PROPOSAL FOR THE RAPID TRANSMITTAL OF INFORMATION REPORTS AND CUSTOMER REACTIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01083A000100090021-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 33
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 18, 2006
• Sequence Number: 21
• Content Type: REQ

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PROPOSAL FOR THE
RAPID MAMMAL OF INFORMATION REPORTS AND CUST0MBR REACTION:
The Problem
The problem faced by the Agency Planning Group in the routine in-
telligence field comes under three headings:
a. Speed of processing, taking advantage of new technology;
b. Quality of reporting, dismissing submarginal information -- and
sources -- at the earliest possible stage;
a. Tailor-made dissemination to keep analysts from being flooded
with materials not pertinent to their work.
These facets are interrelated. Processing delays in getting reports
to customers breed additional delays in getting reactions and evaluations
to the collectors. The half-life of information is short; loss of interest
in it due to time lag produces lack of interest in improving the source's
production.
If we are able significantly to cut the number of processing steps
and their ag,rregate time, users will better recognize their own interest
in furnishing; feedback to the collector. Collectors will appreciate this
timely inter?st In their operations; and case officers and sources alike
will be encoxraged by the speed with which their material was handled, and
the interest Washington has taken In it.
Speed and quality are particularly closely interwoven in the field
of marginal ~~r submarginal reporting. If users can let the collector
know quickly that certain materials are valueless, operations can be
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effectively re-directed or stopped, freeing field manpower for more con-
structive enterprises. If the discovery of lack of value is delayed, or
not communicated, operations go on indefinitely, producing nothing, and
the Agency's best asset, its professional manpower, remains tied up in
them.
In late 1958 the DCI appointed a planning group, representing all
elements of the Agency concerned, to recommend a communications end re-
porting system for CIA which would result in a speedier and more efficient
flown of reports to the using analysts. The proposal below has been de-
veloped by members of this planning group. It is designed to cover a
fairly limited number of CIA reports in the early stages of its opera-
tions. It is also designed, however, to be expanded to cover a larger
percentage of CIA reports and possibly even the reports of other intelli-
gence agencies if operating experience proves that these steps may be
desirable.
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11
The Heed for a More Ecpeditious System of Reporting
1.s a result of recommendations made by the President's Board of
Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities (the Hull Committee), the
President has directed the intelligence community to establish a system
for the reporting of critical intelligence within speeds approaching ten
minutes. The "Critic" system has been designed to meet this specific
task. In devising the "Critic" system, however, the Critical Communica-
tions Committee advanced, and the USIB approved, the view that for any
system of reporting of critical intelligence to achieve maximum efficiency,
it was essential that there be an increased flow of more timely background
data against which to assess items of critical intelligence.
In view of the emerging capability of the Soviet Union in the field
of guided missiles and the general epeed-up in the field of weapons and
communications, the DD/I has set as a goal the establishment of a report-
ing system in the intelligence comzunity which will get substantially all
intelligence information to the analyst within twenty-four hours after
the preparation of the report in the field. Communications and other
mechanical techniques are sufficiently advanced to make this a feasible
goal.
Before developing a system that can include the reporting of the
entire intelligence community, it is necessary that CIA develop a system
for its own reporting that will move toward the achievement of the
twenty-four hour goal. The experience gained and the techniques devised
in the development of this internal system might well provide the basis
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for a rapid aye -am encompassing the remainder of the intelligence
coca unity .
At the present time informawion is received by intelligence analysts
over an extended period of time: after the event being reported. S
information is received in a matter of hours or days from the FBIS and
the cabled reports of other reporting agencies, including the Clandestine
Services. of CIA. The bulk of the information, however, is received in
diipatoh or report form over several weeks or months following. For
example, Clandestine Services pouched reports, according to a recent
two-dsy sample, reach the analysts" desks on an average of 54 days after
their acquisition in the field. A schematic chart of the present and
the desired patterns of the receipt of reports by analysts follows.
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# of Reports
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The M of ftedim
In 1954s the Clandestine Services disseminated 35,000 reports,
of which 3x500 were TDs. This volume has increased every year since.
In 1958, the CS disseminated over 51,000 reports, of which 11,000
were M. These figures, over this 5-year period, represent increases
of 17 per cent in the total number of reports and over 300 per cent
in the msnber of TDs disseminated. This volume of reporting -- even
Aiosing it to be wholly desirable -- Imposes grave stresses on
avail.abte facilities, personnel and procedures. It appears to have
outgrown the Agency's ability to handle and use it effectively. Evi-
dence of this is to be seen in delays between. the receipt of informa-
tion reports at Headquarters and their delivery to customers such as
those reported above.
CS reports laterally disseminated in the field sometimes reach
other agencies and departments in Washington through their channels
appreciably sooner than through CIA. In some instances,, other agencies
and departments have disseminated information taken from CIA reports
in their own publications before the Agency received its own copies.
