CENSORSHIP PLANNING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP64-00658A000100100011-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 11, 2000
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: May 24, 1946
• Content Type: MEMO

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STANDARD FORM NO. B4 ~~~~~~ ~~ `
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C8 1~8~120y'G~~Z~ZL??Z UNITED STATES GOVERNME T
N
TO .
FROM .
SUBJECT:
Refs i
ch:~r~'
Acting ~, Central Planning Staff
Security Branch
Censorship Planning
DATE; 24 A~ay 1946
a. Central Planning Staff Planning Directives ~, 5a, ~, 5c and 5d.
b. Confidential Memorandum, Director of Censorship, dated 2~.~,ugusi 1945,
Subject: "A Basis for Censorship Planning~~ (Enclosure 1).
c. N.I.A:'Directive No. 1, dated $ February 1946.
1. In accordance with the instructions contained in Reference a, an initial
study of Reference b, as well as other factors affecting censorship planning, has
been completed by this Branch.
2. Reference b was submitted by to the President by letter
of transmittal, dated 24 August 194. The Secretary of the N.I.A. has informed
the undersigned that subsequently, the Executive Branch instructed the Director of
the Bureau of the Budget to study the matter and recommend appropriate action. The
Bureau of the Budget has held the matter in abeyance to date as it feels that Ref-
erence b should be sent to the National Intelligence Authority for consideration and
preparation of recommended action when the N.I.A. is prepared to assume responsi-
bility therefor.
3? a. Essent3.ally, Reference b~ which broadly outlines suggested .censorship
policies and administrative procedures to be utilized i.n the event of a future state
of emergency or war,, proposes that censorship planning be resumed without de]a y and
-that a continuing National Censorship Planning Comauission be created to fulfil].
that planning responsibility. (see page b, Reference b)
b. Particular emphasis is placed in Reference b upon the non-existence
of a national, coordinated censorship plan prior to World~War II which imposed
unnecessary handicaps and costly delays in the organization and efficient operation
of wartime censorship. tither factors which adversely affected national security
in the field of censorship at the outbreak of war-were:
(1)Separate and, in some respects, contradictory censorship
policies of the War and Navy Departments.
(2) Failure to plan for complete and comprehensive coverage
of all aspects of censorship, such as press, broadcasting, exports
and imports, and technical operations.
(3) Absence of files of basic data covering past censorship
experience, bath foreign and domestic. '
(!~) Lack of even a nucleus of trained, keys censorship specialist
personnel.
25X1A
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(5) Non-availability of requisite specialized equipment for
censorship operations.
(1) The recommended membership of a National Censorship Planning
Cor~nission together with its suggested responsibilities and functions.
(2} The proper organization and conduct of censorship during any
future emergency or war, such as: the scope and policy of any future
Office of Censorship; the legal authority for censorship; the organ-
ization chart of the Office of Censorship; personnel requirements. and
functions; successive measures to be implemented when establishing
censorship;. and the termination of censorship at the end of hostilities.
!~. a. liar Department activity in censorship planning since the termination
of the hosti~5.ities has been confined to:
(1) Completion and publication of histories of 'Tar Department
P~ilitary and Civil Censorship operations during World War II.
(2 } Preparation of a proposed '~dar Department T~anual on Civil
Censorship which is now receiving staff concurrence and will be
published shortly as a War Department Training Manual.
(3) Preparation of a proposed War Department T~ianual on Prisoner
of War Censorship which., after final approval, will be published
as a War Department Training manual.
(~t) T~evision of Field Manual 30-28, subject: Military Censorship.
This revision is presently in work.
b. The Office of the Chief Military and Civil Censor, under the
Director of Intelligence, Headquarters, .Army Service Forces, has been the agency
engaged in the above activity. This office is now in the process of being trans-
ferred to the Office of the Director of Intelligence, War i~epartment and will
eventually be composed of one officer and three civilians. Zhe Chief Military and
Civil Censor will, under the Director of Intelligence of the ~Yar Department, be
responsible for:
(1}. Continuing planning pertaining to Wa.r Department policies
and procedures for i~ii.litary and Civil Censorship operations under
the War Department.
(2) Exercising staff supervision of the operations of the Gi oil
Censorship 1etachments in the U. S. Zones of Occupation of Germany
and Japan.
(3} Disseminating censorship submission slips received from
Civil Censorship Detachments in the U. S. Zones of Occupation of
Germany and Japan to interested agencies.
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;~. Captain 'Wharton, C}P~t, Navy Department, has informed the undersigned
that the Navy'Department censorship planning activity since the end of the war
has been similar to that conducted by the ~~ar Department, except that emphasis
has been placed on telecommunications censorship matters, as well as upon cen-
sorship procedures affecting naval personnel. Captain 'P~i.arton further states
that the Navy Department will, in the near future, forward its criticisms of
Inference b to the Central Tntelli~;ence Group, exception being taken to the
Price recommendations that the War and Navy Departments should earn~.rk personnel
during peacetime to be assigned to an Office of Censorship v~hen established, and
that the Office of Censorship should be a civilian agency.
6. It is considered that a coordinated planning program for censorship,
a counterintelligence or security function, should be initiated under the staff
supervision of the Security Branch, Central Planning Staff, Central Intelligence
Group, under the National Intelligence Authority. Specific authority for the
Director of Central Intelligence, under the N.I.A., to enter into this field of
activity is~believed contained in paragraph 3 of~the Enclosure to Reference e.
_ 7. It is recoiarnended that the undersigned be o roftthetBureaulofrtheest
the Secretary, Id .I. A. to informally advise the Direct
Budget that the N.I.A. is now prepared to recei be ad rouriateference b with a
view to recommending such action thereon as may pp P
25X1A
Colonel, U. S. Army
Enclosure
CaxLf . Memo dtd 2~ .dug IBS,
~ R,ef b ~
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