for transferring
permanent records to the National Archives, which normally accessions only
records 20 years old or older. We do not propose to pick out individual
documents on particular topics from various files, but rather to use the
advice from NARS and our own historians to select significant classes of
records for review. Beginning with our oldest records, we propose to move
systematically to review coherent groups of documents that NARS has
scheduled as permanent records, and from which we expect to be able to
declassify a substantial percentage of records. We intend to cooperate and
coordinate closely with NARS in this program, using the valuable experience
and working relationships we have gained in transferring the OSS operational
records.
Our oldest unreleased records now are those of CIA's postwar predecessor
organizations, the Strategic Services Unit and the Central Intelligence
Group, which cover the period 1 October 1945 to 18 September 1947. CIA has
already taken steps for the review of these records, so that in due course
we can transfer those that are declassified to the National Archives. As we
next move to select records from the files of CIA proper, since 1947, we
hope to release historically significant documents that will make CIA
material available--as the State and Defense Departments' material is
generally available--up to the 1960s.
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5. Organization and Methods
CIA has established a centralized Historical Review Program, with
principal responsibility assigned to the Director of Information Services.
The Office of Information Services, as explained above, relies on History
Staff advice in selecting historically important records. In the Office of
Information Services, the Classification Review Division (and especially its
newly formed Historical Review Branch) carries out the actual review of
records once selected, and arranges for the originating components to
approve declassification decisions. This division, which has extensive
experience with CIA's 1977-82 systematic review program, develops review
guidelines and procedures in accordance with relevant CIA and other federal
directives. (Information on guidelines, procedures, the actual review
process and reporting requirements will be included in the consultants'
briefings at the 18-19 March meetings.)
The Chief of the History Staff is investigating the House Permanent
Select Committee's suggestion that CIA consider publishing documents in a
series similar to The Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS). He has
found that the Sta~~epar mends iA ski an s~fla ce i s considering
publishing supplements to earlier FRUS volumes, to provide relevant
documents (e.g. intelligence estimates and NSC papers) that have been
declassified since the publication of the original volumes. In discussions
with State's Deputy Historian, Dr. Neal Petersen, he has found a strong
interest in incorporating material from CIA's new Historical Review Program
in such supplementary FRUS volumes. This seems the most promising and
useful way for CIA to publish its most significant declassified documents.
6. Conclusions
(To be determined after the 18-19 March meetings with the consultants.)
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Deputy Director
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