RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00390R000100030002-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 20
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2001
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: December 31, 1954
• Content Type: PAPER

t I1 t--~~-t- 1
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
RECORDS
MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM
STATUS AS OF 1 DECEMBER 1954
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MANAGEMENT STAFF
RECORDS MANAGEMENT DIVISION
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Page
?
Why the Program is Needed ........................ 1
What is Being Done About Our Records Problem..... 3
Forms Management ................................. It
Reports Management .............................. . 5
Correspondence Management... ..................... 6
Records Systems .................................. 7
Microfilm Program ................................ 8
Vital Materials Program .......................... 9
Mail Control System .............................. 10
Records Disposition........ ...................... 11
Records Center Operations ........................ 12
What's Left to be Done ........................... 13
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WHY ME PROGRAM IS 14MIM
The Agency has a legal and moral obligation within, limits of
security provisions to comply with records.. management legisla-
tion. (General Counsel Opinion of .2 October 1950, Exhibit A).
An even stronger argument in favor of compliance is our need
for records management. Of. all the Federal agencies, CIA
stands to gain most through records management.
? Our security measures and the nature of intelligence
activities increase record volume and add to the cost
of creating, handling, storing, and disposing-of
records,
Much of our business must be handled. in writing
rather than by phone. Dispersal of buildings
increases this problem.
Requirements for clearances, controls, .authori-
zations, approvals, coordination, etc, add to
the record volume.
Dependency upon other agencies for overseas
support multiplies paperwork.
Voe Sterility requirements increase stationery costs.
Large record holdings were inherited from our
predecessors.
I A greater part of our records are vital for long
periods of time.
Efficient reference systems are a must to provide
information without delaying the intelligence
process.
1 Our safe-type cabinets cost $238--almost :five
times as much as the usual type used by most
agencies.
We roust maintain our own records center.
? A large and ever increasing volume of records is-the re-
sult of our records creation and retention peculiarities.
In fact, more records are being created and acquired, and
held in costly office space, than are being retired or-
destroyed.
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:'JIIY THE PROGRAM IS NEEDED (CONTINUED)
? In FY 3.953 we procured 2,878 correspondence file cabinets
but only destroyed and retired records equivalent to 318
cabinets. In PY 1954 the ratio was 2,787 correspondence
cabinets to 946 retired and destroyed,
? The volume of office records has risen steadily despite
increasing records disposition activity. Slightly over
6,000 pieces of equipment were needed to file current
records in 1950. Today almost 22,000 are required.
? Present filing equipment in Headquarters was procured
at a cost of 2 1/3 million dollars. 9,697 correspond-
ence cabinets are included in the inventory. Total
Headquarters equipment for current records rests on
floor space valued at 1/4 million dollars,
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WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT OUR RBCO!)S PROBLEM
We have established an Agency-wide Program covering records
creation, records maintenance, and records disposition. The
Program is administered on a decentralized basis by.Area
Records Officers serving the major components of the Agency.
Overall Program direction and staff guidance is provided by
the Records Management Division. (Exhibit B)
We have publicized records management through...
? An orientation program for Area Records Officers,
(Exhibit C)
Publication of the Handbook "Records Management Program
Guide." (Exhibit D)
A new records center is under construction.
In Calendar Year 1954 the total savings were $357,373 realized
from activity in all aspects of records management as re-
ported on the following sheets.
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Promoted forms management by distributing informational
and promotional material.. (Exhibits E and F)
Improved Program administration and reduced operating costs,
? Revised standards for preprinting security classifica-
tions on blank forms to simplify printing, storage,
issuing, and handling procedures.
? Revised the forms numbering system.
? Eliminated one functional file. Consolidated the
material of two others to provide a complete vital
materials file of forms.
? Published an Agency forms index.
* Redesigned the request form and improved procedures for
submitting, reviewing, and approving requests for forms.
? Defined and promoted standards for printing, procuring,
storing, issuing, and utilizing forms. The results...
Standard sterilization practices.
Greater utilization of other Government forms.
Direct distribution of new or revised forms to
Building Supply Officers.
1 Conservation of supplies of forms.
45% reduction in number of requests for reprints.
Provided review, analysis, design and requisitioning services
covering 301 new forms, 1147 revisions, 481 reprints, and the
elimination of 129 forms in calendar year 1954.
