ARCHIVES, HISTORY, AND RECORDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP76-00883R000100130004-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 14, 2001
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: May 9, 1972
• Content Type: MF

?App1`bVedo Release 2002/ 1 70.' `-QI76`w03R000100130004-0
9 May 1.97Z
MEMORANDUM FORt Deputy Director for Intelligence
Deputy Director for Plans
Deputy Director,for Science $c Technology
Deputy Director for Support
SUBJECT t Archives, History, and .Records
1. Considerable study and discussion have taken place of the
Agency Historical Program and the Records Management and
Archives Programs. This memorandum will outline a basic approach
to the interrelationship of these three subjects in an effort to improve
the Agency's performance in all these fields.
2. In essence, the three subjects all record. our experience to
make it available for future use as required. This use includes file
searches for current operational support, briefing and training now
personnel, answering press 'or Congressional questions as to the
Agency's role in earlier events, etc. The problem is to design a
system which will satisfactorily answer the needs of the future in
these fields with a minimum.. expenditure of man hours and funds at
present. In these clays of declining persoruiel ceilings, we obviously
cannot dedicate large -amounts of current manpower to making irxr n.cdi-
a.tely available detailed answers to all contingent questions. On the
other hand, some ' records have direct value to future operations, and
certainly our need to handle press or Congressional questions warns us
of the need to devote an appropriate effort in this direction.
3. In our approach to this problem in this internally compart?-
m.ented Agency, it is 'essential to decentralize much of the responsi?-
bil.ity and most of the actual effort. At the same time, this dccentrali'
zation needs to be matched by a reporting system which will indicate
the degree to which minimum standards are met by all units, and a
mechanism. by which units can profit by interchange of experience and
by sharing solutions.
4. In our analysis we must clearly recognize different kinds of
records material and the different purposes we expect them to serve.
Some 'oi; our records are important basic 'reference tools, c. . , CI. files.
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Som.c are analyst working files of moderate life requiremeaats. Some
are lornxi.al publications of the Agency distributed elsewhere in the
Government with source sanitization. Some are operational records
and documents, and some of these are highly' sensitive and must re-
7:xa.ain compartmented as well as classified. Some of our reviews of
past events are essentially chronicles of these events, which have
value to new arrivals. Some should be analytical reviews drawing
lessons and conclusions. Our system should reflect these differences
if it is to do the job needed.
5. The following overall approach to this situation has been
developed for implementation through the mechanisms indicated:
a. Records Management
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(1) Effective records management is the foundation stone
of any satisfactory action in these fields, as well as current
operations depending upon effective records. It, must be the
subject of continuing and serious attention at all levels of the
Agency. The Executive Director will report on it periodically
to the Director and Deputy Director, and it will bo reviewed
semiannually with the Deputies.
(2) The Records Management Board (with representation
from each Directorate at the senior officer level, and such
secretariat as may be ro uirod) will report its conclusions,
recommendations, etc. , (with any dissents) directly to the
Executive Director. The Deputy Director for Support will
provide general support for the Agency Records Management
Program, while each Directorate will remain responsible
for the Records Management Program within its own Direc-
torate. The Chairman of the Records Management Board
will be the Agency Records Admn-Anist.ration Officer and will
report directly to the Executive Director, together with his
secretariat. The Records Management Board will make
semiannual reports to the Executive Director, outlining the
status of the Agency's Records Management Program, any
problems it is experiencing, and its recommendations for
improv'omeat of the Program (including reports on records
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management to be subr mitted by the Directorates). The
'Executive Director will consult,with the Deputy Directors
before implern.enting any such reconarnendations.
(3) The Agency Records Administration Officer will be
a nonvoting member of the Agency Information Processing
Board, with authority to submit agenda items and recommen-
dations to the Information Processing Board. IIe will Par-
ticularly bring to the attention of the Information Processing
Board those aspects of the Agency's Records Management
.Program which should be considered by the Information
.Processing Board, with any recommendations for support of
the Agency Records Management Program requiring Informa-
tion Processing Board action. He will similarly naalce avail-
able to the Records Management Board all information coming
before the Information Processing Board which. might be of
value or be appropriately considered by the Agency Records
Management Board and its members.-
.and, methods.
and include appropriate measures to 'comply with legal and
executive requirements for retention and declassification.
In particular, recommendations should be made as to i ixc`..,
identification of categories which might appropriately be
retired as classified Government documents under GSA
auspices or passed to the National Archives, rather than
held solely under CIA control to protect intelligence sources
(4) The Records Management Board will develop roc:om?-
menclations as to categories of Agency records (such as the
categories in paragraph 4 above, plus any others deemed
appropriate) and as to specific guidelines for the belection
and retention of records in these categories. These guide-
lines should also, where appropriate, include time periods
for retention by category and indicate disposition thereafter,,
(5) The Records Management 13oa.rd.will servo as the
forum for recommendations for declassification, Agency
contributions to other Agency historical programs and other
interagency pr oble'nE; involving the Agency's records. In
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this process, coordination will be made as appropriate, with
the General 'Counsel, the Director of Security, the Agency
Historian, the Agency Archivist, etc.
