ORGANIZATION AND LOCATION OF THE DCI HISTORY STAFF
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
C
Document Page Count:
16
Document Creation Date:
December 27, 2016
Document Release Date:
July 12, 2012
Sequence Number:
1
Case Number:
Publication Date:
May 16, 1988
Content Type:
MEMO
File:
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7.pdf | 935.33 KB |
Body:
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001 r3-7a
WNFTDENTInt
MEMORANDUM FOR: Executive Director
THROUGH:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Executive secretary
J. Kenneth McDonald
Chief, DCI History Staff
16 May 1988
Organization and Location of the DCI History Staff
1. I (mentioned to me last Monday that he had talked to
you and to the DDCI about the possibility of placing the DCI History Staff
with the Center for the Study of Intelligence in the Office of Training and
Education, Directorate of Administration. He noted that some members of the
Board of Studies thought that the History Staff would give CSI focus, and
serve as a catalyst for CSI's role in the Agency.
2. I'm not sure how far discussions have gone, but I would like to
explain why I am convinced that the History Staff must remain independent
and in the Office of the Director of Central Intelligence.
3. A similar suggestion surfaced in an October 1983 proposal to merge
CSI, the Historical Intelligence Collection, and the DCI History Staff,
which Chuck Briggs, who was then Executive Director, turned down. As I
wrote then, there are the two principal questions involved in any proposal
to change the DCI History Staff's present organization or location:
A. Whether the History Staff properly belongs in the Office of the
DCI, or whether it should be placed within one of the four directorates.
B. Whether the History Staff should be somehow combined with CIA
offices that have other functions, such as DDA's Center for the Study of
Intelligence, DCI's Public Affairs Office, or DDI's Historical
Intelligence Collection.
4. In fact, the DCI's History Advisory Committee and top Agency
management considered both of these questions carefully in 1980 when they
examined the proposed resurrection of a CIA History Staff. For clarity,
I'll treat each of these two questions separately.
5. Since General Walter Bedell Smith first created it in 1951, the
CIA's History Staff has always been in the Office of the DCI, except for a
sojourn in the Directorate of Administration from 1974 through 1979. In the
DA the History Staff withered away from a staff of 23 in 1973 to one
ZOQ ,/,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90GO1353RO01300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90GO1353RO01300130001-7
CONFIDENTIAL
historian--Jack Pfeiffer--in 1975, and on to extinction at the end of 1979.
In November 1980, when the History Staff was re-established, it returned to
the Office of the DCI, as the all-Agency History Advisory Committee, chaired
by Q had recommended in its report to the DCI of 15 July 1980
(Attachment 1).
6. In recommending that the Office of CIA Historian be established "as
an independent office under the Director of Central Intelligence," with the
historian position an upper-level SIS slot, the Committee quoted
generously from a 15 June 1980 study (Attachment 2) prepared for them by the
distinguished historian, who wrote:
"Certain characteristics of the Agency, both structural and procedural,
militate against the establishment and performance of an Historical
Activity, and they should be clearly recognized and hardly minimized.
Among them are the decentralized nature of the Agency's operational
framework; the virtual independence of the major components;
compartmentation control; the extreme sensitivity of much of the
Agency's production; and the understandable reluctance, particularly on
the part of the Directorate of Operations, to record actions and events."
To overcome these and other difficulties, concluded that the
Agency's Historical Activity should be "organizationally located at the top,
as a separate entity directly under the Director." He found this essential
"to indicate to the Agency that the Activity enjoys the fullest support and
confidence at the highest level."
7. On 25 August 1980, in approving all of the Committee's
recommendations, the DCI wrote to the DDCI:
"Specifically, I think we should put the Historian in the Executive
Secretariat....On the one hand, I think we'll need that proximity to the
front office to attract a good Historian; on the other, it makes sense
for the Executive Secretary to feel responsible for keeping the
Historian posted on what is going on....I'd like to make the Historian
an SIS position up to SIS-4...."
8. The Chief Historian was established as an SIS position, and
nationally advertised in professional journals as reporting "directly to the
Director of Central Intelligence." I accepted the appointment on the
assurance from the Search Committee (chaired by Ben Evans) that the History
Staff was in the Office of the DCI, and that I would report to the DDCI and
DCI; this was confirmed when I met with Mr. Casey in April 1981, before
entering on duty in August 1981. I can now observe that the History Staff's
location with the Executive Secretary in the Office of the Director, Office
of the DCI, has in fact supported its independent role and access to the
documentation and support needed for its work.