Customers complain that they receive too many reports they do not.
need, and that they fail to receive information they do need. The
limitations of collection mechanisms aside, collecting components re-
tort that customers fail to make their needs kno4nthrough clearly
pbraeed, up-to-date requisrements and substantive evaluation of reports.
A lank of cair micatioa between the two elements is evident.
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Me ate guidance . wOW4 do much to improve CS reporting in 9_i.-(
these respects. it would inform the field -- promptly and fre by
-- what the community wsnts, and thereby enable the collector to
concentrate on acquiring that information. In doing this, it would
rice the. vole a of reporting -- and this smaller vole oe of better
msterial c ottIA be handled more speedily. There is a school of th v it
vhich argues that formal RequLements alone dictate w .t information
is to be procured. This is true to an extent: anyone procuring
information which falls within the scope of a specific requirement
will send it in. But this does not in practice limit the pro~t
of information which is not responsive to needs, or which is only
barely so.
The lm=an reasons are simple:, at one end is the bungry writer of
retests. He writes loosely in order to obtain all information
which may bear on his subject. At the other end is the field case
officer. Be will find some bearing on same requirement, in almost
anything. The "Initial Reactions" proposed in the present paper are
intended to sent requirements and substantive evaluations with
a new form of rapid, frequent, critical appreciation of production,
and thus aid in establishing c unications between customer an s
and pis of information.
The DD/'P has set as a goal the weeding out, at CS field stations,
of volume reporting belay the level of significance to the intelli-
gence community,, through the Judicious application of these and other
available means.
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Synopsis of the Proposal
The cycle of the pr,yposed system consists of the following elements:
a. Reports are typed at the field station in TD format on a Flexo-
writer with a tape by-product.
b. After meehrnical encrypting, tape is forwarded to Headquarters
by unaccompanied piuch or, as KW-26 equipment becomes available, by
electrical means.
c. After mechanical decrypting at the Headquarters Signal Center,
clear tear': tape is furnished the Cable Secretariat.
0. On a twin of the input Flexowriter, the clear text tape is auto-
ma'ically typed in TD format, and carbons furnished to the action desk.
e. An OCR document analyst assigned to the Cable Secretariat places
appropriate ISC codes on the mat, together with an indication of the dis-
semination normally accomplished by OCR. Simultanoautsly, the action desk
reviews its copies, adding appropriate release and dissemination instruc-
tions and making minor corrections. A completed copy is returned to the
Cable Secretariat.
f. The fully ISC coded, released, corrected, and CS-numbered TD is
then run off for external and internal distribution by messenger or elec-
trical transmission.
g. Initial Reaction Sheets (sue Attachment A) are filled, in by
analysts with substantive interests, and returned within three working
days to OCR.
h. The Machine Branch of OCR processes incoming Initial Reaction
Sheets on punched cards. Lists of Requirements are processed in the same
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manner. Reproduced decks of these cards go to the )chine Branch of RID,
DD/P.
I- OCR furnishes DD/I internal dissemination and document processing
offices with appropriately organized tabulations of analysts' reactions to
d,issaninations they have received (question l), and lists of ISC coding
proposed by analysts which was not foreseen. in the initial coding process
(question 8).
j. Meantime, the Machine Branch in the CS has punched cards of other
information, such as report numbers, projects, sources, originating sta-
tions, appraisal, subject, etc. Upon receipt of the cards made from Initial
Reaction Sheets, it processes these for transmission of specifically perti-
neat tabulations by pouch or teletape to the field, with copies to the
desks and Staffs concerned.
A pilot model of this system can be promptly established with the
Based on experience with this model,
the whole system can then be adapted for use elsewhere and particular
features spread out to cover CS reporting across the board. The issue of
whether and how to apply the system to customers in other Agencies can
then be worked on piecemeal.
There is no mechanical reason why the full cycle of reporting to the
customer, and return of initial customer reactions to the fief., need take
longer than ten working days, if unaccompanied pouch is used, and less if
taps is transmitted by electrical means.
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Proc-esseln a field Resport8 Office
The format of tkh report, to be used by the field station is sa com->
prase between the cable and the present dispatched Thfor .t1,?on R". rt.
The intentioni is to provide a means by which the first tying of t
;rt r^e ns t z?- only one in the whole process, unless en ensive re-
writing, and thus retyping, becomes ne~:ess , To achieve this, tht
field viii u. the format of the Be 4quarters T.D. ab initio for
method of reports processing.
Ae a distinction in forest between a Tei.etaped T.D. a a ca
T ,,D,, the original ty?ed in the, field will be covered by the Operational
and Source Cover Sheet which is normally attached to pouched Information
Reports. Use of these forms will assure a complete separation of dis-
s finable information from all other.