Archives
'(1) Each unit submitting an annual report report (see
below) will identify its key documents and files for perr. naaent
inclusion in Agency Archives. The Records Management
Board will develop the system or systems by which such
documents will be identified on a systematic basis during the
year and indexed for later access, as an element of the
Records Management Program. Annually, each unit will.
make an overall review to ensure that the documents marked
for archival retention are neither excessive in detail nor in-
complete through omissions. A certificate to this effect will
accompany the unit's Annual Report, and the Agency Archivist
'
L eciu ve
wall report any pxool.ena.s in this process 40 the
Director through the Records Management Board.
(2) An Agency Archivist will be appointed to supervise the
Agency's Archives Program and will report directly to the
.Executive Director. He will be a member of the Agency
Records Management Board and will coordinate the execution
of the Archives Program through this Board. He will also
work in close coordination with the Agency 1. .ecords Manage-
ment Officer and the Agency Historian. Archivists will be
appointed by the Deputy Directors in their Directorates to
supervise this program in the Directorate. These officers
will. be of senior grade, although they may be appointed as
Directorate Archivist as a part-time diity in addition to other
taratc Rc.cc~i:ct__.
will be assisted by `clie Pazc
The
ti
l
y
.e..
c
u
c
Managzxaent_Uffice.rs The Agency and Directorate .Archivists
will. supervise compliance with overall Agency Archives xegu-
lations to be drawn up and issued after consultation,wi.th the
Deputy Directors. A semiannual report to the Executive
Director on the Archives Program will be prepared and. co-
ordinated with the Records Management Board..
(3) Arrangements will be made for the sei;xegatio of
archival documents, from -those held for records purposes,
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in order to permit the automatic retirement and disposition
of records without loss of key archival doc'uxents. Archives
will be physically held by the Records Management Officer
in the Rccoi ds Center, under guidelines established by the
Agency Archivist.
c. History (I-IR
The major thrust of the Agency Historical Program will
be placed on the development of analytical histories of im--
portant Agency activities and operations. The 11Offico . fi.story"
approach to date, which has been largely successful in bri.nf;?-
ing our history up to 1965, will no longer be the major focus
of the Program, as the chronicling of future Agency activity
will take place under the Annual Report system outlined b~:low,
Thus, future Agency Histories will take major subjects of
Agency activity and analyze the ways in which the various ele-
-meaats of the Agency worked together to produce the overall
Agency contribution to the: operation in question. There will
be sort.-to situations in which a single element of the Agency
provided all or most of the Agency participation in any one
activity. There will be occasions also whon sensitivity will
require that any analytical review of an operation be con-
ducted in a most restricted fashion. This will apply to many
Clandestine Service Histories. Priority will be given to
establishing the basic Agency History of the more prominent
operations and activities in which the Agency has been engaged,
e. g. , Cuban Missile Crisis Ba of Pigs, War in Vietnam,
U-2 Operations, etc., with
particular attention to lessons derived from these experiences.
These histories should also..be__ii)(dexed in a fashion to permit
their use to provide immediate xe;spoxtseto public or con-
gressional inquiries on these prominent events to the extent
feasible. Histories will in the future depend upon Annual
Reports for general chronicle and upon the Archives Program
for identification of key documents. The .Agency 1l:istor ian
will be an ex officio member of the Records Management
lB oard, will report directly to the Executive Director, and will
work in close coordination with the Agency Archivist and the
Agency Records Management Ofttiicor,
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. Annual Reports
(1) To provide the necessary chronicio of the Agency's
activities at minimum expenditure of effort, a systcin of
annual. 'reports of the units and offices of the .Agency will be
developed. These will be submitted to the next senior core.-
xxzand level for review and then held by the originating unit,
with a copy incorporated in the Agency's Archives. The
annual report will be compiled during January, covering the'
previous ca enr sir year. The iden%i:iication of the eleineats
to
$ulnait these annual reports and an outline of their format
will be developed by the Agency Historian fox the Executive
Director, in coordination with the Deputy Directors. Those
may include significant contractor units, when these played
significant role in Agency progran-is or operations. These
annual reports should highlight major. aceonapli,hnients,
major problems and overall conclusions and recoxmxienda.tions
for future action in the unit itself or by elements supporting
or associated with it. As required, compartmented annexes
can be compiled and hold separately covexin particular y
sensitive events.
(2) In many areas it will be essential to produce one-time
reports to cover the years from. 1965 (or the most recent
History) to -he current Annual Report. This will be under-
talceri by units identified to submit future Annual Reports. In
those situations in which an overall Agency History to be pro-
duced will cover the period in question, a separate Annual
Report need not be developed (e. g. , the 25X1A
War in. Vietnam), as the necessary chronicle an rchives
can be developed at the same time as the analytical history.
In other cases, however, a one-time effort to catch up to the
current annual report system will be necessary, and this will
be under taken by the unit in question. Staff supervis iQa of
.this activity will be provided by the Agency Historiaii and
Archivist.
e.' Clas sification and Declassification
The Records Management Board will be the focal point fond
the Agency's implementation of, the classification and
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declassification procedures x equired by )Executive Order
1.1652. The Board will coordinate as required with the .
%
General Counsel, the Director of Security, the Agency
Archivist, the Agency Historian and others in carrying out
this responsibility. The Agency Records Management:
Officer will be designated under Section 7 of this Order as
the Agency a epresentative to the Interagency Classification'
Review Committee, acting under.the. supervision of t4e
Executive Director.
W. .C. Colby ti
Executive Director- Comptroller
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