9. My own experience since I joined CIA as Chief of the History Staff
in August 1981, along with the History Staff's previous history from 1951 to
1979, fully confirm the wisdom of the CIA History Advisory
Committee, and top Agency managment in opting in 1980 for an independent
CONFIDENTIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90GO1353RO01300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90GO1353RO01300130001-7
CUNT 1UENTIAL
History Staff in the Office of the DCI. To write comprehensive and
objective history, and to carry out its records advisory role (as in the
DCI's commitment to Congress in the Historical Review Program), the History
Staff must not be identified with, or subordinate to any of the four
directorates, and it must have DCI-level access to documents and people
across directorate and compartmentation lines. The History Staff can only
do its job if it has, and can clearly be seen to have, the full support and
confidence of the DCI.
10. On the second question, whether the History Staff should be
combined with other CIA offices, I find little to recommend such mergers if
the History Staff's proper location is in the Office of the DCI. I should
nevertheless explain why I am convinced that in any event a transfer of the
History Staff to join CSI in OTE would not be a sound move.
11. As part of the Office of Training and Education, the Center for the
Study of Intelligence organizes and sponsors conferences, seminars and
lectures, and offers research facilities to intelligence officers, other
Federal employees, and outside academics interested in various aspects of
intelligence. Its staff arranges and supports these activities, and edits
Studies in Intelligence.
12. Although useful for the Agency, CSI's work has little relevance to
the History Staff's three principal objectives, "to help preserve the
Agency's historical records and institutional memory, to provide a
specialized reference service, and to research and write the history of the
CIA" (Attachment 3). We have six Ph.D. professional historians to carry out
these objectives. In short, CSI's internal training and sponsored research
programs have virtually nothing in common with our historical work, in
purpose, focus, organization or staffing.
13. The public, the professional historical community, and the
Congress, have all made it clear that they expect CIA to maintain an
independent and clearly identified history office. It would not make sense
to merge the existing well-defined DCI History Staff into the smaller Center
for the Study of Intelligence in OTE, where it would lose its identity, and
find it difficult to carry out its history writing, records, and reference
functions. Moreover, since the History Staff is not a training office, I
can find no reason for it to be assigned separately to the Office of
Training and Education.
14. In light of all these factors, I am convinced that the History
Staff can best--and probably only--do its job by maintaining its independent
role in the Office of the Director of Central Intelligence.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90GO1353RO01300130001-7
i?; ~ ~4-c~rt?~~-~vr 1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
. 0
15 July 1980
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
VIA:
25X1 FROM:
airman, History Advisory Commits..
Deputy Director for Administration
S BJECT:
25X1 REFERENCE:
Report
(TAB A)
of the History Advisory Committee
'CIA History Program"
1. Since its appointment in January of this year,
the History Advisory Committee has met almost weekly to
investigate and discuss the past and present state of the
Agency's history program with the objective of determinin
a proper role and scope for a future histor g
have interviewed officers associated with th
y epprogram inethe
past and held meetings with representatives of concerned.
components. We have benefited from the investigations and
advice of an eminent historian,
Throughout, we have taken a deliberate and open approach
to the question of what the Agency needs and should have
in the way of a history program.
2. As recorded in our interim status report, we
found that the history program which flourished in the
1960s and early 1970s is essentially dormant, if not dead.
The two clerical employees remaining from the original staff
manage to answer the most pressing requirements for historical
data on a catch-as catch-can basis; nothing else is being
done either to identify and capture historical documents or
25X1is o exploit exisrttingwhimaterial.
s
t he performanceAofuproper3,
historical functions and grants the historical staff access
to the records, but it is a dead letter. e
onward the historical program progressivelyndeclinedotolits
present moribund state.
25X1
25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7 -
io - 0
SUBJECT: Report of the History Advisory Committee
3. We found that past efforts to create and maintain
historical records proceeded from a general misunderstanding
of the value to the Agency of an effective historical program.
As a result, the program suffered from peaks and valleys of
executive and organizational interest, from competition for
space, funds and personnel, from conflicting perceptions of
its benefits and costs, and from precipitate and short-term
actions. Even during its most productive period, the program
yielded results ranging from good to horrid; component support
has varied from grudging tolerance to lethal opposition.
4. Yet we find at the beginning of 1980 wide support
within the Agency for a program which will provide an accessible
record of Agency activity, a teaching resource, a means of more
easily and reliably providing data to the Congress and the
public, and a way to respond to the requirements of other agencies
involved in the maintaining and recording of Government histories.
