MANAGEMENT OF RECORDS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING ACTIVITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04723A000400010011-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2001
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: May 26, 1970
• Content Type: MF

Approved Felease 2001/08/08: CIA-RDP78-047000400010011-0
SECRET
ML MQR ND FOR: Deputy Director for Support
SUBJECT Management of Records and Information Processing
Activities
1. Paragraph 13 contains a recommendation for your approval.
2. We have problems in the Support Services Staff which are-
impeding our ability to fulfill our responsibilities and pla
adequately for their future ful':i.llment.
am We have a mix of responsibilities at the Agency
and Directorate levels: the Regulations Control. Bran fell
has an Agency role; the Records Administration Branch
has an Agency role anpyde a Directorate role; theu{ Infbo,r.-
nation Processing Branch has a Directorate role; we
have the Agency responsibility for Emergency Planning
and the responses yility for the Directorate Historical
Board. ; n addition the Necutive Director has recently
expressed a rreoeont with the idea that there should be
an Agency Archives but Vs .said it should be a Support
function. We have the ro:sponsibilitie without the
:d:'$:'r3ou:'fices to meet nhon.
b, The Support lrecto3ato has no records staff but
.;'has 'zelieed, e:en the Airs n,e;' Staff for su:apyport. The Agency
Staff has Mer I'y+,'.4 i, e Ia::a the Clandestine Services
``cord.` Meraa.ge eat "i1 ?Is;Or hto deal with CS records
'proablens,~ not e:i';.ou i to 3aec is Agrency' respenSlb;ilitiess
r
Zixlx4^" less to meet the :id:t'ion r requirements of the
Support f1roce:"Loi,;i.'F.,I^ , vi{? Directorate has a
larger volume of . t e i.. t.Y na the Clandestine Service.
' yy we do not have
C? Not w oa1y o- ?' ~ a wort an eUantifir
e quality o rcsrurcon to t. r3 e:" ''q! do what we can `44 t
the
no ds to be den.. mot of i_ c w n fn r example, have included
In their PrC c i"a.l 1 n,i :.t f era plans to develop now systems.
~M yRo ::n J i t..s n 2:^k
M Chief, Plans Mad the Support L,9 .~e.7.i/ic pry ~rp+~~~es Staff,
to concur its these -lots. before : concurring we should
isnder tad the pyd,lnpi in order to be able to make
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 Approved F elease 2001/08/0t:;.gf 'P78-047000400010011-0
reasonable judgments about whether the proposals represent
the best or the right solutions. k le do not have anyone who
can be spared from his present duties for the time it would
take to conduct such studios. In any event, none of our
people has the qualifications to do an adequate job of
recommending the best solution because none of them has the
appropriate combination of experience and background in
manual, automated, and microfilm systems. To got the right
combination we would have to use more than one person and
it is twice as hard to release two as one.
aa'nd st.o-cage, fors de:5ig;n, x.ad copying; machines.
scy!re of to t E:T" e d ffo me different problems p1e'gil-
thaw firr,-r, t'h'tl,. People were selected by
4;%7eir '.ar(tlit so v"1cer` for nssit nlnent to this function
of records cream on: eor w'r~'t7ondence microforrns, reports
inclurd!Ang;. the our;;pl.it ?oi" computer 'systems, file creation
n ano, ?ta:'e)tM~"r~~'i'N must: (,JIM Tttent'1-001 to all methods and media
Ctk any rsuccassfu x ana n-Ment prograaim. Records Tnana 9
'~ajndaxtla1 Over the +~re {;fir c'n o :f record material is the hoar?t
d. Staffing constraints in the Records Administration
Branch through the years have deprived us of the flexibility
necessary to keep people current with the state of the art
and broaden their experience. The youngest member of RAB
is 42 and she has been in her present assignment 14 years.
The oldest member is 53 and he has boon in his present
assignment 19 years. The lack of staffing flexibility
prevents the assignment of young officers and we have no
practical way of making room for them because the expori.-
encod records officers arc too highly specialized for
assignment to other types of positions. Attitudes toward
records management and the career service structure itself
are such that young officers are not likely to be attracted
to tho records profession.
e. All of the problerne of t e records program which
have been cited in v,.ri.ous presentations over the past two
or three years con'i:ir,uue to exist because resources are not
available to do ati tl i.rarg about them. To restate all of
i';.h,ouso problems in c t Ta: l here would be needlessly redund nL,
but it should be r e;'.1,,jasi.rrecl that systematic management
9riti3 'ti'a.+;, 1,e ui.d: :~ ?: rt'~ tlt:'arn rnt:?'c (cu.; ntity thatt quality of
t e kind Y+j 'a need for the i';"-i ig} :ezri. In the Information
~tlreres~ia.Tl.'r : t;'C9e't~ Tbx Ire.'' 1?z^t,rte .p:r'cblem of uncertainty or
ope* n a aazlf'rl ~+ s c j E s of i yi l t E -) future of the SIPS Task orce.
