RECORDS PROGRAM

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP78-00433A000100030014-4
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
S
Document Page Count: 
9
Document Creation Date: 
December 12, 2016
Document Release Date: 
April 8, 2002
Sequence Number: 
14
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
September 1, 1969
Content Type: 
MF
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP78-00433A000100030014-4.pdf885.39 KB
Body: 
Approved For Ruse 2002/05/13 : q 78-00433A0.0100030014-4 FOR. .ecutiv Director- Comptroller Records Prograr. 1. Paragraph 8 of this s:i randun. o your approval. reasons purging, does snot sews to offer a solution to our records stor- age problem. We find that we have four major categories of material stored at the acords Center, but only one of theta, the inactive records have again examined the overall problem in an attempt to discover th have in storage resulted in a net reduction of 4,196 cubic feet. 'f e 2. Our efforts during the past year to Pur aaate each of these casteguries and define totem in terms that are , qualifies technically for Records Center storage. We need to acceptable geueraally to assign responsibilities and devise storage sy'ste for each of t w44 and to develop new policies and procedures to govern the records program of the Agency and provide for the manage-- went of the personnel, primarily concerned with it. 3. At the and of August 1969 the ? cocy's records holdings d 98,91; cubic feet; 17,686 a. 8uD a e ntal D rihuti.on 91095 64,281 d. Archives (including materials 7,853 identified for Freesidenti..:l. Libraries) 4. Supplemental Distribution (17x686 cubic feat) aa, The Sipplcmental iatributjaas category is composed, of extra copies of finished intelligence publications which have been distributed throughout the Intelligence Couu-Uty. So individually deter.ued quantity of each of these publica- tions is held in reserve to satisfy requests from custom rs for Approved For Release 2002/05/13 E'~ 7110030014-4 Approved For Release 2002/05/13 PP P78-00433A098100030014-4 copies or additional distribution. The Central e in the Intelligence Directorate gives the Records Center actions for storage and must authorize the release of 4ocu-- meats to offices outside the Agency. There is a sigh turn,-over as individual publications are re--issued, up--dated, or revised. Activity averages 250 services a day. b. Responsibility for storing and distributing these publications as a service to the Intelligence Directorate was accepted by the Records Center several years ago when the vol- Ach smaller and space was not a problem. The Records Center has continued to furnish the storage and distribution service over the years because it represents a convenience to the Agency and records cater storage space has been the cheapest kind of available space suitable to the activity. c. Nevertheless, the problem is not a records probl. It is a problem of distribution and space. It should not be r part of the Records Program and neither the Records Management Board nor the Records Administration Bran should he held accountable for its solution. Responsibility for rnsolutio the distribution problem and the custody and control of the Late-- rials should be assumed. by the Intelligence Directorate. These holdings should be carefully reviewed to determine w scther this volume is really necessary.. Other Agency facilities are presently being examined to determine whether documents held for supplemental distribution can be stored elsewhere and removed entirely from the records management pro&raa. 3. Vital Documents (9,095 cubic feet) a. Vital `accents are documents selected by the various components of the Agency 4 as essential to the reeconstitu.- ion and continued operation of the Agency in the event a catas._ ophe strikes the headquarters building. They exist as a 25XIA 25X separate collection as a part of the ergency planninng program and must be where they Sri, be accessihie in time of emergency. The is the emergency relocation site for r-ue Agency a this ; t h e reason the Vital Documents are located there. They are stored in the Records Center only because, incidentally, the Records Center is at the relocation site. They were seovred into the Records Center from Build In 1961 to make the space available for other purposes and to save manpower. b. As long as the Emergency Planning Program of to e remains unchanged, these documents should continue to be Approved For Release 2002/05/1 CIA-RDP78-00433A000100030014-4 T Approved For Release 2002/05/13: ET8-00433A000100030014-4 stored at the relocation center. -r-sere are a Lit, xeowev *r, ab t 2 300 u , cubic feet of vital doemueuts stor-ad by aXpected to be co -lo te,a with the Department, ..of efee ase. XC vital ciocua nts should be rawv ? fra2 the A aac7 relocation "nttr and tr'a fern j to the apart eut of T~afenae relocation site where ffIC is expected to operate in time of emergency. Thezeaaiu4at of the vital documents a could be Grit-- __. ,~ :.. w,rx~~aceaaa + u1. the overall eaereacy plan. 6. Archives (7,853 cubic feet) AL. Archives are torical docu Bate which test be ke t p ently. They are di.ffarent from inactive rece d Th rr a. e are historically and scholastically significant while inactive ,?..,.A - __- dance eedura , vary i -or or should, Archival re 08 defined by the Civil. Service Cos mission for the the i sited States, 4reh1v, are ''(I) those bodies of vc rea,vsrds are teararyr a .teaaaio of headquarters ge net historical docu entat.ioa of the % tujcy Qperatiouaily and administratively significant. valuable records that form us :f?a.1 cvi- or&ani. tion, functious, policies, decisions, pry,.., for offic3,a3. Dove rat by r ined assent al to historians Ir i s , a axciolo i sts , or other scbiola aspect;i of our society*.., b. In addition to the 7 853 cubic f , caw W&csa4s already segregated as archival and Preaidexiti.e.l Library ateriaei orris recalled fr the Arc ifv of the Unitod tar_ n. of the Director of Central lutel.l.igence. c feet of t:IA material d"ira ates. tot peg"--. of e 000 _ ., feet of a d_ _r feat of i 15,000 pet osazt Age= Y ra u.ire screerd% to select those docc nta WI-loch are truly archi.. . t y are screened the total collectio s of 241000 CUbU 144t Wowt be considered as part of the archives,. just"d of 7 c is f*et of archives, therefore, in reality we have 31,453 e-too feet of archhival material. served for their Informational couteot......