Although there is no strictly legal requirement for the Agency
to write histories or even to maintain records purely for the
preparation of histories, there is a strongly felt demand from
the Congress, from academia, from the Departments of State and
Defense, and from the press that the Agency be able to produce
authoritative accounts of its activities, particularly those
undertaken as part of larger Government programs. We found a
keen awareness of this demand among all the component represen-
tatives we interviewed, and a desire that the Agency put itself
in. a better position to respond to external demands and internal
requirements consistent with the DCI's responsibilities under the
law-to protect intelligence sources and-methods.
5. This change in perception can be accounted for by the
Agency's having been required to "go public" since the mid-70s
as a result of new Congressional and Executive Branch oversight
requirements. In the course of responding to these demands for
accounting of past Agency activities, our managers and employees
have had to devote enormous time and effort to not-always-successful
attempts to recapture knowledge of facts and events from the past --
not to mention documents. At the same time, with the passing into
retirement of the Agency's founding generation, much of a quarter
century of institutional memory has faded away and should be
recaptured. A new generation of operators, analysts, and managers
finds itself reinventing wheels, systems, techniques, and paper-
clips simply because lessons of the past have not been recorded
and passed on.
6. in his report to the Committee has stated
succinctly why the Agency should, and indeed must, embark on a
respectable program of historical accounting:
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7
L M-Jr- 9QIIl3S.
SUBJECT: Report of the History Advisory Committee
"An
the totalitytoflanlhistorical e I use the term to denote
and activities -- is not a luxury but ratherraolegi, matgram,
tool that can and should facilitate the Agency's ework.
Certain characteristics of the A enc
and procedural, militate against the establishmenttandtural
performance of an Historical Activity.,
clearly recognized and hardly minimize Among and they
ld e
they them are
the decentralized nature of he lAgency' p oal
framework; the virtual independence ofthemajor com one
compartmentation control; the extreme sensitivit p much of the Agency's production; and the understandableoreluc
particularly on the part of the Directorate of Operations, too,
record actions and events.
t
Despite these conditions, a competent Historical
Activity, if properly supported, and should contribute to the Agency's missilons, roles,
functions. ros,
The Agency should significantly expand its Historical
Activity to enable it to serve the Agency and to help it
discharge its obligations."" p it
- 77 7. In consideration of our own findings and of ~]
advice (a
as Tab B the Histor copy of his full report is attached
the following: Y Advisory Committee therefore recommends
a. Establish an Office of the CIA Historian as
an independent office under the Director of Central
Intelligence. The CIA Historian, occu inn SIS slot, will in effect sit at the Directoras left hand
(so that he may record history upper level
to programs and documents (so thatdhenmay determine the
requirements'of an historical program). he
b. Recruit an historian of professional stature to
head up the program and oversee its organization and
development. The professional officers staffing the
office can come from a variety people will be professional or practicalshistiorians;tsome
few may be officers detailed or contracted to the office
to write up historical data for rewriting into professiona
histories, assembling reference materials and conducti 1
oral histories. These include: n
g
LWeij ,-JLiITIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7
225X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7
SUBJECT: Report of the History Advisory Committee
(1) Professional historians hired permanently,
temporarily, or part-time to turn existing data into
finished histories.
(2) On-duty Agency personnel who are qualified
historians assigned rotationally to the office to
complete specific historical projects (possibly as
"Historical Fellows" similar to the present DCI
Fellows at the Center for the Study of Intelligence).
(3) Annuitants hired to record historical data or
write finished histories of programs or components.
c. Transfer the existing ~ positions and the 25X1
25X1
incumbent clerks to the new staff. In addition to the
slots, clerical personnel, and holdings of the existing
historical program, the new office should eventually absorb
the Historical Intelligence Collection and its personnel.
from the Office of Central Reference to assure the continued
functioning of that collection and the services it now provides.
Likewise, any collection of historical artifacts should, in
time, be housed within the new office, and the records of the
various "museum committees" of the past should be reviewed to
this end.
d. Provide as a deputy to the historian a career
operational or analytical intelligence officer selected
primarily for his/her knowledge of the Agency, preferably
chosen in consultation with the Historian.
e. Provide a seasoned executive officer to help the
Historian preserve current documents for historical purposes
and provide the practical administrative support required for
the exploitation of existing records. Even more important,
25X1 according to is the assignment to our Records
Management Program of a full-time, in-house Archivist to
help the Historian identify and preserve records of potential
historical value which, according to present criteria, will
otherwise be destroyed.