Reduced the average annual form usage from 18,698 copies per
form in 1953 to 11,878 in 195L for a total reduction of
576,172, despite a 53% increase in the number of active forms
since January 1953.
Revised the format and improved the reporting procedure for
Clandestine Services and Office of Operations information
reports. Saved $8,120 in printing costs and substantial but
unevaluated savings in preparation and processing time.
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Developed and distributed the promotional pamphlet, "An
Introduction to Reports Management." (Exhibit G)
Produced the following general guides for installing and
operating area reports management programs...
? Sample Office Notice Inaugurating a Reports Manage-
ment Program (Exhibit H).
? Sample Office Regulation for Operating a Reports
Management Program (Exhibit I)*
? "Analyzing Requirements for Administrative and
Management Reports" (Exhibit J).
Provided the Logistics Office and the Office of the Comp-
troller with specific program guides.
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Established a one-time preassembled carbon and tissue set
(Letterex) as a standard stock item and promoted its use
throughout Headquarters (Exhibit K). Over two million sets
were used in nine months effecting material and labor
savings of 49,017.
Launched work on a correspondex of administrative requests
and reports for the use of Headquarters administrative
personnel. Over a hundred cases (reporting requirements,
requests pertaining to security or personnel matters, etc.)
have been described and indexed. Where necessary, sample
memorandums, reports, and pattern paragraphs are being keyed
to the index.
Completed first draft of a glossary of 300 administrative
terms to be issued as an Agency handbook.
Developed the proposed Handbook Correspondence Style and
Procedures which will...
? Promote labor saving practices not presently described
in Agency guides.
Provide a more usable training and desk reference.
? Result in faster training and increased production by
eliminating present confusion over formats and styles.
Developed the introductory pamphlet "Correspondence Man-
agement." (Exhibit L)
Launched a program to provide guides to improve the writing
ability of Agency personnel. Distribution of the following
pamphlets is being coordinated with the Office of Training...
? "What is Readability," an evaluation of an article
from Readers Digest to show the qualities of readable
and interesting writing.
? "Modern Writing Styles," a small glossary of hackneyed
expressions common to Agency correspondence, with
suggested substitutes.
Analyzed Office of Personnel entrance on duty pattern letters
and recommended improvements to nine types. Standards
applied to these are now being used by the office of Personnel
to improve 100 other similar types. Recommendations resulted
in an average reduction of 20% in letter content and in
improved public relations.
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Developed and coordinated a handbook to provide a standard
system for classifying and filing correspondence records.
The system has been installed in ten offices. Benefits
.from this uniform system...
f1 Centralized training of file personnel.
? Thansfer of personnel without training.
? Faster and more complete reference services.
? Cut-off dates for retirement of records.
Established equipment and supply standards for filing corres-
pondence records. (Exhibits M and N) The results...
? Reduced from 54 to 6 the number of. types of folders
stocked.
/ Official personnel folders costing only 6? are
now serving as well as those which formerly
cost 75?.
Reduced the average cost of other folders from
7.5? to 4.2? saving $11,210 in 1954.
Y Saved $6.20 in safe cabinet filing space for
every 100 standard folders used instead of
pressboard folders.
? Reduced the types of correspondence cabinets stocked
from 17 to 6.
? Recommended the use of five drawer instead of four
drawer cabinets saving $7,500 in space and equipment.
? Saved $1,896 by reviewing purchase orders and recom-
mending use of standard equipment.
Promoted the use of portable desk trays for overnight storage
of working papers. (Exhibit 0) Procurement of 1,400 trays is
now in process. Estimated saving in safe space is $24,500.
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raCROFILTM PROGRAM
Reviewed 16 projects and established a complete inventory
of equipment resulting in substitutions of more suitable
equipment and utilization of idle equipment for a saving
of $3,358. Survey of equipment is continuing.
Reviewed 32 requisitions for microfilm equipment and
supplies for total savings of $5,692.
Conducted a comparative operational test of two new cameras.
Results will be helpful in assigning cameras for field use.
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Established or revised ten Office vital materials schedules,
assuring timely and complete deposits. Adequacy and current
condition of the program are reflected by deposits during
calendar year 1954 as follows,..
? Documents - 135 cubic feet or approximately 237,000
sheets of paper.