~i'l t r?j,6)Wl.r) to lne .~ is i .i: t; tr rn i? forr+tk) t ion processing requiro?
Trlot'nts ,, 3't1',cYP' t"14 fLfl'uUiT',~ Of th SIPS Task Force will
be a,t1, Ia-rd, It e.:olll bW to know whet or we will
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c os,~
" ~ Excluded from automatic
F. I" dau norzdin, -11
 Approved F Rlease 2001/0 , .f -RDP78-047!000400010011-0
continue to operate under an agreement with DDS&T, return to
separate management of DDS and OCS resources, or place the
total responsibility in one,. Directorate or the other, and we
will need to be highly selective in identifying the people
who will perform the functions in whatever organizational
setting is chosen.
g. We need to consider whether to concentrate the
information processing skills in one place or allow them
to develop in each of the offices. Having these skills in
both places leads to competition between the two, and the
central structure tends to find itself in an adversary
role opposite the people having these skills in the offices.
Moreover, competence in the information 'processing field is
so scarce that competition for it within the Directorate
cannot be afforded.
and actions r i':ded to i"11 (e of the recommendations
of the Sh miners. t"'! cry should be a nucleus of competence
:1.11 the l"fat'ern iZl aZ3.{.;e.ii?,,rtt sc:L.e':.ne s to ensure that we develop
o1utioris and :Co,; r iimo0ft1tioil,`a which are, at least current
with V-1,0 present state of the art.
j. The Idea of the I)sata Management Center being developed
:l"ear ctions in a Directorate context as well as within the
individual offices. There should be a close procedural
end review relationship with the DDS Plans Staff to ensure
that programs devclo;aed in the officos give proper attention
Ix.) t)lr:ectorate implications. We should he able to
a;gd ressivoly and imaginatively pursue the development of
information systems to meet changing Directorate require-
ments. The DDS should have a staff he can turn to with
p: obalemj- whether they are local to one office or are
DJ.rectoxate-wide. Problems identified for the Problem
Solving Seminars which do not lead themselves to solutions
in a week s iv be i to as well as some of the studies
h. Management of the information processing personnel
in the Support Directorate is a problem that we cannot deal
with effectively until we have settled on the future of the
SIPS Task Force and how we hhould. organize to core with
information processing problems of the future. We need to
be able to plan for the kinds of skills we are going to
require and in what mix and then we need to figure out
what career paths and opportunities can be offered,
i. There is a need in the Support Directorate for a
staff competence to take the initiative in identifying
and dealing with problems. There is a need to bring some
inagl.n{i.ti.vonczs into the records and information processing
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by the SIPS Task Force suggests the need for a new concept
in systems management, or at least an adaptation of traditional
line-staff relationships. The data managed in these centers
will be the products of integrated systems designs which will
not fit neatly within the functional responsibilities of one
Support Office or another. The centers will have to be managed
in some way at a level which falls between the Office and
Directorate levels without directly superimposing another
management echelon between the Deputy Director for Support and
his Office Directors.
k. We need a capability to review and evaluate on-going
systems to find out whether they are doing what they were
intended to do or have outlived their usefulness and to take
corrective, action as appropriate. This need applies to all
information processing systems, manual, automated, filmed,
or whatever.
3. The most difficult problem of all, of course, is to find
some way to deal with the problems stated above. They exist because
thero are functions to be performed that are not being performed at
the Agency, Directorate, or component levels; because the resources
available are fully committed to their present tasks and none are
available to deal with new problems; because the resources available
have evolved into organizational structures to meet particular
requirements as they occurred and this has caused distortions in the
career service and personnel management systems; and because the
evolution of functions has caused a peculiar admixture of Agency and
D rectorato responsibilities at different echelons of the or,gan.i-
zat::ion. Perhaps the best way to got at the solution to these problems
is to examine the functions which lie behind them.
4. &asi.cally these function relate to the continuing require-
miint for management improverntint. Management improvement almost
ii se+v.i.ta}hly will cause, or irust be accomplished through, changing
c1.xera:,nt or developing nctr information processing systems. T lie process
of c -kange begins with problem identification and proceeds through the
st_-T of defining the problem, conceptualizing alternative solutions,
d~Vsi ring a change to t17e Tirosent system or developing a new one, and
i-a' alementinj, the solution dho seta.
was 11.1ari.arg capr,.cai. `.r. Although the problem was initially
identified os a space problem, it is directly related to
An cxap;le may }ae a. ;e4:ui to describe the process:
In a recent pro'grnm sul:3l i!;i:oil, the Office?,df Medical
Services said its file room in the headquarters building
it OMSIS Overall rc.c ^?F