25X1 f. Reinvoke the provisions of as a charter
for the program.
8. Nothing in these recommendations should be considered
as binding on the CIA Historian to be hired, except that
some initial organizational steps might be taken if the search
f
or a qualified historian from outside is protracted.
25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
SUBJECT: Report of the History Advisory Committee
has recommended a number
andidates and of qualified historians as
the cs, he is available for further consultatioss
onlble
To a considerable extent
parallel those of our recommendations have had from the man and the reflect the advice
CIA Historian to be a Y Agency officers consulted, the advice
Director the
Director and the De
ppointed, in consultati
a
on with the
in how the office p y Directors, should have the
is staffed and how it functions, key role
Attachments:
Tabs A & B
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
25X1
1
A .6/ !!A .44Th /- '7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
1
15 June 1980
WHY THE AGENCY NEEDS AN EXPANDED HISTORICAL ACTIVITY
AND HOW TO GET IT: SOME OBSERVATIONS, THOUGHTS,
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
General Statements
An historical program or activity is valid and can be
justified only if it is useful to the organization that
shelters and nourishes it.
So too at CIA. A strong and competent Historical
Activity, if revived and supported, will indeed by useful
and prove to be valuable.
An--Historical Activity -- I use the term to denote
the totality of an historical effort, its personnel, program,
and activities -- is not a luxury but rather a legitimate
tool that can and should facilitate the Agency's work.
An Historical Activity performs a staff function.
It serves the Agency's line officers.
Certain characteristics of the Agency, both structural
and procedural, militate against the establishment and
performance of an Historical Activity, and they should be
clearly recognized and hardly minimized. Among them are
the decentralized nature of the Agency's operational framework;
the virtual independence of the major components; compartmen-
tation control; the extreme sensitivity of much of the.
Agency's production; and the understandable reluctance,
particularly on the part of the Directorate of Operations,
to record actions and events.
Despite these conditions, a competent Historical
Activity, if properly supported, directed, and managed
can and should contribute to the Agency's missions, roles,
and functions.
25X1
25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90GO1353R001300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
Background
v
L
About a decade a o th
e
e A enc sponsored an historical
effort of some magnitud
e,
and entitled "CIA Historical ProgramdatdirecteduthelHistorical
Activity to fulfill three major functions: 1) record of the Agency's activities; 2) write histories of
a
past events; and 3) monitor the records to insure the preser-
vation of important documents relating to the history of the
Agency. To fulfill these responsibilities
the Historical Activity access to all the recor thouted
regard to compartmentation co
nt
l
ro
The missions thus outlined and the permission thus
granted established the basis of an adequate and satisfactory
historical program that could be successfully executed.
Unfortunately, I suspect, misunderstanding at higher
Agency levels of the legitimate historical functions led
to a misdirection of the effort and to mismanagement of
the historical resources. Lessening interest in and support
of, perhaps mounting opposition to, an Historical Activity
prompted the Agency to move the Historical Activity organiza-
tionally from the Office of the Director, specifically the
Office of the Comptroller, to the Directorate of Administration.
As a consequence of these developments the Historical
Activity began to wither away, to decline and erode to
'virtual atrophy, About D persons were engaged in the
Historical Activity around 197
0; today there are
the personnel reduct onsrobviously1'makeeitzimpossiblecfor
the historians to fulfill the responsibilities outlined
in the program of 1973,
The Present 'Situation
presently
comprise the entire Historical
Activity at. CIA.,
early this year, they worked under the direction and
supervision of an Historian whose time was mainly devoted
to writing a long-range and, I have no doubt, scholarly
and sound history of the Bay of Pigs.
Since about January 1980, when the Historian was
removed from the Historical Activity, and reassigned, the
have faithfully ende
avored to sustain and to
25X1
25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
fulfill a single facet of the historical functions. They
are responding, as best they can, and with informal guidance
from the former Historian, to requests for historical informa-
tion. These come for the most part from other governmental
agencies, for example, the Departments of State and Defense.
A few come from inside the Agency itself. The requests for
information number about ten to fifteen per month; responding
to them requires identifying, retrieving, and dispatching
appropriate records and making certain that these documents
are returned to the Agency. In addition, the ladies respond
to about ten or fifteen requests per month by answering them
over the telephone.
