ZAFT APPROVAL FOR THE 1955 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A005600540008-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 23, 2007
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: February 8, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INF RAfl;:AkfI N REPORT
'DATE, OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
This is UNEVALUATED
Information
other 'crit-,r%%1 or sriizati.onu ca.' tlit) ?1"at 'Gerri,~tn Covei:rn-:.ient,,.',ciimmah ~.
THE SOURCE 'EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATN
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
',.their ,1955 research and. devol opm.ent n1a.n.s tc thy,: r,c::rti:T`,c~r+t mini ttt,1,o,s sec rete.ri:ats or
Since 'August, all institutes and enterprises .carryirip, on research have been ?mr1,?Rrc-.i.rrr
ZAFT) of the State Planning'uommission was. engaged in preparing, the 1955 Research and
Development Plan inmid-.October,1954, The work was scheduled- to' be completed by,5
November, 1954, at which time the Plan was` t6 ..be ,turned over to the Deputy Chairman of
the 'Stat'e 'Planning Commission, Erwin Kerber,;who, ii turn, was to submit it 'to'' the
East German Council of'Ministers for approv^.1, prior' to, its confirmation by the East
German Volkakammer' as part of the over'-all' economic Flan,
E4 tn; Goa:' ;!.y
This material contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States within the mean-
ing of the Espionage Sawa,' Title 18. U.S.C. Seca. 793
~ sc, test .
and 794, the ttcnsml U6n. or revelation of which in
any manner to an unauthorized person Is prohibited
AFT .i }gip acv 1 for t]ir i."5.1i ^r...r, cl'i DATE DISTR.
and Devel.o?.Drnont Plan .
NO. OF PAGES
a REQUIREMENT
REFERENCES
1. The Central Off:f ce ,for Research and Technology. (Zentralamt fuer,Forschung and Technik.-
an the three Fast German Academies, the Magi.st.rP.I.,e of Greater Berlin, etc., . These
mi.ni.ntri?s, state secretariats 'anti called "orgt. nizati.onal
unitsl". Each ort anizati.onal unit has a "control figure", that is, a' figure indicating
the total. :funds allowed for rencn.r. ch and development within that unit. During August
and part of September ].05/,., the organizations.]. units surveyed the 1955 research and
development projects-to ~ee:,m.ri whether the costs were within the limits of the'control
figure', If the control figure was exceeded, the organizational unit had the right to
mark individual projects either for cancellation or deferment, '
In late,S'eptember'.,';1954,theorganizational units forwarded their consolidated 1955 pro
jects .to' ZAFT for further processing. The. first step of ,processing at. ZAFT was one
which had, not been made ,. before: ZA`T checked whether ' each individual 1955 research
and development project . had' been studied by the Work Circle (Arbeitskr'eis).to which it
belonged, provided that such,a Work ' Circle' was in existence. This new'm'easure was a
result of the decree of June 1954 by which Work Circles for research' and.tec'hnology
.were legally'.established, That decree stipulated that every research and development
project, prior to its being submitted to the'organizational units, had to be studied
by the 116r.k Circle to which. it belonged. After studying the projects, the Work Circles
return ., them to the organizational units with an assessment of, the scientific, tech'.
nical. and economic e ~pr.ct' of the project,
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A number of 1955 research and development projects forwarded in August and September
1954 by the organizational units to ZAPT were sent back to the organizational units
because they had not been studied first by their Work Circles, This study was being
done as of mid-October 1954.
