Concept and Management of NIS Program

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-05597A000100010011-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 8, 2000
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: March 15, 1963
• Content Type: MF

Approved Ie
MEMORANDUM FOR: Members of the Coordination Staff
SUBJECT Concept and Management of NIS Program
15 March 1963
1. An important action which must be taken to reorient the NIS
Program and to develop' more precisely the broad principles in which the
consensus of the United States Intelligence Board (USIB) has indicated
concurrence (USIB-D-51.101-, 15 March 1963), is to reach community agree-
ment upon a statement of the concept of, and procedures for managing,
the revised Program. This action can perhaps be taken most expeditiously
through the mechanism of preparing a substitute for the present Nature,
Purpose, and Scope of the NIS Program, which appears as the first
section in the NIS Standard Instructions. I believe that the substitution
can be made by USIB under the authority of NSCIDs and the present NIS
Standard Instructions.
2. The attached two draft papers, Concept of the NIS Program, and
Direction and Management of the NIS Program have been prepared following
our staff discussions and reflect our consensus on these subjects at
this time. Taken together, these two drafts are intended to replace the
present section Nature, Purpose and Scope of the ]CIS Program.
3. Will you please discuss these drafts informally with your
agencies and ascertain their reaction to the approach we have taken. In
any discussions, it should be emphasized that these drafts represent
only the initial preliminary views of the Coordination Staff and are
being circulated with the thought that they will provide a basis for
further discussions and coordination with the agencies concerned.
Assistant for Coordination
Copy sent on 19 Mar 63 to:
W S Lester State
S. L. Nickelsburg - DIA
CDR H W Holschuh - Navy
J W Easton - DIA
under trans h~~fftj~~.
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DRAFT
15 March 1963
Direction and Management of the NIS Program
1. The Director of Central Intelligence is responsible for overall
coordination of the NIS Program and for the coordination of the
NIS Program with other departmental and interdepartmental basic
intelligence programs.
2. The United States Intelligence Board (USIB) is responsible for
providing policy direction and guidance to the NIS Program. For
this purpose, USIB performs the following specific functions:
a.
Establishes overall policies for the Program.
b.
Allocates responsibility for production and maintenance of
NIS in accordance with the mission, production capability and
primary interest of the agencies concerned.
c.
Approves priorities for the production of NIS.
d.
Establishes policies for the dissemination of NIS.
The NIS Committee assists USIB in carrying out its responsibilities
for the NIS Program, and is responsible to USIB for the continuing
coordination and management of the Program.. The NIS Committee
consists of a full-time chairman representing the Director of
Central Intelligence, and appointed by him with the concurrence of
USIB, and a designated member from the Department of State, the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Defense Intelligence
Agency. CIA, DIA, and State jointly furnish the necessary working
staff to support the NIS Committee. The CIA furnishes the
administrative support for the NIS Committee and its staff. In
carrying out its mission, the NIS Committee is responsible to
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a. Recommending to USIB allocation of. responsibilities and
priorities for the production and maintenance of NIS.
b. Establishing NIS production and maintenance schedules, based
upon USIB-approved priorities and agency capabilities.
c. Determining the scope and treatment to be given each NIS area.
d. Approving and issuing NIS Outlines, and Outline Guides.'
e. Reporting to USIB annually on the status, including estimated
costs, of the NIS Program as a whole, and at such other times
and on such aspects of the Program as may be appropriate,
All USIB agencies are responsible for:
a. Producing and maintaining the NIS units which have been
allocated to them by.USIB and the NIS Committee as production
responsibilities.
b. Implementing, as appropriate to their collection responsi-
bilities, the collection efforts required,f or NIS production
and maintenance.
c. Contributing, in accordance with applicable NSCIDs and DCIDs,
to the more detailed or transient basic intelligence which
may be required, over and above the.NiS.
The CIA performs the following services of common concern with
respect-to, the NIS Program:
a. Provides final editorial review of NIS contributions to ensure
consistency and responsiveness to procedures and guide lines
approved by the NIS Committee.
b. Processes and publishes the NIS.
c. Disseminates the NIS in accordance with policies established by
USIB.
d. Furnishes the administrative support to the NIS Committee and
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its staff.
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e. Performs such administrative and other common services which the
NIS Committee determines can best be done centrally.
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DRAFT
l5 March 1963
Concept of the NIS Program
The NIS is a comprehensive digest of the basic intelligence on
foreign areas required as a foundation for strategic planning, high-
level operational planning, and for the development of foreign policy.
It-is designed to meet the requirements, for these purposes, of high-
level planners and policy makers and their staffs in the Department of
State, Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military
services and major military commands, and other Government agencies. To
meet additional basic intelligence needs, including those of lower level.
planning and operational levels in the Armed Forces, the Department of
State, and other Government agencies, more detailed basic intelligence
shall be produced as appropriate on a departmental or interdepartmental
basis to supplement that contained in the NIS.
In general, the intelligence presented in the NIS is concerned with
the relatively unchanging natural. features, fundamental characteristics
and basic resources of a country or other area and may cover such fields
as the geographic, transportation, sociological, political, economic,
scientific, and military aspects cf such country or area.
Production for the NIS Program requires an over-all collection
effort covering all foreign countries and areas. The intelligence data
resulting from this collection and continuous processing necessarily
are more comprehensive and detailed than those appearing in the printed
NIS and constitute a reservoir of data to serve as a basis for supplemental
departmental and interdepartmental basic intelligence production as needed.
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The NIS Outline and Outline Guides in their entirety represent
the maximum for presentation of basic intelligence which would be
required as a foundation for high-level strategic planning or develop-
ment of foreign policy with respect to the most complex country on which
comprehensive coverage might be required. They do not prescribe a
standard requirement for NIS coverage on any specific country or area.
For each NIS, the extent of treatment given to any topic in the Outline
and Outline Guides, over and above Chapter I, shall be based upon an
explicit determination on an individual basis by the sense in which,
and the degree to which, that topic applies significantly to the
.particular country or area under consideration. The Outline and Out-
line Guides are thus to be flexibly adapted to the country or area or
topic concerned, on the premise that each NIS should contain the
minimum essential data for high-level planning which can be kept up-to-
date at reasonable intervals.
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