The historical holdings the ladies use to identify
sources of information into their work consists of:
1. About 360 "histories" written approximately
between 1953 and 1968. These are documented texts, and
sometimes the supporting papers are filed with the
"history." Some are held in the historical vault,
others in the Archives
appear to be, in reali These "histories" s sometimes little more seventudsie. Thd maregrare
or_less ambitious in scope, and their individualyvaare r
luemas
historical sources ranges from poor to excellent. (Not
long ago -- a year or so perhaps -- a Congressional committee
or sub-committee asked to see one or more histories, and the
Agency complied and was subsequently embarrassed; had these
works been labeled "preliminary studies: instead of being
dignified by the term "histories," they would no doubt have
been recognized for what they are, actually reference materials,)
2. Miscellaneous "histories,' for the most part
unfinished studies, and miscellaneous documentary collections.
The Historical Activity obtained them because the authors and
collectors offered them out of the goodness of their hearts
in order to prevent their destruction.
3. About 35 oral "histories" obtained in the same
manner as above. Some of the tapes have been transcribed.
4. The most important: an impressive and excellent
card index (36 cubic feet of 5" x 8" cards) referenced and
cross-referenced in detail to records that can be retrieved
from files and in the Agency. Unfortunately,
the work o Keeping the reference cards up-to-date with
the records came to an end about ten years ago because of
reductions in historical personnel.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
Minimum Action
Action order to maintai
Y, the follow i n even this rudi
ng actions should ba taken entHistorical
and the monographs and write -
graphs to cover the addition-l shor
Years subsequent eAge
nd o nc f t studies
to the e f tac hist1 i
2, the histories during
events
1968 k andpdateye Personnel reference aids Index cards, lists
work ceased; etc, of
3. Monitor beyond
of the Agenni rt entecords to keep abreast and informed cYrs This and current acti
and vities, additio renal personnelAgency. support, histori
pe
But t cal leadership,
holding hisp I believe, would be
dignity, and n, essentially a minimal effort
and accepted pof thunworthy of the j, a
Place in the Agency and status,
governmental structurell-reco
at Should be recognized
f Done and p~h
The
Activit Agency should si
discY to enable gnificantl
Yexa
its obligations S. the Agencyanasto Historical
A well-defined help it
Historical Activity should:
for the ACreate and
Agency. A Preserve an ins titutio
Activity would be Properly functioning Histormemory
requires from within respond to re )cal
insight ian Historical Ache Agency and withoutfor
nto channg organ Past Operations y with kno met This
gi
c might calizational structure Cesses , evensf and
this the Reference s' names
function events etc.
2? Present to
and credible narrativthe es Public from ti
ments. All agenv of the time to time agencies of Agenct- accurate
the American the governmenare work and plish-untabl
the the expenple, and the CIA should be acnocO exce except emt
s? Denying that sensitivit ?
or deliber Y of mission and materials
.,qi1 . _ k 'this obligation
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90GO1353R001300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7
. 1 -11 M.
leaves it to be fulfilled b
individuals outside the y groups, organizations
disgruntled ex-emPloyees CIA establishment -- the and
in
a more or etc. Their descriptions rresult
ina i turn less disttheorted Picture of what the
achievements and also underminesublic reconition Agency does.
activities. public confidencedinlits
public image. CIA histories can and should correct the (Some writing We might call this the Writin
will be done for the Purpose Records o" reference.)
---Reference order for the Historical
and
Writing functions Activity to
research. fulfill both
Historical research ' it must be
Writing, whether able to perform
is impossible without recordsursued for Reference
Although records collection
historical responsibility is not a
the historical , it is closely allied to
b reasonably hihistorical The Historical tiv t o
th certain that the records being mute
t
and preserved are indeed to proper historical research will continue tobelectd
germane
Activity should take no Although the Historical
is shave active part in records
wi ma
should l roedsome ad tsn ry connection or ciaagement,
1973, indicated and directed Process, as assocation
8 August
Collecting and Preserving records are responsibilities
of records
managers are ndnarchivists. If I ma
pepors, mhnl archivist are primaril y oversimngify,
preserving more closely concerned disposing
historical papers. Y concerned with
In view of the tremendous
the Agency, it is no wonder or roduction of
P
and senior archivit w accident that paper at
ods
ag- and Ben On the other presently employed b
y the err records
the
records hand, it is only c
shedels managers, through their recrdslr to state that
the rNatiool l ow closely and scrupulously the guidant
preserve. Archives on what historicl trecordstoe
Archives reThis guidance comes from p
gulations and directives, clarified National
specifically
specifically for the Agency ~ clarified and interpreted
tive
makes by a National Archives representa-
occasional or periodic visits to the Agency.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7
0
The Historical Activity must be bound by the same
rules and regulations imposed on all components of the
Agenc With one exception: compartmentation control
If is indeed
still in effect, there is no problem.