Further processing of the 1955 research and development projects at ZAFT is done on
two levels$
a. The projects first go to the so-called "organizational experts" (Organisatorische
Bearbeiter) of ZAFT, who work chiefly on projects connected with one organizational
unit. In practice, this means that there is at least one person in ZAFT who is
responsible for all - search and level(-rent projects falling under the same main
administration of a ministry or state secretariat. Similarly, work for the acadexies,
etc, is handled ! by persons whom ZAET specially assigns to this task, The
organizational experts investigate the projects mainly for the pur,osa of nominting
the total funds necedsary for all projects falling under the same or-
ganization, and to check whether all these projects are within the limits of the
control figure for this organizational unit,
b. The projects then go to the "technical experts" (Fechliohe Bearbeiter) of ZAFT,
who work out a technical assessment of every project and add a notation either re-
commending *hat the project be included in the 1955 Research and Development Plan,
deferred until a later time, be changed,or cancelled. This technical assessment
is mainly based on information contained, in the ZAPT "ZP-4" filet. The processed
projects with the recommendations of the technical experts go to the heads of the
two technical Main Departments of ZAFT, who make the final recommendations. The
final recommendations may include suggestions to change the control figure allotted
to an organizational unit, but they may not recommend a change of the total control
fi.riure for research and development, which at this stage is only known to the chief of
ZAFTtnd to the heads of the two technical Main Departments2. The projects then po
beck to the organizational experts, who coordinate them in their amended form.
This was the stage reached as of mid-October 1954, In the latter half of the month,
they are to be forwarded to Prof. Werner Lange, head of ZAFT, who, in a special,
session with Alfred Baumbach, head of Main Department I, and Herbert Roehi, head of
Main Department II, decides whether the total funds needed for 1955 research and
development projects remain within the limit of the total 1955 research and develop-
ment control figure, If not, certain projects must be revised. However, Lange as
head of ZAPT has the right to recommend to the State Planning Commission an increase
in the total research and development control figure,
5. In late September 1954, the head of the Central Department for Integral Planning (Abtei-
lung Zusammenfassende Pl.anung), Erich Bauer, issued a ZAFT order which changed a rather
important step in the processing of the Research and Development Plan. Up to that time,
the Research and Development Plan, as revised in the special session of Lange with the
heads of the two technical Main Departments, had to be translated into the Russian lan-
guage, It is assumed that this was done in preparation for forwarding it to the Soviets
for approval or for possible changes prior to its being sent to the State Planning C ors-
mission and the Council of Ministers,
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Bauer's order of September 1954 stipulated that a Russian translation of the Plan
prior to its being forwarded to the State Planning Commission was no longer necessary.
This, however, must in no way be interpreted as indicating that a translation of the
Plan is no longer forwarded to the Soviets. There are reasons to believe that such
a translation is made available to them after the Plan has obtained final approval by
the State Planning Commission and the Council of Ministers.
6. In addition to the processing of the 1955 Research and Development Plan as described
above, ZAFT was engaged in October 1954 in establishing a list including only such
proyectS as were deemed to be of decisive technical and economic importance. This
list is called "Lists der volkswirtschaftlioh~- wichtigsten Themen,, die entscheidenden
Einfluss auf die.Weiterentwickl.ung des betreffenden Industriezweiges haben", and is
supposed not to exceed more than5 to 10' percent of the total research and devel-
opment projects. Whereas the Council of Ministers, in making its decision regarding
the 1955 Research and Development Plan, gives its approval or-,-disapproval of the entire
Plan without regard to the individual projects - which decision mainly bears on the
total funds to be allowed for research and development - the above-mentioned list of
individual projects is confirmed in detail by the Council of Ministers, i.e., each in-
dividual project is brought to the knowledge of the Council of Ministers and either
approved or rejected. The projects on this list enjoy certain preferred handling,
such as priorities in the procurement of raw materials, etc. The compilation of this
list at ZAFT is based on recommendations made by the heads of the Work Circles. This
list of special projects is to be translated into the Russian language and forwarded 25X1
by Lange to the Soviet authorities.
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2.I Comment:
e organizational experts of were advised 2
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that the control figure for a given organizational unit should not
exceed the total 1954 control figure by more than 15%. The total
1954 control fi a which included both budgetary and central re-
search funds was originally 450 million 25X1
DME. It seems that this figure was later raised to 506 million
34E, if a public statement to that effect made by Walter Ulbricht
can be believed.
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