MEMORANDUM FOR CHIEF OF PLANNING STAFF (SANITIZED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00402R000100250002-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 27, 2006
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 17, 1969
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release 200 'I' fib' -IA-RDP7
;a?30RA:tDLTP-I FOR: Chief of Planning Staff
Office of the DDS
Hodges:
1. The policy issues confrontinc' the Records Program which
I discussed with 'Mr. Bannerman Wednesday relate to 'the definition of
what constitutes record material.
2. At the end of February 1969 the Agency record holdings
totaled 101,643 cubic feet: supplemental distribution 20,333 cubic
feet; vital documents 9,169 cubic feet, archives (including materials
identified for Presidential Libraries) 7,166 cubic feet; and inactive
records 64,975 cubic feet.
3. Supplemental distribution is composed of extra copies of
finished intelligence publications which have been distributed through-
out the Intelligence Community or the Government at large. These are
not record material. They are publications and do not qualify tech-
nically for storage in a records center. They should not be a part of
the Records Program and responsibility for their custody and adminis-
tration should be transferred to the DDI. The Chief/Logistics Services
Division should work with the DDI to find suitable space to acco:nimodate
the distribution function.
4. Vital documents are documents selected by the various Agency
components as being; essential to the reconstitution and continuing
operation of the Agency in the event a catastrophe strikes the Head-
quarters Building. They are happens 25
to be the emergency relocation site for the A?enc They were moved
into the. Records Center in 1961 from Buildin.o make space avail- 25X
able to the Office of Communications and to save manpower. The entire
emergency relocation planning system for the Agency requires re-evaluation.
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Approved For Release 2906/12/2y. 8~A DP73-00402 R000100250002-5
Whatever comes of that, vital documents are not record material and
they do not qualify for storage in the Records Center. In any case,
most of them are duplicated elsewhere in the inactive records holdings
in the Records Center. continues to be the relocation 25
site we should be able to dispose of the vital documents collection
and rely on the inactive records. is not to continue as 25
the relocation site they should be moved elsewhere.
5. Archives are historical documents which must be kept per-
manently. They are different from inactive records. They are histor-
ically and scholastically significant while inactive records are oper-
ationally and administratively significant. They are the permanent
historical documents of the Agency while inactive records are temporary
extensions of Headquarters file space. Archives are administered dif-
ferently by different professional competences; they require a higher
quality of storage space to ensure their permanent preservation; and
they require a different kind and frequency of servicing than other
categories of records. The basic premises of permanent archival reten-
tion are in direct conflict with the basic premises of records disposition.
The objective of one is to preserve and retain and the objective of the '
other is to dispose and destroy. Archives do not belong in records centers:
witness the separation of the National Archives from the Federal Record
Centers.
6. Among the inactive records there are 9,000 cubic feet of
records from OSS and predecessor organizations. There are also 15,000
cubic feet of records identified for permanent retention. This 24,000
cubic foot collection should be transferred to the Archives. Responsi-
bility for the custody and administration of the archival collection
should be transferred to the Historical Staff.
7. Transfer of the supplemental distribution and archives col-
lections; disposal of the vital docunents;:ar_d the transfer of 24,000
.cubic feet of OSS and inactive. records identified for permanent retention
to the Archives leaves about 41,000 cubic feet of inactive office records.
Responsibility of the Records Nanage.ent and/or the Records Administration
Branch should be limited to this latter collection.
8. All-of these issues deal exclusively with the storage problem.
Other elements of the Records Program include correspondence, reports,
forms, and records' maintenance. The Agency does not have an effective
records program to deal with any of these other elements. The responsi-
bility for them has been decentralized to the Directorates and Independent
Offices. None of them has an effective total records management program.
 ,Approved For Release 200V IA-RDP73-00402R000100250002-5
The entire structure of the records management program in the Agency
requires re-examination and change. We must get control over creation
and maintenance if there is ever to be an effective control over dis-
position. This problem of structuring the elements of the Records
Program other than storage and disposal is.not among the points I dis-
cussed with Mr. Bannerman Wednesday morning. It will be the subject
of a separate discussion and a separate paper. Essentially the issue
is centralized or decentralized records management.
Chief, Support Services Staff