LETTER TO MR. BANNERMAN:

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00402R000100290037-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 18, 2006
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: July 11, 1967
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2006/12/19: CIA-RDP73-00402R00010029Q033 -j/ 1J
DRAFT HEAngel/amg 7-11-67
We have carefully reviewed your letter of regarding proposed
use by the Central Intelligence Agency of our vault space in the Washington
National Records Center at Suitland, Maryland. You recognize, of course,
that the proposed informal Memoran&.ii of Understanding is considerably
different from the plans discussed by our agency and the intelligence
community in 1964 and 1965.
At that time the intelligence community, including CIA, asked our Service,
representing GSA, if vault space could be made available in our new records
center building in Suitland for storing inactive intelligence files. The
proposal was that such files would be accessioned in the usual manner by the
Center, would be serviced by GSA personnel, and would be in effect an
expansion of the service already being rendered by the Center to several
intelligence agencies. Only records of the NSA, because of their particular
sensitivity, would be specially compartmented and controlled, and even
in this case we were assured that the records would be rarely referred to
by 14SA personnel who would come to the Center for that specific purpose.
In fact, the original intention to which we agreed was_ for a central records
facility to store and service complete sets of intelligence materials.
In recent conversations, representatives of your office proposed that CIA
records be stored behind an expanded metal personnel barrier, which,
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it was hoped, could be eventually dispensed with in accordance with the
original intelligence proposal. We reluctantly agreed to this temporary
measure.
Your representatives also proposed that CIA records be serviced only
by CIA employees stationed within the proposed CIA compartment. We
objected on the grounds that this was completely contrary to the original
proposal and would in effect establish within our records center another
records center with records and personnel not under our control. Instead
we suggested that CIA records personnel be transferred, or, less desirably,
be detailed, to GSA to service CIA records and records of other agencies
in the vault.
Your current letter revives the proposal for CIA center physically
within our Suitland Center but completely independent as to vault space,
records, and personnel. We regret that we cannot agree to this proposal.
We must use our records center space, and particularly our vault space which
is great demand, for classified records which agencies are willing to
V.
transfer to the center. We have no excess space to assign outright to
other agencies.
We are aware that your agency has need for records storage space and has
been planning for several years on transferring records to our Suitland
Center. We are still ready to receive and service the records in accordance
with the original proposal. If you are not prepared to do this, and need
vault space while your own facilities are being constructed, we are willing
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3.
to consider making available on a temporary basis, say two or three years,
a compartmented area for CIA records and personnel along the general lines
of your recent letter. Any CIA personnel having access to such a
corq,artment within our vault would, of course, require security clearance
by GSA.
If you are interested in negotiating an arrangement of this sort I suggest
that you have your representative get in touch with Herbert E. Angel,
Assistant Archivist for Federal Records Centers.
Sincerely yours,