MEETING WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE REGARDING MANAGEMENT STAFF AUDIT OF CIA WATCH OFFICE, 11 OCTOBER 1956.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP61-00910A000100050002-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2002
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: December 14, 1956
• Content Type: MFR

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MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Meeting with Representatives of Office of Current Intelligence
Regarding Management Staff Audit of CIA Watch Office, 11 October
1956.
PRESENT AT MEETING:
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1. Purpose of the meeting was to brief the AD/CI and his assistants
regarding I,,gt/b recommendations for improvement of the CIA Watch Office,
which is a subcomponent of the OCI Secretariat.
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2. told the group that the Mgt/S, in addition to
auditing watch Office functions, procedures and operations in detail, has
examined all other CIA watch and night duty components and has met with the
ief of the NSA Watch Office and the Director of National Indications
25X1A ter to ascuss their activities. I
expressed Mgt/8 appre-
ciation for the cooperation received from all CCL personnel.
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3? r------71stated that at the prior Lgt/S-CCI meeting,the AD/CI
25X1A9Aked "are we as ng too much of our Watch Office/VP I Isaid that,
in view of the present world situation and current operating conditions, CCI
is asking too much of its Watch Officers. However, he said that steps can
be taken to alleviate the problem. The followinu is a summary of the comments
and recommendations made by the Management Staffs
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a. which defines responsibility for the
dissemination of critical information, is l*accurate because it im-
plicitly assigns the function on a 24 hour basis to the CIA Watch
Office of OCII whereas in actual practice the OCI Secretariat performs
the function during the dr and the Watch office performs the function
during after-duty hours.
25X1 Hgt/S Recommendation: Revise to depict the actual respon-
sibilities, on a 24 hour basis of both the Watch Office and the Secre-
tariat.
b. Watch Officers perform a variety of administrative functions
at night in addition to disseminating critidal information: answering
miscellaneous telephonic requests for information, room checks in Q
building and investigating COMINT security violations, dispatching
Agency cars and operating the CCI communications system. Telephone
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calls for covert CIA employees are referred to the Watch Office, which
then refers them to the Office of Security, Security investigation is
a spe3ialized field, for which Watch Officers are not trained.
Mgt/S Recommendations:
(1) Arrange to brief all Night Security Officers of the Office
of Security and assign to them responeibility for handling all
COMINT security matters occurring during after-daylight hours.
(2) Consider transferring to the :Office of Communications the
responsibility, appropriate T/0 and ceiling for handling OCI com-
munications on a 24-hour 7 day basis
(3) Arrange to have CIA telephone operators instructed to refer
all after-hours calls for covert employees directly to the Night
Security Office, Office of Security.
c. The Watch Office T/0 is inadequate to handle the constantly
rising workload. W.O.Ts are unable to take training or leave, and are
working on an average of 86 hours of overtime per pay period. If pro-
visions are made in the T/O for training, leave and elimination of
overtime, two additional Watch Officer slots are required. In addition,
there is a large amount of clerical work now being done by the Chief
Watch Officer. The Mgt/8 has discussed with the Deputy Chief of Mili-
tary Personnel Division the possibility of having two military personnel
assigned to the recommended Watch Office slots, since the military
backg:?ound is highly desirable for Watch Office work. Me was optimistic
about the possibility. The Mgt/S has also generally compared grades
of W.O. jobs with similar jobs in comparable components, and it appears
that, while W.O. jobs are more responsible; they lag behind the others
in grades.
at/8 Recommendations:
(1) Consider increasing the Watch Office T/0 by two Watch
Officers and one Clerk-Typist, subject to normal Agency review
of T/0 increase requests.
(2) Investigate the possibility of obtaining military officer
assignees from the Army or Air Force to provide the two recommended
Watch Officers.
(3) Revise the Watch Office work schedule to provide a 40
hour week, with no provision for regular, recurring overtime.
.5ete: a recommended schedule was presented, providing for four
10-hour shifts per man per week:7
(4) OCI should continue to employ temporary assignees (pro-
fessional and clerical) from other Offices during periods of ex-
treme workload.
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(5) Ask the Office of Personnel to review the grades of Watch
Office positions.
d. Watch Officers are responsible for maintaining familiarity
with 11 instructional and procedural manuals. The only contact W.O.'s
have with normal, daytime Agency activities is the written directive
and they have a feeling of being divorced from the Agency.
Mgt/S Recommendations:
(1) .i.xamine the Watch Office instruction system in order to
weed out obsolete and unnecessary material, and with the objective
of consolidating and simplifying the directives, instructional
manuals and folders.
(2) Direct the Chief Watch Officer to conduct regular weekly
or bi-weekly meetings with Watch Officers in order to keep them
abreast of professional and other developments occurring during
the day.
e. The development of criteria for the use of Watch Officers in
determining what information is critical has largely been ignored.
Watch Officers attempt to keep current by reading intelligence publi-
cations and newspapers and through informal chats with analysts, but
these media are inadequate. Formal requirements are received infre-
quently.
Mgt/S Recommendations:
(1) Devise a plan for providing all W.O.'s with periodic
briefings on significant developments, with particular emphasis
upon anticipated trouble areas.
(2) Provide W.O.'s with current, detailed, written intelli-
gence requirements, both spot and continuing.
f. A number of Watch Officers do not have education and training
in political science, foreign affairs, CIA and IAC organization, geo-
graphy, factors bearing upon the imminence of hostilities, etc. Such
a background is necessary if ald.O.'s evaluation of information is to
be knowledgeable and sophisticated.
1.4gt/S Recommendations:
(1) Select Watch Officers, in the future, with a background
of training and experience similar to that required for an analyst
at the same grade and level of responsibility.
(2) r,stablish a formal program of training for W.O.'s in basic
intelligence, IACIUSCIBI CIA and OGI organization and functions,
area orientation, Sino-Soviet military affairs and traffic analysis.
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FewW.O.'s intend to remain in their jobs. If capable W.O.'s
are to be retained, consideration must be given to the questions of
where Watch Officers are to come from and where they are to go. For a
genuine career, W.O.'s should be recruited Efrom among lower-graded
analysts and should be rotated, after a reasonable period, to higher-
graded analyst jobs.
Mgt/S Recommendation: Appropriate staff officers of OCI should devise
an argropriate career plan for Watch Officers, for presentation to the
AD/CI and possibly for consideration at the DD/I level.
Ia. Watch Office morale is affected by a number of situations which
are sources of irritation: maintenance of highly detailed logs is a
cumbersome task; the Watch Office room is dirty and inadequate char
facilities are available; W.O. telephones need "hold" buttons and volume
controls; there are no food service facilities available to the W.O.
Mgt/S Recommendations:
(1) Instruct the Watch Office to stop recording in their logs
those items of information which are duplicated elsewhere, such
as "IN" numbers.
(2) Arrange to provide char service, food service machines and
-Delephones with "hold" buttons and volume controls.
25X1A9A 4. At the conclusion of the Management Staff's presentation, the AD/CI
thanked for their Eprompt and thorough job.
He said that steps would be taken to act upon, or at least to consider acting
25X1A9AuP?n' each recommendation. Mr. Sheldon stated that he was aware of the de-
tail in which the Mgt/8 had examined the Watch Office, and that a written,
detailed report was unnecessary. He asked only that a list of the recommen-
dations be sent to him.
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