{ document official actions and serve as sources rence in the pro acutiou of the affairs of 3 Approved For Release 2002/05/13 CIA-RDP78-00433A000100030014-4 Approved For Release 2002/05/13 'C under It shoo parsonue .c premises of records die-_ position. The objective of the other is to die; o to retain and the objective d. Professional archival work involves the but not =Mutually exclusive, functions, appraisal and disposti (3) preservation and rehabilitation, (4) documentary publication, historical editing and exhibit of archival materials, and (5) reference service. (2) arrau eaeut A sampling of these functiousa are described below to further clarify the professional distinctions between srchivjaty a. recd :dr management Officarsi (1) Records appraisal and dispostion involves e analysis and evaluation of inactive records to doter,.,. me ity and Federal. Covernjaea t at large; the scholarly ccnirity. other agencies and activities in the into and uudcrsta ing of the history, organization and opera-- tio of t1l,e ancy, , the le :.alativ s authorities and responsibilities of the Agency as theca relate to the development and retention of records; the organizational, factional and records relationships of the Agency to :iou. Archivists ems loy a comprehensive knowledge 78-00433AQQ0100030014-4 rid appraisal should be conducted by, sign of, qualified professional archivists. basic premises of permanent archival retention be left to records officers or records center cozntinuis,, values and to provide advice or a decisions ab auL their destruction or permanent study the origins, the orgauirational and functional (Z) Archivists engaged in record arreugo of orni2ation and function.- and facilitate their loca_ boon, description asr:d use. icance; protect their integrity as historical evideac They aualyzc the records to decide the arran, y and administrative proc.dures of the producin, that will beat reveal their character and Approved For Release 2002/051 , - CIA-RDP78-00433A000100030014-4 Approved For Release 2002/05/1 S R!5P78-00433AO00100030014-4 atiou involves safe uardiu the al material from deterioration or i k~a value through alteration. it considers the Coo- -f the records; the aattaro of their evidential erently, require a higher quality of atora a space X1A to amore their learnt preservation, and require a kind and frequency of servicing than other categories of records, Prof"sionaly and Administratively, archives are different from the basic principles of records ma Gage a tt and they should not a part of the records r a aaa ent program. Archives are t i.e- torica,l. documents used primarily by researchers and histcoriana. Tey are the sources from w i.ch historical narratives are writter. s such they are - uc a more closoly related to the f netisans of the Ustori ,1 Staff than to the records s an ;eaaut futtetlo . A position, for at least one senior archivist should be created ou the t:istoricsl Staff and responsibility for the archives pro4ra of the Agency should be assigned to that Staff. ' archiv function, over, should not be considered as subordinate to the historical function. Some historia are or Informational values; the extent of their us and the cost of repair or reha:billtatioa. (4) Archivists involved in publication work carefully study the documents to be published to resolve questions of origin and authenticity. They employ a thorough knowledge of than at atance of the documents and Persons, circumstances, or events to which the documents a. Ott only do archives require professional. compete-ace differs from that of records officers, but they are ad- WO feel that the docent can be destroyed ter the has been written. 't-his, of course, is a misconception. i iffereat historians interpret history differently and a si to t can serve more than one historical or scholarly purpose including Political, sociol xlical, and ecouo$c cons idera tioas , for example. For these reasons it is suggested that there should be a sarat.e archival function a part of the overall rpon3ibility of the Historical Staff, f. Ar'cidv a require a higher quality of storage space than other record materials do, more like a library than a warehouze, wit a air conditioning, neat and b idity controls `fh low level of activity a ad requests for service make-the archive a logical choice for location s ary from th titan feasibility of a ovlug the archival Approved For Release 2002/05/13: CIA-RDP78-00433A000100030014-4 Itival storage. nwhile we are eva luatin, ? space 25X1 Approved For please 2002/05JDP78-00433,W00100030014-4 Inactive Records (64,21l cubic fee currant action is completed and which are required so 1nfre-- qu stly it. the conduct of current business that they may be rimed from offices and stored els> here without impairin d operations. They are records which must be retained for a defi.