SHORT AND 'SHORT-SHORT' CONCLUSIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00937A000500020038-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 13, 2001
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: August 13, 1956
• Content Type: MEMO

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGE NC`C
OFFICE OF NATIONAL ESTINA S
33 August 1956
E-RM.T.ONE0L,
STAFF I ;T?IORAAIDUIZ m. 62-56
SUB CT g Short and "Short-Short" Conclusions
I0 The thorny issue of how best to tailor the conclusions to our
estia tes so as to have the most impact on our customers was brought to
a head by the NIE Survey. It revealed that many high pol.i 1 ?s self
saw or at any rate read the NIE's thelves0 Instead all they generally
read were one page briefing mince, which most 1AC agencies attached
to the NIE before sending it forward. Therefore iken the Conclusions
of an NE ran materia.7.Ly over this one page each agency unflateral3jy had
to pare them down.
20 This situation led the AD/NE to feel that wherever possible
NIE Conclusions should be kept down to what would fit onto a one page
briefing memo so that the agencies would be encouraged to use the
Conclusions verbatim and not tin)wr with them. V here the Conclusions
could not be kept this short, he favored adding a second set of
"short short" conclusions designed specifiica3ly for briefing memo
'poses. The IAC agreed that we show experiment with short or where
necessary "short-short" conclusions on a case-by-case basis (see
OINE, Notice 6.56).
3a Fro r Length Conclusions. We have received samples of briefing
memos from a ,neo agencies which have used them in order to find
out their average length and thus give ourselves a yardstick. These
samples vary widely, In general G-2 appears to prepare the most comprehensive
briefs., generally including all or almost all of the Conclusions with
relatively little cutting or paraphrasing, even if they run over a pea.
The four G-2 samples ranged from 433 to 832 words0* AFOIN uses a mph
w o c ude the Statement of the Problem and dissents,, where
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shorter and more infoni al statement of the "mme sign fist" findings;
its six samples ranged from 132 to 218 wordae Ornfss two one-page
samples contalmd a good deal of paraphrasing and were about 300 words
each.
4. It is noteworthy that JIG doesn't brief Conclusionss; Instead
it sidelines the bay owe as well as pertinent parts of the discussion.
ONI also does not brief the Conclusions; instead it sends the estimate
itself forward, and also amines it orally at the twice-weekly
briefings for SECNA. and CNO. 1 oreo or, State also has now abandoned
the practice of preparing briefing memos for the Secretary and now sends
only the NE itself.
5. The above indicates both that we can be more flexible than we
had previously supposed and that there are no oomtrson criteria for how
long conclusions sold ideally be. It remains highly desirable 9
however, that they be short enough for quick reading by those customers
who got the N3E alone or to fit on a one page brief for those agencies
which use them, Since it is obviously impossible to tailor all conclusions
to one uniform length, we should probably try wherever feasible to kip
them to no more than 350-4W words (including the Statement of the
Pt?oblem) . worse, r the better.
6. Two Sets of Conclusions. In those cases where we run only
slightly over s a s say to I L50 words or sso, it still seems
worthwhile to use o ly* one set., since a second set would essential3y
duplicate the fiarst, The space problem could be met by minor trimdng
or paraphrasing bey' the briefer,. Wherever we feel it essential to bane
materially longer eonclusio , however, the staff should pware two wts.
In this ease it seen s best to keep the S 3~ iow vsrs oxi
really short (no more than 250 words where possible) because the longer
version wsi7.l, also be available. These should be entitled "Short
Concluaionaff to differentiate them from the regular ones
7. Lonclussionss some cases it may be either undesirable
-Lb&. In or infeas c o p ea second eet of "Short Conclusions". NIE 11-4-56
is a case in point. its omnibus conclusions would be extremely difficult
to sum up on one page; moreover shouldn't even the highest level readers
take enough tbi at least once a year to.scan 3-4 pages ssums~rizing the
over-all Soviet picture, on such occasions we should probably recoIns nd
to the IAC that a short version be omitted as misleading,
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CONFIDUATW*L
8. JConclusion? Ir own feeling is that our conclusions have
tended to run Too g' with the truly major estimates too often
submerged among many essentially secondary points. We also sometimes
include too much descriptive or situational material ("Argentina is
currently ruled by a provisional government?." ), We should probably
resist more the eff of agency "experts" to spell out their own
pet points. Of co so different aspects of each problem may be important
to different IAC noies and we are in the business of producing inter-
agency estimates. Mais chaeun a son goad
25X1A9a
Chiefs Estimates Staff
CONFIDEMITIAL
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