NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL INTELLIGENCE DIRECTIVE NO. 8 PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION (EFFECTIVE 18 JANUARY 1961)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78B05167A001800080005-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 24, 2014
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: February 22, 1961
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified and Approved
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For Release 2014/06/24: CIA-RDP78B05167A001800080005-3
NOT TO BE DISTRIBUTED SECRET NSCID No. 8
OUTSIDE THE U.S. (New Series)
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL INTELLIGENCE
DIRECTIVE NO. 8
PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION
(Effective 18 January 1961)
For the purpose of ensuring the most effective, timely and economic
exploitation of photography as a source for foreign intelligence relating
to the national security, and pursuant to Section 102 of the National
Security Act of 1947, as amended, the National Security Council hereby
directs that the following policies, responsibilities, and procedures shall
be recognized and established:
(
1. Policies
To ensure that the capabilities of the departments and agencies
represented on the Intelligence Board are most efficiently utilized for
the foreign intelligence exploitation of photography, the following basic
principles shall apply:
a. No complete separation of interest is possible or desirable in pho-
tographic intelligence activities.
b. Departments and agencies represented on the U.S. Intelligence
Board shall continue to be individually responsible for photographic
interpretation and the production of photographic intelligence in sup-
port of established departmental or agency responsibilities and the utili-
zation of such photography and related collateral information in the
production of intelligence, such as, warning intelligence, orders of battle,
estimates, technical intelligence, precise geodetic data, targeting, maps,
charts, matrices or other targeting materials and related research and
development.'
c. To promote an integration of effort and to avoid unnecessary
duplication and expense, a coordinated interdepartmental approach to
the exploitation of photographic intelligence shall be established.
d. Subject to applicable security measures and on a "need-to-know"
basis, there shall be full interchange of all pertinent photographs and
photographic intelligence analysis among the departments and agencies
concerned.
e. Certain photographic intelligence functions can be best performed
as a central service of common concern, for the maximum benefit of the
entire intelligence community.
2. Centralized Responsibilities
a. A National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) shall be
provided as a service of common concern by the Director of Central
Intelligence in consultation with the interested members of the USIB.
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(1) The Director of the NPIC shall be designated by the Director
of Central Intelligence after consultation with the interested USIB mem-
bers and with the concurrence of the Secretary of Defense.
(2) The Intelligence Board departments and agencies engaged in
photographic intelligence production shall jointly provide appropriate
personnel and other support for the Center, as agreed by them with the
Director of Central Intelligence. Such supporting personnel shall be
functionally under the direction of the Director, NPIC, for joint activi-
ties, but shall remain administratively responsible to their parent organi-
zations.
(3) The administration of NPIC in time of war shall be transferred
to the Secretary of Defense.
b. Foreign intelligence related photography shall be made available
from photographic processing facilities to the Center and to designated
photographic intelligence units of Intelligence Board departments, agen-
cies and commands simultaneously, and without delay for preliminary
analysis, within the bounds of any special security controls required.
C. The NPIC shall provide on a selective basis for the preliminary,
rapid inter-FeTition of photographic detail, including where possible
tentative identification of such detair; and shall make appropriate dis-
44 tribution of such preliminary interpretations, with supporting references
to appropriate related collateral information, to interested elements of
the community.
d. It is the intent of this directive that NPIC not engage in the pro-
duction and dissemination of finished intelligence. Photography which
appears to be primarily of departmental or agency significance shall be
the primary exploitation responsibility of the department or agency
concerned. The Center, itself, shall produce and disseminate NPIC pho-
tographic interpretation reports (based on an analysis of photography
using other sources to assist in this interpretation) and provide other
materials and services, in support of the national intelligence effort and
approved Priority National Intelligence Objectives.
0e. The NPIC shall also furnish such additional support to depart-
mental and agency interests as can be provided without degradation of
activities already specified in paragraph 2.c. and d., above.
f. The NPIC shall maintain on a selective basis a consolidated central
file of photographic data as a service of common concern. It shall make
arrangements for the exchange of photographs and photographic data
with other photographic collections in the intelligence community, and
shall make appropriate recommendations to facilitate the coordinated
development of compatible codes, indexes, and mechanized systems for .
the efficient recovery, selection and collation of available photographic
data.
g. The NPIC shall engage in or sponsor, as appropriate, the develop-
ment of specialized equipment for the intelligence exploitation of ph-
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Itography, and shall provide information about such specialized equip-
ment to interested elements of the intelligence community for their own
possible use or further adaptation.
h. The NPIC shall examine and make recommendations to the U.S.
C2) Intelligence Board, as appropriate, as to any special security controls
required.
3. Coordination
In discharging its responsibilities the NPIC shall consult, as appro-
priate, with individual departments, agencies and committees of the
U.S. Intelligence Board. The intelligence chief of each department or
agency represented on the U.S. Intelligence Board shall coordinate pho-
tographic intelligence activities within his parent organization with the
National Photographic Interpretation Center.
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