[THE RECORDS CENTER IS FULL]

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00402R000100050003-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 14, 2006
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: July 3, 1968
• Content Type: REPORT

pprov or Release 2006/12/14 CIA-RDP73-00402R000100050003-6
took an Orig & 2 copies with him to Hqs. for Briefing (for Coffey)
3 July 1968
1. The Records Center is full.
2. To solve this problem we plan action in two areas:
a. The Records Center itself.
3. At the Records Center we hope to gain 4 or 5 more years of
capacity life through the following actions:
a. Purging 25% (25,000 cu. ft.) of the records from the Center.
(Gains 2 to 3 years).
b. Converting 8,000 cu. ft. of stored. records to microform.
(Gains one year).
c. Transfer half of Agency Vital Records to underground.
Federal Emergency Repository at Neosha, Missouri.
(Gains half a year)
d. Obtain another year of storage at Suitland Center until
Dec. 1971. (No gain, only more time to maneuver).
e. Increase storage, density per floor space by converting
equipment to moveable shelving for 5,000 cu. ft. of records.
(Gains half a year).
f. Convince reports producers to reduce volume of extra copies,
transfer storage location, or convert to microform to
eliminate -,000 cu. ft.
(Gain half a year).
4. Action in the Records Program Area should consolidate and pro-
long this ain b cooperative support in each Directorate. The existing
regulation is quite clear as to the total Records Program in the
Agency and, t e participation required, in each Directorate. Our Program
actions merely re-vitalize these established requirements and bring the
effort into a consolidated focus on our Records Program with the following
action:
a. Creation of a Records Panel of Directorate representatives
to implement and supervise the Program in each component.
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b. Use of 55 "Bale as" for one year to assist component
Records Management Officers with a review and. purge of
records in the Components and Records Center.
c. The Central Records Staff will assist Component Records
Officers with lists of office deposits at the Center and
in establishing Records Retention Plans and Disposal
Schedules. But, the Central Records Staff will be re-
quired to review and. report to the Component head and the
DDS on the progress and accomplishments of the Decentralized
Component Records Programs. This was not done in the past
and many decentr?al/ W8rds Programs are inactive titles only.
This should stimulate and implement a Total Program approach.
d. The efforts to overcome our records storage and. disposal
problems cannot be successful until we do more about records
creation. We must institute controls over Records Creation
through Reports Management, Correspondence Improvement, and
greater forms control. This will require more attention by
more competent component Records Management Officers. The
Central Staff has the guidance if the component has the
Records Officer to implement it.
e. In accordance with a White House request via GSA the Agency
is required to conduct another File Cleanup Campaign in
FY 69. Last year the offices destroyed 15,000 cubic feet
of obsolete files and. retired 3,000 feet of records. This
equals the emptying of some 2200 safes. We plan for the
next cleanup campaign in the Spring of 1969.
5. Unfortunately none of these actions are cheap, either money-
wise or in manpower. In order that you may better appreciate your
involvement and can evaluate the related costs for each action we have a
few charts and, handouts.
Chart One -- Records Volume in Offices and Center
The growth is constant and. is exceeding our storage capacity.
Let me show you what is in the Records Center.
Chart Two -- Four Major types of Records in the Center
The Center was built to store Office Records
Its efficiency and economy attracted 2 other operations -
Supplemental Distribution and Vital Records.
Agency Archives is a natural outgrowth of old records.
Let me show you how much of these 67,000 cu. ft. are yours.
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Chart Three -- Records by Offices
This Center is an extension of your Office.
Each of you has a sizeable deposit here.
These are not dead records or garbage.
You make 500 references here every day. Half to your
office records and. almost half to the Supplemental
Distribution.
A smaller reference total to the other two groups.
6. I have two handouts for you to take back to your office and.
discuss with your records officer. He is a.manager not a file clerk.
If your Components have clerks assigned as Records Officers then that
could be why you axe not getting proper management of your records.
The major handout is an analysis of your records which was prepared. for
a meeting of the Agency Records Officers last October when they met and
studied the records storage problem. They like the professionals at
National Archives,felt the most economical and efficient action to take
was to construct an addition to the Center.
Chart Four --Scheduled Disposal of Office Records
This is the total you will find in that booklet. It
shows that 60% of your records have no firm disposal date.
Someone in each Component needs to review these and make a
decision. The other two areas should. be examined. too.
Are they as tight as possible? Must they really be kept
as long as they are scheduled to be retained.
Chart Five
Chart Six
7. The other handout is a brief title collection of information
which will help you appreciate the scope of the Records Problem. I
commend them to your review and. your discussion of them with your
Records Officer.
8. Now let's get back to our problem.
a. We cannot construct an addition of more storage capacity.
(Logistics estimates another 50 or 60,000 cu. ft. would
cost 1.5 million).
b. We find. that to microfilm half the Records Center would
cost 1.2 million and take 20 people 3 years.
c. There are no other buildings in the Agency we can use.
 Approved For Release 2006/12/14: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100050003-6
the Emergency Relocation Site and we can't ov
e
all our Vital Records away from that area.
e. The Federal Records Centers are willing to take our records
if we turn them over to them for servicing. State, Atomic
Energy, and DIA do this but we feel our records are too
sensitive.
0
The Supplemental Distribution is really a Logistics or
Central Reference function but such an inhouse transfer
will not really remove the problem.
We are studying alternative systems for records storage
and retrieval.
(1) The most promising is Videotape files. You recall
seeing the instant replay of television football gages.
This can be applied to document storage. The costs are
high but it is feasible. Several Agencies are studying
this, but it is several years away.
(2) Another promise is Microfiche where a 65-page document
is put on a plastic card. . x 6 inches. The original cost
a $l.15 and each copy cost 9 cents. This compares with
printing and many Agencies use it. But it requires you
as the user to have a film viewer on your desk instead.
of flipping report pages.
(3) wren more exotic is the "PCMI" by National Cash Res inter
which puts 3,000 pages on a 4 x 6 plastic card. Fora
Motor Co., has put its parts catalog on it. The original
costs $500 but each copy costs a dollar. But again,
everything depends upon the procedure and the willingness
of the producer and the user to convert to a radical
system.
(4) Unfortunately even when we find a technological b--ea',,--
through we won't have a solution because we will have to
pursuade file makers to use it. Our Records Center
cannot take your official records, film it, and burn
the original. We must service what you give us to store.
h. The several proposals I made at the outset and which we
intend to pursue to the best of our ability and resources
each has, a price tag:
(1)
The 25% purge will reouire at least 5 man years in each
Directorate in FY 69.
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(2) The microfilming of 8,000 cu. ft. will require a
contract of about $250,000.
(3) The equipment conversion to increase storage
density will be another $250,000. The Central
Records Staff is working with NPIC and RID on similar
shelving plans for about $100,000 in each area.
(4) The Program activity to intensify control of records
will require a full time Directorate Records Administration
Officer as well as a full time Records Management
Officer in each Component.
9. In conclusion we want to say we intend to proceed and we will be
calling upon you for greater support and tigltar implementation of
If you have any suggestions we'd appreciate hearing them.