A Tabulating Cards - 2,497,954
? Film - 2,994 reels representing approximately 6,257,000
sheets of paper.
Revised the inventory and accounting system for control of
vital materials to provide...
? 11ore positive and faster means of accounting for
deposits and withdrawals.
? Reduction in the number of inventory pages.
? Elimination of hand stamping of security classifications.
? Reduction in size of the inventory form for more conven-
ient filing.
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MAIL CONTROL. SYSTEM
An intra office mail control system has been developed
and installed in one major office.. The system.,.
0 Expedites tracing and locating correspondence
in process.
Provides a follow up on unanswered corres-
pondence.
Serves as a log and record of actions taken.
Serves as a finding media for filed corres-
pondence.
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FM01DS DISPOSITION
Conducted surveys in 12 Offices which resulted in...
? Reductions in requirements for office space., filing
equipment, and file personnel through the continu-
ing transfer of inactive records to the Records,
Center.
? Disposition plans covering 19,007 cubic feet of records
equivalent to 2,375 file cabinets.
Arranged for the transfer of 576 cubic feet of records from
two agencies to CIA. These records were needed for oper-
ational reference and research purposes.
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Received, maintained, serviced and destroyed inactive Agency
records with benefits as follows:
? Received 7,491 cubic feet of records, equivalent to
936 safe cabinets valued at $222,500 and 7,100 square
feet of office space valued at $17,750.
? Disposed of 1,157 cubic feet of records, equivalent to
182 safe cabinets valued at $43,316.
a Serviced requests for 89,292 records.
As of 31 December 1954, 17,151 cubic feet of inactive records,
equivalent to 2,144 safe type cabinets valued at $510,272,
were stored in the Records Center.
Evidenced the need and promoted the construction of a new
records center scheduled for occupancy in February 1955.
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WHAT'S LEFT TO BE DONE
We still have much to do in Headquarters and in the Field.
Bootleg forms, inefficient in design and use and reproduced
expensively, outnumber controlled forms'by approximately
20 to 1. Based upon 1951 experience in controlling 1521
forms, an estimated saving of two million dollars can be
realized by bringing all forms under control.
Controls to eliminate and prevent nonessential administrative
reporting have not been established. Techniques for improv-
ing reporting systems and the content of reports have'not
been used to the fullest extent.
The possibility of cutting costs through substitutes for dic-
tated correspondence, indexes to repetitive-type correspond-
ence, eliminating nonessential copies, and improving the
writing ability of Agency personnel has only been partially
explored.
40 Simplified mail control systems are needed.
?
Headquarters-wide adoption of the subject-numeric system and
other filing standards is yet to be accomplished.
Only an estimated 140% of the Agency's records are covered by
records control schedules. Accordingly, many of our inactive
records are yet to be scheduled for removal from high cost
office equipment and space to economical Records Center
storage. Disposition experience in 16 components reveals that
from 9% to 90% of records retained can be considered tem-
porary. The overall average is about 514%.
To sum up, there is still much to be done in all areas of
records management, to improve our records and to balance
records creation and acquisition with records retirement and
destruction.
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STATINTL CIA INTERNAL USE ONLY
LOGISTICS
19 May 1955
SUPPLY
STANDARDIZATION OF HEAVY-DUTY FILE FOLDERS
1. The following items have been added to the list of filing
supplies standardized for Agency-wide use in reference notice:
Folder, file, pressboard, legal,
metal tab, 1/3 cut, slot punched
in lst and 3d positions, linen
"W" type expansion gusset
Stock No.
a.
lst position
7510-005-1017
b.
2d position
7510-005-1018
c.
3d position
7510-005-1019
2. The above items are heavy-duty folders which will be issued
for use only in those files where there are frequent references to
records not subject to early retirement and where the heavy continuing
usage of such files would necessitate replacement of the standard
11-point folders during the active life of the records. Standard heavy-
duty file folders would be justifiably used, for example, for filing
case or project records, where the rate of expansion and the period of
time the records will be retained is such as to preclude the use of the
standard 11-point kraft folders.
3. This type of folder is being standardized in order to replace
many of the different types of heavy-duty folders now used in the Agency.
Standardization of such folders will effect substantial economies in the
procurement and storage of folders.