Typing taken place on a Flexowriter acc? t ing to a fixed format
embodied in a Manual. o The format should satisfy local dissemination
needs as well as those of Read ers a The station is free to take
advantage of the various mechanical features. of tine l .exowrit er which
permit autistic typing of standard information, and initial typing In
draft followed by automatic final typing. Skilled operators will, soon
obtain optimusz results.
la aq event, the final typing of the Operational and Source Cover
Sheet, and the T .D., is made with the tape punch one, The finished tape
is then given to the station's Signal Center for conversion to an en-
crypted tape.
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Confirmation C py
La the subsequent processing of the tape,, the registries both in
the field and at Headquarter., are bypassed. In order to satisfy the
records needs of both, we movie the original typed copy of the Teletapa
dispatch by pouch, and treat it in the same manner as any other dis-
patch for records purposes. This confirmation copy would also be used
to back us up in any situation in which tape is lost (no such ev not has
occurred to date). Needless to say, carbon copies of the ori,iaaal
typing are used in the field for the station's file and documentation
purposes. It appears advisable to use the sane method in the Tell tape
reporting process.
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Prootas Lou hArrival at The dqusrt+~ss
Adequate messenger arraug+emeata exist for the movement of Teletape,
upon arrival
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RID. The tape is merely logged as a unit and moved by hand to the
Signal. Center in L Building without delay. There mechanical processing
produces a clear text tape. In the Teletape process as we have tested
it so tar, this clear text tape is delivered to the Division for P-Arther
handli_=. For the reporting purpose, however, we propose that it go
directly by dumb-,waiter upstairs to the Cable Secretariat.
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Prtssiag by table reetariat
first item to appear on a reports tape will be the non
disseseminable Operational and Source Cover Stet. The typist In the
Cable retariat will place one of these sheets, with the number of
carbons required by the Division, in her Flexowriteer and autoos.t1cr- .e;,
type this portion of the material.
he machine stops at the er4 of
the page. The typist then puts a T.D. mat, with three or four carbons.
into the machine and resumes auto tic typing of the dieseeminable pore
of the report
The Cable Secretariat retains the T.D. met for treatment as
described below. The Operational ai Source Cover Sheet aril bo e
carbons of the T.D., are furnished by mossen r to the
Division reports office which has action on the report.
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Pro sips by tine CS Area Division
lrncoaeirg reports are screened by the reports officer eoncs` Heel. to
separate immediately releasable material from that which requires re-
-writing.
Norml.4, f.naneriiatei,y r?el able material will be handled first
it will be gives a CS report. number and the distribution assigned ~ The
copy used in this review will then be released by the Division reports
officer and forwarded. to the Cable Secretariat with an iasdl.a tion of
the number of copies required in the Division for the pie at Internal
CS distribution. Minor corrections, if indicated by the Division, can
m Me either on the finished T.D. mat, or by automatic retypl-ng from
the original tape in the Cable Secretariat 8
- Material which mat be reprocessed prior to dissemination vill. toe
retyped in the Division on a new T.D. mat. This is then furnished to
the table Secretariat for dissemination. This will cause the destruc
tion of the original mat by the Cable Secretariat. At reasonable
intervals, a member of the Requir enta Staff reviews unreleased T.Ds
at the Cable Secretariat and inquires into the causes of undue delaays G
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~t~ Codi a
While this review rocess takes place in the Division, an OCR
docent analysts, etat`.coed at the Cable Secretariat, tats assigned
pertinent ISC rai here (prdbablv from the new, revised version of the
Code) to the ~ . and noted them on the TD ri*t o Be has also i i
cated the diseemina ion the report should receive beyond that assigne-I
by the CS 4 ALL rur-off copies will thus bear the code numbers and
&issenination, ate no proceasing time was lost by injecting these
essential steps .,at this stage
As soon a~s the release copy of the TD is received from the Ldvl-
siony the Cab. a Secretariat types the CS m=ber on the erat, as well
as amenfteW.s to the standard CS distribution ladders Minor corre-Y-
tions in tae text can also be taken care of at this stage. The D is
then rm off in the requisite msnber of copies for internal and ext r
nal CS itssemi stiaana Courier distribution takes place along with the
now c1. angry distribution of cabled TDs.
It is possible at this stage to take advantage of the available
c].,e&' text tape Bich me used in the nutcmatic typing of the TD to
relay the report electrically to customers. The abances ax e, howev r,,
the.; until KW- 37 a ip -t beecnies available this type of processing
be llzdted to offices a,ich have tl essential equipment nov
feat inning, i.e? essentially OCIO We consider it desirable to ma, .e
electrical disaemin&tient to OCI in arm ' o ;ccqui the necessa ry
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operating experience against the bar when it may be necessary or de-
sirable to make extensive electrical diseanination to a vide range of
customers.
