STAFF AND AGENT AIDS PANEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74B00535R000100080001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 8, 2005
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 9, 1972
• Content Type: REPORT

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0 9,NOV 1972
Synopsis
1. The prime technical objective of the Agency's Staff and Agent Aids
Program is to provide "technological support to operations directly involving
agents and/or staff officers. " In general the program is hardware oriented
and support is provided in terms of equipment. Advanced RD&E is undertaken
as required in order to provide components and techniques. The program
includes the following: (a) the TSD Staff and Agent Aids Program (short range
agent commo, non-official cover commo, disguise and denied area operations);
(b) Audio Operations; (c) Surreptitious Entry; and (d) Installation Aids. Current
capability to support present types of operations is "in reasonably good shape.
2. Inventories of current RD&E programs, and on shelf equipment,
are presented for OC, ORD and TSD. TSD has by far the largest share of the
Agency program. The Panel notes that even though most of the hardware is
relatively unsophisticated it is expensive to develop and produce. Regarding
future developments and needs, the Panel anticipates increased emphasis in
international police support, denied area operations and collection of economic
intelligence.
Problem Areas
3. Although the Agency has reasonably adequate staff and agent aids in
terms of 1972 requirements and it is estimated that gaps in coverage can be
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eliminated or reduced by the present level of the D&E program effort,
"funding appears to have fallen to a marginally low level for efficient
operation. " New classes of surveillance equipment will likely be needed to
meet future requirements; thus, an expanded level of RD&E effort is
anticipated. However, the TSD RD&E budget (chief source of new SAA
equipment to present) "has become barely adequate to maintain the minimum
level referred to above. " This shortcoming is attributed to successive budget
cuts and the continued increase in RD&E costs and effects of inflation.
"Virtually all slack that would permit development of new and innovative systems
or taking advantage of new technologies has been eliminated. "
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5. It is the opinion of the Panel that at the present time there apparently
is no "significant undesirable duplication of effort "indicated in the inventory
of major products.
6. Several non-technical limitations are said to influence program
effectiveness: (a) over-estimation of potential and consequent over-classification
and restriction of a technique; (b) tendency to reinvent same thing repeatedly
under new descriptions; (c) tendency to undertake large scale efforts without
a critical assessment of underlying physical principles and validity of approach
and a critical analysis of the tradeoff between project costs and operational
return (the Panel should be asked what constructive steps are being taken to
rectify this situation).
Recommendation
7. Without actually labeling them Panel recommendations, the report
lists 25 projects which "could be undertaken to advantage. " Any or all would
provide improved capability over what the Agency has today. The projects
are within current technology and contractual resources are available and
adequate; limitations are strictly budgetary. The projects are wide in scope
and would result not only in generally improved capabilities but also
improvements geared toward the anticipated new future requirements.
8. Several recommendations are made by the Chairman: investigate some
practical method for Agency-wide storage and retrieval of technical data which
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would help to eliminate duplication of R&D efforts (access to information
independent of prior knowledge of contract numbers, fiscal years and other
such administrative information); close liaison between OC and TSD to prevent
unnecessary duplication of effort on SRAC work; close liaison between ORD
and TSD to avoid duplication in laser work; consideration of the ideas presented
in the TSD MPS planning paper for their impact on future RD&E efforts in the
Agency.
9. The report does a commendable job of giving the status of the various
staff and agent aids programs presently underway in different components of
the Agency. However, it fails to recommend what the Panel members believe
should be an over-all Agency program, both with regard to technological
aspects, priorities, and required finances over a span of a few years. This
should still be done by the Panel. A good starting point for this would be to
assign priorities to the 25 projects which "could be undertaken to advantage, "
recommend potential contractors and suggested project costs (together with
responsible Agency component) and define a program for the next two to three
years.
10. As a general comment, it is suggested that recommendations should
come from the Panel rather than from just the Chairman.
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Agent Staff Aids
Again, a Panel notes lack of long range Agency goals as
a critical inhibitor to the development and evaluation of
technical programs., in +s~~a. In this case, guidance is
needed on the extent to which the Agency may be involved in
support of international police, development of economic in-
telligence, counter terrorist activities, and drug traffic.
Although not strongly emphasized by the Panel, a variety
of developments complicate the agent and staff problems, e.g.,
unavailability of official cover, increasing sophistication on
the part of the opposition, etc.
The technical problems in this area are generally imposed
by mother nature. The requirement for a miniaturized, efficient
antenna, for example, is internally inconsistent, and trade-offs
must be accepted. As in the case with non-access audio collec-
tion, operational ingenuity or invention, and use of non-con-
ventional (perhaps non-electronic) systems are more likely to
provide solutions to some of these problems than simply working
harder on the current approaches.
It is the opinion of the Panel that the funding for this
area w, s about adequate. Whether or not the funding remains
adequate will Lae-dependeat upon the number of agents who may
need technical help, and changes in the environment in which
they operate. The areas proposed for supplemental funding
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reflect primarily anticipated responsibility in some new areas,
such as international police operations, etc., or incremental
improvement in existing devices, such as faster and quieter ex-
cavating tools, smaller and more sensitive pinhole microphones,
etc. Of particular interest, however, is a proposition for
using either local embassies or Headquarters as the listening
post for surveillance installations--a particular application
which should be considered in the development of any command-
and control-communications system.
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