Restructuring of the National Intelligence Survey (NIS) Program

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-05597A000100030029-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 3, 1998
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: May 2, 1972
• Content Type: MF

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" EN NO.
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NO GE IN GLASS. p
DEC IED D RAF T
CLASS. CHAN 0: TS 3 O
NEXT REVIEW DA 2 May 1972
AUTHh HR 70.2
DATE,: REVIEWIERz_ 94'85
DEC 1980
MEMORANDUM FOR THE UNITED STATES INTELLIGENCE BOARD
SUBJECT : Restructuring of the National Intelligence Survey
(NIS) Program
REFERENCE: USIB-D-51. 1/8, 28 August 1963
1. The NIS Committee recommends that publication of the
remaining topical detailed. sections be discontinued as part of the
NIS Program and that emphasis and resources be directed toward
production of a restructured General Survey, expanded on a highly
selective basis by some of the more broadly useful material from
the detailed sections.
Rationale
2. Gradual attrition of the detailed sections over the years
has produced a melange of topical coverage (see attachment).
Shifting requirements for basic intelligence, a. more realistic
appraisal of what the NIS Program can achieve, and dwindling
resources have each played a role in eroding the original concept
of worldwide, up-to-date, and well-integrated topical coverage.
Discontinuance of topics was in each case agreed to only after
careful consideration of identifiable user requirements and
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availability of alternative coverage, but it is now becoming evident
that the cumulative effect of the attrition is a program lacking
coherence and focus.
3. Although NIS programming has adhered to the USIB -appr. oved
NIS plan for country priorities, for many of the detailed sections
still being produced area coverage has also been markedly curtailed
due to reductions in resources. Transportation and Armed Forces
sections, for example, are now being produced for only a few
countries. The result is a disparate and confusing pattern of coverage.
4. User surveys have indicated that some of the more spe-
cialized detailed sections have quite limited, albeit steadfast, reader-
ship. Faltering interdepartmental interest in certain topics raises
the question of their continued suitability in a national intelligence
program. As conceptualized in the Reference, this specialized
detailed basic intelligence was designed for the most part to meet
specific military requirements which might be better served by DoD
publications.
5. Continuing and increasing budgetary restrictions have taken
and are taking heavy toll on the NIS Program. However, what remains
can be made to meet important needs of national security by placing
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full emphasis on community production of a coordinated, high-quality,
and broadly based General Survey. The production, structure, and
organization of the new General Survey would utilize the remaining
resources better than the present disparate program and, in addition,
would retain the interagency framework needed to meet any future
requirements for an expanded national basic intelligence effort.
Plan
6. Programmed production of the topical detailed sections would
be discontinued by the end of FY 72.-
7. The General Survey, slightly expanded and restructured in
a bound-by-chapter format, would become the body of the program.
In addition to providing greater efficiency and flexibility in main-
tenance, the new format will enable the NIS to selectively incorporate
into the appropriate chapters -- or as separate annexes -- some of
the more widely useful data now contained in the detailed sections.
This will apply particularly to DoD-produced information.
8. The Basic Intelligence Factbook would continue to be
published semiannually in both the classified and unclassified versions.
9. The special NIS on oceanography would be continued for
another year pending the completion of an assessment of interagency
requirements in this field.
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Impact
10. Total elimination of the remaining detailed sections would
reduce significantly the overall NIS Program. Some of the manpower
savings implicit in the cutback would have to be redirected to imple-
menting the production of the enhanced General Survey. Precise
figures on potential money and manpower savings can not yet be
determined, but it is apparent that reduction already imposed on the
NIS effort, or now in process, will reduce the number of production
units by 25% from FY72 levels.
11. The NIS Committee invites the Board's attention to the
concomitant reduction in departmentally published basic intelligence
formerly available to supplement the NIS. In some cases, the losses
sustained have impinged on the same geographic and subject areas as
those affected by reductions in the NIS Program. The necessary con-
centration of community effort on certain priority areas and topics,
as a direct consequence of manpower and budget cuts, is certain to
reduce community research capabilities and production on low priority
areas, especially Latin America, Africa south of the Sahara, and
certain countries of West Europe.
Action Requested
12. The NIS Committee requests that USIB approve the plan
to discontinue production of 'NIS topical detailed sections by the end
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of FY 72 and to integrate on a selective basis broadly useful
material from those sections, as appropriate, into the new General
Survey.
JOHN KERRY KING
Chairman, NIS Committee
Attachment:
Attrition of NIS Detailed Sections
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Intro_d;_ti,n ....................
ilItar', Geogr. Pezi.ns.........
Coasts & finding Peaches ........
Weather , Climate ...............
P c pc; raphy ......................
Urbsn Areas .....................
Intr,,luctien ....................
Pailr_ads .............. ......
H'hways ........................
Inland Waterwayr ................
Ports Naval Faciliti-_s........
liorchant Marin .................
Civil Air .......................
Telec_:aonunleati'ns ..............
P,pulati.,n ..................... F ]
Character. of t?,e People....... .. L'
d
l
Re
ig., E
.ic., Pub. Info........
Manpwer ....................... y:...
33
Health r Sanitati_n .............
Welfare.......... ...........
LA
Intrcdu^ticn ....................
Ccnstituti nal 2y't?_?............
Structure cf the ;.wt...........
Pcliti^.al Dyna:nicc ..............
Public Order < Safety...........
National Pc.>liciec ...............
Intelli;ence & Security.........
C ;bve? s.i, n S, ins agency........ .
Prclxigan'la......................
Key Personalities ...............
Introduction ....................
Aar., Fis}series, Forestry.......
Fuels & Pcwer ...................
Minerals & Metals....... .....
Manufact.:ring & Constructi.?n....
Trade & Finance .................
Introduction....................
Electronics .......?.............
Air, rc,end, Naval Weapons ......
Atomic Energy ...................
Biological Warfare ..............
Chemical. Warfare ................
Fhy.Se i..,i'lath.,Medic ine.........
Introducticn ....................
Ground Forces ..................
;Naval Forces ....................
Air Forces .. .................
Ports & Naval Facilities ........
Coasts & Landing Beaches ......
Telec~rununicath.ns ..............
Petroleum ..................
Communism ......................
Marine Climate ...... ...........
Ocean.ugraphy ....................
Effects of Climate & Ocea.......
Straits .........................
ATTRITION OF NIS DETAILED SECTIONS
60
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