4. Such folders will not be stocked in Building Supply Rooms, but
may be obtained by submitting requisitions through the Area Records
Officer concerned to the Building Supply Officer. Such requisitions
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STATINTL CIA INTERNAL USE ONLY
LOGISTICS
19 May 1955
will bear the signature of the appropriate approving official and the
following statement for certification by the Area Records Officer:
These folders are needed because the frequent re-
ference requirements of the file would necessitate
replacement of the standard 11-point folders during
the active life of the records.
.Signed:
Title
Requisitions for these folders received without this certification
will be returned to the requesting office.
L? K. WHITE
Deputy Director
(support)
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Security Information.
. LOGISTICS
13 November 1953
PROCUFMMT OF LETTER AND LEGAL-SIZE FILING CABINETS
1. Effective upon publication of this Notice,, th'e following standards
are established for the procurement of letter- and legal-size filing cabi-
nets.
a. Cabinets without locks. Procurement of correspondence type
filing cabinets will be res cte?.to standard five-drawer legal-
or letter-size cabinets. The cabinets established as standard are
equipped with guide rods and have 21-inch drawers. Requisitions
for legal-size cabinets will not be honored unless accompanied by a
Justification stating that an estimated 20 percent or more of the
material to be filed therein is of legal size. If it is estimated
that less than 20 percent of the material is of legal size, the
Justification should state the reason why letter-size cabinets can-
not be used.
b. Cabinets equipped with cwiination locks. Purchases will be
limited to he shard four-drawer com na on lock legal- or
letter-size cabinets, depending upon the size of the record material
to be filed. Requisitions for the legal-size cabinets will include
a Justification such as described in paragraph a. above. The cabi-
nets will be of a standard and type to meet the security requirements
of the Agency.
2. Where feasible, the. files of organizational unite should be cen-
tralised and various series of files combined so as to permit the use of
correspondence type filing cabinets without locks in venlt areas instead
of the expensive type of equipment with a combination lock. The approval
of the Security Office is required for the estab1.ishmnt of a vault area.
FOR TIE DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTEMIGENCE:
L. K. v/HI
Acting Doty Diraotor
( nistra an)
DISTRIWTIONs AB
MSTRICTM)
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Security Info'xxmtiz x
1. Star rdization of the woe V ifioatjtsas on su
it
l
y
pp
s of gernara+l
Agency usage will effect subete.cat'i a e o~a+ mt +ts in
rt
'
t
d
W OMOVn
p
~
an
.-
stock
keeping . Such stands have n w been established for the iolloving tiling
supplies:
Card, guide, file, pressboa d,
angular metal tab, 1/3 cut with
or 1/3 cut
Folder, file, kr?aft, s+aua cut
,
plain tab, rein,!oreed, 11 point
(1) Legal-size
(2) Letter-size
Folder, file, loft, equa.re- cut,
plain tab reinZoreed, 11 point,
with fasteners in let position a
lower pr'ojectiont
(1) lot positions, lega .
(2) 2nd pC ,i,tion,
(3) 3rd Position
(4) let position, letter
(5) 24 position, letter
(1) Legal-size
) ttsr-si
7530-005-4440
7330-W-4441
7530-coo,-4442
7530-005.4433
7530-005-4434
7530-005-4435
7510.005..4443
7510-005-4438
7510-005-4439
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Securit Information
Folder, file, kraft, square out,
plain tab reinforced, 11 point,
with fasteners in let and 3rd
positional
(1) ..Legal.-size
LOGISTICS
12 October 1953
, to. No.
7510.005-1920
(2) Letter-size 7510-005-4921
2. Offices should continue to requisition the file folders and
guides the* are currently using. When present supply stocks are exhausted,
requisitions will be filled with the above standard iteerrms. Requisitions
thereafter should specify standard items,
3. Nonstandard items may be requisitioned only where special. ua*
requires+nsntss exist. At such time as the Logistics office notifies Agency
Offices that present supplies of nonstandard items are exhausted,, requisi-
tions for nonstandard items shall be accomrmeniied by- written Justification
to the Logistics Office concurred in tv the Records Management and Distri-
bution Branch, General Services Office. Present usage, of a S necific type
of folder or guide is not of itself considered sufficient justification
for deviation from the established specifications.
lit 1 E DIRECTOR OF C I AL li"JTE TAI( CEl
DiS' RIBUTI ': AB
2
RESTRICTED
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