Signal Center/Cable Secretariat Operations

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP60-00538A000100020002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 28, 1998
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: February 7, 1958
• Content Type: MF

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Aiiector (Support)
SUBJECT : Signal Center/Cable Secretariat Operations
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This memorandum is for your information. Particular reference
is made to paragraph 5, a&b
Can any combination of functions, tasks, procedures or activities
bring about a saving in manpower and are certain refinements now
carried on for the Office of the Director necessary?
a. Cable processing in this Agency involves two distinct types
of operation - the technical and the administrative, performed
by the Signal Center and the Cable Secretariat.
b. There are some activities common to both operations.
c. Processes and procedures are firm and well documented in each
component - see attached procedural charts.
d. Procedures, techniques and practices in the Signal Center are
a part of the world wide communications system of the Office
of Communications; those in the Secretariat were developed
to meet the requirements of the DCI and the Agency.
3. DISCUSSION:
a. The technical activities concerned with cipherment and trans-
mission of messages are the responsibility of the Signal
Center. The administrative type activities concerned with
monitoring, alerts, precedence and classification, customer
and staff interest, security controls, reproduction and distri-
bution are the responsibility of the Cable Secretariat.
The nature of the two operations creates a clear demarcation
between the missions of the components. The action of one
begins where the other ends.
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b. The processes and procedures in each component are extensive
and involved because of technical, security, services, scope,
and speed factors. There are related or similar activities
in each component, e.g. typing, reproduction, logging, filing,
duty officer supervision, etc. A detailed, step by step,
procedural study and analysis was made in each component, in
close coordination with the proper Chief and Deputy Chief.
The procedures were documented in particular detail so that
seeming duplication could be evaluated - see procedural
charts attached. The following is pertinent to the seemingly
duplicating activities:
(1) Typing, other than that associated with the normal
administration of the components, is performed in both
the Center and the Secretariat. In the Signal Center
clear text Multilith mats are typed by the code clerks
as the final step in the manual decipherment of cables.
Otherwise the clerk would have to make a longhand draft
which would then require a typing operation in the
Cable Secretariat to produce the mat needed for repro-
duction. Typing performed in the Secretariat produces
clear text Multilith mats from teletype copy produced
in the Signal Center as the final step in the machine
decipherment process. In addition, distribution, action
assignment, personal identification, references, etc.
are typed on all mats in the Secretariat.
(2) Reproduction in the Center, by Ditto process, is used to
provide multiple copies of (1) Commo technical communi-
cations with its field stations (Crypto-- traffic) g
for internal use in OC, (2) relay messages when necessary,
(3) messages for multi-addressee transmission, etc.
Reproduction in the Secretariat, by Multilith process,
is solely for the purpose of providing operating officials
with distribution copies of incoming and outgoing
messages and to obtain processing copies of Teletyped
Information Reports.
(3) Logging the Signal Center requires two systems - one
traces the flow of messages through the Center, assists
in locating a message if necessary, and acts to inform
supervisors of missing or delayed messages; the second
log is a technical record of transmissions, group counts,
timing, channels, priorities, sources, destinations, etc.
for accounting and traffic analysis purposes. Logging in
the Secretariat is performed to trace messages through
their several processing steps, to assist in locating a
specific message in process, and to immediately indicate
a delayed or missing message.
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(4) Filing of message copies, under approved Records Management
Schedules, is performed in each component as a ready ref-
erence. Because of the differences in primary interest,
the filing systems are different in each component. Files
in the Signal Center are by Station; those in the Secretariat
are by numerical sequence.
(5) Both the Signal Center and the Secretariat require watch
officer supervision on a 24 hour 7 day basis. Officers
are required in each because of (1) the technical and
specialized administrative qualifications required, (2) the
fact that the components are each on a different floor,
and (3) the detailed and complex procedures in each
operation.
c. The processes and procedures in the Signal Center breakdown
logically into those for manual versus machine cipherment and
incoming versus outgoing traffic. In the Secretariat the
breakdown follows a security recedence classification pattern,
e.g., DCI/top Staff interest, Top Secret, and all 25X 1 A2d 1
other traffic. The attached proce ura c its are broken down
accordingly to permit the evaluation of each process or service.
The charts, and notes made during the survey, were discussed
with the proper Chief and Deputy; a joint conference was then
held on questions effecting the overall operation, related
and common activities, and matters of common concern. It was
agreed that there were no overlapping or duplicating activities
or procedures.
d. The Cable Secretariat was established as an autonomous component,
and attached to the Office of the DCI, primarily to assure the
Director that cable traffic was adequately monitored, that
messages having DCI interest were identified and brought to
the attention of the Director, and to provide expedited service
to such messages. Discussion with EO/ICI concerning this phase
of the Secretariat activities reveals a firm requirement for
service at the present level. The survey and an analysis of the
procedural steps involved in processing messages having DCI
interest do not reveal any excessive processing action on the
part of the Secretariat in providing special service to the
Director's Office.
4. CONCIIJSIONS :
a. No interchange or combination of functions or activities between
these components offers a saving in manpower or an improvement
in service.
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b. Related and similar processes and procedures performed in the
Signal Center and the Secretariat are necessary, are properly
located, and are not a duplication of effort.
c. Common direct supervision of the activities of both components,
at the SC Officer/CS Watch Officer level, is not practicable.
d. The components are operating effectively according to well
developed and documented procedures.
e. The services of the Secretariat are realistic and. have
operational justification. Special servicing of messages
having DCI interest should be continued.
5.
dismissed as being more seeming than r
RECOMMENDATIONS:
It is recommended:
a. That the distribution of functions and activities to the Signal
Center and the Cable Secretariat remain as they are. .
b. That the question concerning procedural duplication between
these components and the question concerning unnecessary
refinements in Cable Secretariat service to the DCI be
Chief, Management Staff
Attachments:
Procedural Charts
as per Index
FOIAb3b
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