Bu per aps permission of access to Agency-wide records
(and officials) should be restated.
Organizational Placement
The Historical Activity should be organizational
located at the top, as a separate entity directly under
the Director. This is necessary for two reasons: 1) to
break down the compartmentation control; and 2) to the Agency that the Activity enjoys the fullest sudporte
and confidence at the highest level. Port
(The Activity should not be structurally co'-located
with the Public Affairs. Office, which performs an altogether
different function. The-Historical Activity should respond
to Public Affairs requests for information, and Public Affairs
should be represented on any review board deciding whether
or not to publish a particular open historical work.
should the Activity be placed in the Directorate of Administration,
has interests and concerns wholly different from those of
historians.) ?n~
erected Results
A strong and professional Historical Activity, enjoyin
'the support of the Director, if it performs properly and g
effectively, will relieve Agency components in large
art
from having, as at present, to act as their own historians.
In addition to providing helpful reference guides and materials
it can produce historical case studies and other instructional
materials for use in Training. It will b
enhance the public image of the Agency.' y its publications,
Personnel and Duties
There should be a Chief Historian. He or she should
be a senior person who is vigorous, competent, and likable.
He/she should have stature and reputation in the academic
world and probably should have written several good books.
He should have proved his prior success to manage programs
and people. He should be acquainted, even familiar, government, preferably the Washington scene and its bureaucracy.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7
25X1 i
I
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
This person will be difficult to identify, and it will
be difficult to persuade him to join the Agency. Two things
will have to challenge him: the opportunity to create and
direct a meaningful historical program; and the opportunity
to write history for the public.
He should have access to whatever documents and
officials (for interview) that he deems necessary
in order to perform his duties. He should be invited
to attend as an observer the regular and important meetings
and conferences at the highest Agency levels. He should have
knowledge of all the activities engaged in by the Agency so that
he can record decisions, events, personalities, processes,
organizational shifts, and the like.
He should be exempt from rotational assignments. He
and his professional staff should have a special career track to
insure promotions, commendations, and the like.
There should be a Deputy Chief Historian to run the
shop and to act in the absence of the Chief Historian. He
could come from within the Agency, and if so, should be
well-known and well-liked, but he too should have proper
historical credentials, probably have written a book or two,
and have what is called the historical temperament and outlook.
Beyond that, the staff should grow as the program develops.
-To set forth specific personnel requirements at this stage
seems premature. The Chief Historian, with the help of his
Deputy, should fashion a program and lay out his requirements
for personnel, space, clerical assistance, etc. His office
and at least some of his staff should probably be located
at Headquarters.
Desirable Actions
It would be helpful to have an Historical Advisory
Committee formed somewhat later of three to five members.
They should visit the Historical Activity annually, meet
with the historical staff, discuss historical problems, and
the like. This can be done without compromising sensitivity
and classification.
I would be glad to help establish an expanded Historical
Activity, but I suggesti 1 as being better
qualified. For many years until his recent retirement, he
was the Chief Historian of He created and managed
7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353RO01300130001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7
25X1
an historical program that might well be a model for the
Agency. Operating in a sensitive area, he performed the
various historical functions, including publishing several
excellent volumes of official history. I do not know him
personally, but I recommend that he be requested, under
contract, to help set up the detailed guidelines, procedures,
methods, and relationships necessary to establish and maintain
a strong Historical Activity at CIA.
Conclusion
Such an Activity will, above all, serve the Agency
by providing an institutional memory for internal use,
being a point of contact with other governmental agencies
and departments, and eventually enhancing'the stature of
the Agency in the public awareness.
Recommendations
To recapitulate, I recommend that:
1. A decision be made to strengthen the
Historical Activity and to place it directly under
the Director;
2. A Chief Historian be appointed;
3. A Deputy Chief Historian be appointed;
4? be asked to help establish the
Historical Activity;
S. The Chief Historian and his Deputy formulate
a charter to establish and govern an historical
program might be enough);
6. An Historical Advisory Committee eventually
be appointed. I venture to guess that, in the best
of circumstances, it will take at least a year or two
for the Historical Activity to gain the confidence and
cooperation of the Agency at large.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/17: CIA-RDP90G01353R001300130001-7