-_ site period of time ism ord&Ar to comply with established le;al or operational requir' meats. Certain financial docsasac nits, for ammple, must be retained for 56 years, others must he retained for twelve years, and official peraonuc1 files must be retained for 75 years. Inactive records of these types with fixed records cast be retained permanently according to isv. Perma- uent iaactive records eves iu.ally become archives. with the iataet Lion that they will be retained forever. eng the four categories of records disscusaa storages only inactive records meet the criteria establish by law and the Archivist of the United States for such storage. It is this volume ties::, to which the records nouagi-iont program y should h rliaarily dir a are about 3,000 cuoi.c feet of OSS and ared ee organization records, and about 15,000 cubic feet of CIA record a the inactive records iioldiags which 'a": been scheduled for pnsant retention, and should be considered as part of the archives collection. If this 24,000 cubic foot volume is de- -ducted from the total currect volume of 4,281 cubic feet and reed to the archives, there will re In only 40, ion periods are considered to he teporary. Some Inactive records are those records up& e records qualify. technically for records center s' foregoing discussion o of Inactive records. These are the only recor< Agan ?ncy. Control over the growth of this volune should b responsibility of the records management program d. We are in the proco-as of tiating a contract for the conduct of a study aat to records center to deter- 25X1 mine the feasibility of instaa a e ec rically driv-in, movable sheiv:in to permit a si gif icant compaction of the uateriala stored. If feasible, it is eatimated that such an installation will increase the present svor,se capacity by about forty t)er- cent. We are also planning to create a group of technically qualified fersoirael to study the systews practicaabilit y of adopting microform techniqu s to provide storage a and retrieval RDP78-00433A000100030014-4 Approved For Release 2002/WHET Approved For Release 2002/05/1 S P78-00433A000100030014-4 systems suit: the Agency. he various record keeping operations in a and r-iovable shelving, however, will pro- vide only teaaej orary relief for a few years and will not ao to store them. of only does hard copy grow at the rare cubic feet per exployee par year, but there are rapidly growing requirement for the atoraza of film, magnetic tapes and d other forms of electronic recording media which may well excee whatever capacity we may gain by improving the utilization of present space. Under the present policy, we operate a central store ity but exercise no control over what or bow much comes into anti a this practice. Even aaore basic tiara control to gain control over the growth of records in storage over ta storage, however, is the need for systematic anae ;lent _ of records beginning with their creation. Total records : na, e has always been an disposition, with periodic con include creation, maintenance, and disposition. a purging. we used to systematically once-titration and direct our attention to correspon- dence man eraent, forms manag en:t, reports management _, esimcially computer reports -., copying machines, and all other thods of records creatioea. There are more than 220,000 cubic ecords in headruarters office space. We need entrate on file crcationn and irntenance systems. to *azure that we maintain only those documents and files that are. necessary to the day to day conduct of our busLness. We need to provide a cyst to erasure that only those recd be retained for a specified period, temporary or per transferred to the ecorda Center. S. These purposes can only be accomplished through the cation of a single records program under unified a e e at. ill be necessary to put such a program into being (1) The creation of a Senior Records Kane Board under the I)D!S with specific authority to direct a centralized program; selection, from aging the more than 400 positions in the AAancy identified with records responsi- bilities in one form or another, of those pore should be devoted fully to records tnagent Approved For Release 2002/05/13 MVP78-00433A0001 ERE I Approved For Rgjpase 2002/05/13 : 8-00433AO00100030014-4 (3) the craation of a career service or some equivalent pearao.l manage:-nt system to provide for the training and long term caraer development of viduals primarily :oncerned with records arzage tent responsibilities; (4) the eyate atic designation of offices record which will be responsible for maintaining records of a particular category in order to avoid multiple filin& a d retention of the same docu en to provide the framework for suet, an overall records anent pro& (a) the review of regularly produced reports 1 aourcea to validate their continuing iee:d and or record retention purposes, (b) planning and control of e to rmusg room much like co puters done dhsrin the past fifteen years; and (7) the publication of policies and procedures ,eponsibility for the storage and s rvicinr; of Suvole ntal Distribution decuitents be ossumel by the Depu for Intelligenc4~ who tian the basic rasp sibi l.t7 for Lion and that space be eou ht for their location away 25X1 t;cords Center; practicality of the Emergency Planning of the envy be reevaluated; that meanwhile vital docut continue to be stored at the lkke cords Center but that the DD/T assume responsibility for relocatin vital documents stored by SPIC to ita relocation site; 25X the Historical staff; that apace at be sought a other suitable location away from th Record* Center, and that permanent archives apace be iz:cl u-- c. n loo term building plans; any Approved For Release 2002/05/ DP78-00433A000100030014-4 ar e;ivist; the responsibility for the archives prot;ra e, a positiot.. be created on the ist.orical. staff for a the development of a 25X1A Approved For Rease 2002/05/13 MUT78-00433AQ001 the concept of a centralized records man be approved and the /S authorized to procee development of a program as outlined in paragraph if R. L. -e ierr Deputy Director for Support DDS/SSS/PHt: jm:s (12 September 1969) Distribution: Orig & 1 - Adse I - DD/S Subject 1 - 1D/S Chrono 1 - SSS Subject 1 - SSS/RAB Approved For Release 2002/05/13 P78-00433A000100030014-4