NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY (NIS) PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79M00062A001300020100-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2005
• Sequence Number: 100
• Publication Date: August 28, 1963
• Content Type: MF

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CONFIDENTIAL .&f ._,
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USIB -D - 51.1 /8
28 August 1963
(Final -USIB -Approved)
SUBJECT National Intelligence Survey (NIS) Program
REFERENCES : a. USIB -D-51, 1/6, 3 July 1963
b. USIB-D-51.1/7, 12 August 1963
c, USIB-M-283, 14 August 1963, Item 5
1. As .recorded in the Minutes (reference c. ) which were approved on
28 August, the United States Intelligence Board at its 14 August meeting
approved, for implementation as stated therein, the attached statement
entitled "Concept, Direction. and Management of the National Intelligence
Survey (NIS) Program, and Coordination with Other Programs of Basic
Intelligence". The attached statement is intended as a replacement for
the statement "Nature, Purpose and Scope of the NIS Program", dated
July 1959, and contained in the NIS Standard Instructions.
2. The USIB also directed the reconstituted NIS Committee to
reorient the NIS Program in accordance with the approved statement and
submit to USIB, within six months, a report of progress made, problems
encountered, and major shifts in Program emphasis. This directive is
being transmitted to the Chairman, NIS Committee, by US1B Action
Memorandum No. 63/38.
GROUP 1
Excluded from automatic
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Attachment
USIB-D-51. 1/8
28 August 1963
(Final -USIB -Approved)
Concept, Direction and Management
of the National Intelligence Survey (NIS) Program,
and Coordination with Other Programs of Basic Intelligence
Concept
1. In general, the intelligence presented in the National Intelligence
Survey (NIS) is concerned with the relatively unchanging natural features,
fundamental characteristics and basic resources of a foreign country or
other area and covers, to the extent pertinent, the geographic, oceanographic,
transportation, sociological, political, economic, scientific, and military
aspects of such country or area.
2. The NIS is a digest of basic intelligence, comprehensive in scope
but selective in detail; required as a foundation for strategic planning, for
high-level operational planning, and for the development of foreign policy.
It is produced on a coordinated, interdepartmental basis and is designed
,to present a balanced, well-rounded background in support of planning by
high-level planners and policy makers and their staffs in the Department of
State, the Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff., the military
services and major military commands and other government agencies.
3. In addition to the NIS, the specialized detailed basic intelligence
required by lower level planning and operational elements in the Armed
Forces, the Department of State, and other government agencies will be
produced by the various departments and agencies on a unilateral or
interdepartmental basis, in accordance with appropriate NSCIDs and DCIDs.
Although it is not designed to meet their specialized needs, the NIS should
prove generally useful to the lower level planners and operational elements.
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USIB - D - 51. 1/8
28 August 1963
(Final-USIB -Approved)
4. Production for the NIS Program requires the continuation of an
over-all collection effort covering all foreign countries and areas. The
intelligence data resulting from this collection and subsequent 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
the separate, supplemental departmental and interdepartmental basic
intelligence production expected to be required in accordance with para-
graph 3 above.
5. The Outline and Outline Guides in their entirety are to be
flexibly adapted to the country or area or topic concerned on the premise
that each NIS should contain only data essential for high-level planning, and
that such data can be kept up to date at reasonable intervals.
6. Thus, NIS Outline and Outline Guides do not prescribe a requirement
for uniformly comprehensive NIS coverage on all countries or areas, although
they do provide a check list for any country, including the unusual case where
maximum coverage would be required to support strategic and high-level
operational planning or development of foreign policy. Accordingly, for
each NIS area the extent of treatment given to any topic covered in the Out-
line and Outline Guides over and above that prescribed for the "General
Survey" (formerly Chapter I) shall be based, for each production or maintenance
cycle, upon an explicit determination on an individual basis of the significance
with which that topic applies to the particular country or area.
Direction and Management
7. The responsibility of the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for
coordination of the foreign intelligence activities of the United States includes
responsibility for over-all coordination of the NIS Program, and of other
departmental and interdepartmental basic intelligence programs. Under this
general coordination of the DCI:
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USIB-D-51. 1/8
28 August 1963
(Final -USIB -Approved)
a, Coordination of the NIS Program is accomplished as indicated
in paragraphs 8-11 below,
b. Heads of agencies have responsibility for departmental basic
intelligence programs in accordance with applicable NSCIDs and DCIDs,
(including production of the more detailed and transient basic intelligence
which may be required over and above the NIS) and for ensuring coordination
of their respective departmental programs with the NIS Program.
8. The United States Intelligence Board (USIB) is responsible for
providing policy direction to the NIS Program. For this purpose, USIB
performs the following functions-
a. Establishes overall policies for the Program.
b. Allocates responsibility for production and maintenance of the
NIS in accordance with the mission, production capability, and primary
interest of the agencies concerned.
c. Establishes priorities for production of the NIS.
d. Establishes policies for the dissemination of the NIS.
9. The NIS Committee assists the USIB in carrying out its responsibilities
for the NIS Program and is responsible to the USIB. The NIS Committee
consists of a designated representative from the Department of State, the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA),
and the Departments of Army, Navy and Air Force. The representative of
the CIA is the Chairman of the Committee. Other departments and agencies
may be invited to participate in the work of the NIS Committee as agreed by
the Committee. CIA is responsible for general administration of the NIS
Program and shall provide appropriate administrative and secretarial
support to the Committee and its Chairman as a service of common concern.
In carrying out its responsibilities to the USIB, the NIS Committee shall-
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USIB-D-51. 1/8
28 August 1963
(Final-USIB -Approved)
a. Recommend to the USIB allocations of responsibility for the
production and maintenance of the NIS.
b. Recommend to the USIB priorities for NIS Production, based
upon the anticipated needs of high-level planners and policy makers.
c. Establish and monitor the NIS production and maintenance
schedules based on USIB -approved priorities and taking into account agency
capabilities and available resources.
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d. Determine the scope and treatment to be given to each NIS
e. Approve and promulgate NIS Outlines, Outline Guides, other
Standard Instructions, and revisions thereto.
f. Approve for publication the NIS General Surveys (formerly
Chapter I).
g. Report 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.
10. USIB agencies shall:
a. Produce and maintain, in accordance with NIS Outlines and
NIS Committee guidance, the NIS units allocated to them by the USIB as
production and maintenance responsibilities and as 'scheduled for production
by the NIS Committee. In meeting these responsibilities, USIB agencies
may arrange for appropriate assistance from agencies of the government
not represented on USIB.
b. Implement as appropriate to their collection responsibilities
under NSCID No. 2 the collection efforts required for NIS production and
maintenance.
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USIB-D51, 1/8
28 August 1963
(Final-?US1B -Approved)
C. Advise the NIS Committee of departmental basic intelligence
produced, in progress or planned, which relates to an NIS area scheduled
for production or maintenance, in order that reference to such additional
intelligence may be incorporated, as appropriate, in such NIS.
, 11. 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 compliance with procedures and guidance promulgated by
the NIS Committee.
b. Accomplishes final processing and reproduction of NIS units.
c. Disseminates the NIS in accordance with USIB policy.
d. Issues NIS Committee approved guidance and provides such
administrative and other common services as the NIS Committee
determines can best be done centrally.
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