RECORDS MANAGEMENT BULLETINS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70-00211R000900030011-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 31, 2006
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: October 20, 1953
• Content Type: MF

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MENMORANDUM FOR: The Acting Deputy Director
SUBJECT: Records Management Bulletins
REFERENCE:
iats;on ) .. -
Services Office to Acting Deputy'-.Director (Admin.);
Subject: "Issuance of Records Management Bulletins"
Memo dtd 25 September 1953,
1. Regulation No. prescribes the Agency system of regulatory
issuances. Paragraph 2 a (3) thereof was in fact drafted by the Deputy
Director of Central Intelligence, and it quite precisely indicates what
issuances must be handled through the Agency regulatory system. The key
sentence is the following:
"All published issuances intended to express continuing Agency
policy or doctrine will be issued within the system of regula-
tory issuances provided herein."
2. I believe that the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
wishes to accomplish the following objectives through the regulatory system:
a. To give full Agency authenticity and directive force to
significant policy, doctrine, and procedural material.
b. To protect the command channels of the five major Agency
components and the foreign field by precluding direct dissemination
of material prepared by any one major component to other components.
c. To provide centralized Agency control and judgment as to
what materials are worthy of publication and to eliminate unnecessary
publications.
3. Applying these principles and the actual wording of the Regulation
to the Records Management Bulletins, it is my opinion that these publications
would be prohibited excepting through the Agency regulatory system. In their
present form, they are formal publications, and they have a definite direc-
tive tone and intent.
states that the purpose of these bulletins is merely
"to provide in orma ion and guidance to Area Records Officers which will
assist them in the installation of a Records Management Program in accord-
ance with the standards prepared by the General Services Office." The
underlined portion of this quotation is the very reason why these bulletins
should be published as Agency issuances. They obviously are intended to
instruct, direct, and prescribe standards for the Agency as a whole, and,
accordingly, they should carry Agency backing by being published by the
Agency.
RETum TO RECORDS CENTER
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5. calls attention to a publication of a Navy records
management office as an illustrative example of a publication comparable
to his Records Management Bulletin. Actually, there is no analogy
between the two publications. The Navy bulletin is clearly a vehicle to
publicize records management accomplishments of Naval activities, and
its purpose is to stimulate ideas and thought. This bulletin does not
tell Navy administrators what to do or how to do it. Actually, by
strange coincidence the Navy publication referred to contains an article
on page 4 entitled "Directives System". This article shows that a
uniform Navy Directives System has been established which is almost
identical to that which has been developed for CIA.
6. On the constructive side, we recognize that
has a
25X1
definite problem. We analyze the communications needs or
as
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being of three different types as follows:
a. Functional and Staff liaison with designated Area Records
Officers pursuant to standards and requirements officially prescribed
or endorsed by the Agency. This liaison can be accomplished by any
informal method--personal contact, telephone, or memorandum--provided
directives and standards are not prescribed or officially endorsed
in the process.
b. The official endorsement, or prescription of standards,
procedures, or requirements. These should be established by official
publication in Regulations, Notices, or Handbooks, as appropriate.
This does not mean that standards and procedures need be inflexible
and arbitrary, but they should constitute the official pattern of
the Agency Records Management Program. If appropriate, a compre-
hensive Records Management Handbook could be gradually developed
from individual issuances issued over a lengthy period of time as
the program is gradually implemented.
c. The publication of suggestive and stimulating publicity
on records management progress and achievements. If such material
is desirable, we recommend that it be published as a series of
Agency Notices numbered and referenced in relationship to appropri-
ate Agency regulations and handbooks. Alternatively,
could be authorized by Agency regulation or by the Director of
Central Intelligence/Deputy Director of Central Intelligence to
issue over his signature a Bulletin or Newsletter provided its
'scope was clearly defined so as not to conflict with the Agency
regulatory issuances concept. In this connection, we wish to point
out that the true value of such publications will be derived not
from the fact that they would be disseminated to a handful of Area
Records Officers but to the entire group of Agency supervisors at
all levels. An effective records management publicity campaign
must reach and stimulate all supervisors to be effective.
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7. I sincerely believe that effective use of the above three
methods of conveying the Agency Records Management Program will not
i.mpede or retard the program but will actually foster and accelerate
the program. Whether or not difficulties will be encountered in
securing authority to publish material through the Agency system of
issuances will depend entirely upon the approprrIateness and timeliness
of material submitted and the manner in which it is presented.
Obviously, if coordinating and authenticating officials do not concur
with the materials submitted, difficulties and delays should and will
be encountered.
Special Assistant to the
Deputy Director (Admin.)
Enclosures:
Referenced Memorandum with
Enclosures A through E
SA/DDA:EDE:mes (20 October 1953)
cc o Chief, General Services Office
Regulation Control Staff
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