For details on W-37 and its potential, see Background Paper No. 8.
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The lbi,.tial Reaction Shoot
%. file the form is self-exp atory, several points should be m de
in sub fort of it
l y dezrnt of the Agency has experienced a steady increase
in bt;:si.'iess, volume of paper, operational activity, number of reports,
rnunbe of ca: a1 v groups transmitted, etc . , every year. There appears to
be r- steamy an al growth of between 10 and 15%. It is the result. of
15 years cif preparatory wort now giving us, in volume if not in ,lity,
.ncreasingy the product we have sought. ( the other hand, we have
in manpower.
Sooner or later this conflict will cease to be merr1y exaoyirago
li st of us '4e ad that we are so averl ed that we cannot take on
another piece of .per or another foe 0 Individual c nests strive
valiantly tt i.a rove the effectiveness of their use of a npo er by
regulating thefnselves a little better in one respect or another, but
the paper flood does not di.rin.ish.
The fact -,,a that v.11 elei ants Ir, the rti business, from
procurement througb analysis, are parts of a single, whole. Once the
most serious problems facing each of the c enta are viewed, not as
their exclusive, indivtdua,1 cancer, but as aspects of a single is.r e 25X1
9b1Ca, then V' 601uttoo offer th i s which may teed to be
simpler and more effective. We refer to
Guiding of Intelligen Collection, " St ies
No. 1, for other aspects of the saw iseixe,
e, Vol.
let us have ter ecn-irage to face the an .yet -- to begin with
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within the Agency -- with another form. The payoff will be worth it.
Three aspects of the reporting problem are combined in it: those of
appropriately limited dissemination, of adequate ISC coding for later
retrieval, and of a quick expression of interest to assist the collector.
Only those analysts should be asked to use the form whose "feedback"
will be worth exploiting, i.e. the specialists concerned with the sub-
ject matter reported; those responsible for writing collection require-
ments; those whose work will suffer if information is not adequately
retrievable for lack of coding. It stands to reason that their coopers-
tion will be quickly rewarded by receipt of fewer reports which are of
no interest to them; by retrieval of filed materials they need in research;
by more direct and effective contact with the collectors, triggered by
their responses on the IRS.
The analyst has more important business than to fill in forms;
hence the form must be simple, and easy to use and mail. We might
provide participating analysts with blank forms, and pre-addressed
envelopes containing identifying pre-punched cards, to make processing
easy at all stages.
Punched-card processing of filled-in IRS forms should be used for
all reporting derived from it. This will allow us to use the form in
a single copy never requiring manual sorting and distribution. All
derived products take the form of tailor-made machine tabulations.
The form as it appears in the attachment, although finished in
appearance, is merely a draft for discussion and further refinement.
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Feedback for Coders
BArery theoretical discussion of retrieval problems brings out the
inevitable human limitations in the coding process. For a recent review
of this problem, see Paul A. Borel'e article "On Processing Intelligence
Information," Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 3, No. 1.
Analysts in the Document Division are not omniscient universal
geniuses; they are able: to assign the apparently essential codes, but
they we bound to overlook, or not to be aware of, angles under which
retrieval might in future become essential. This is the primary criticism
of the present library System, leveled at it by personnel using it. The
intelligence subject code, present or revised, is a splendid instrument,
useful exactly to the point to which coders properly foresee the headings
under which material zm y need to be recovered, but no further.
The better and mire widely known the Intelligence Subject Code, the
more it is directly used and contributed to by experts in their various
fields, the better the retrieval system. The Initial Reaction Sheet pro-
vides a simple method of contributing to the coding. This presumes that
the ISC codes originally assigned by document analysts are available on
the report for review. A analyst who receives a copy can take care of
his own interests beyond the initial coding by adding appropriate codes
011 the fora.
)ecbanically, the additional entries will be referred to the Docu-
meat Division in weekly tabulations. These will cite the name of each
contributing analyst, the additional codes each has proposed, and the
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report numbers to which these pertain. They can appear in document number
or ISC Code order, or any other desired arrangement, for discussion with
the proponents if this is indicated, and integration into the system.
Once this feedback process has been underway for some time, and
analysts have become used to it, it is to be hoped that they will develop
such confidence in the ability of the library -- particularly as mechani-
zation provides increasingly reliable and rapid service -- to retrieve
what they need, that they will be willing to dispense with the bulk of
their own paper holdings. Without participation in the coding process,
this confidence, we believe, cannot be established.
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Feedback for Disseminat,re
Background Paper Nos. 1, 3 and a, when read together, spell out
another cause of del,-4ys in processing information reports to the ultimate
Agency user: The riethod, now in use, of successive dissemination through
organizational channels, with major distribution to the Office, from there
to the Branch, lrom there to individuals. Bulk processing through several
steps is inherently inefficient, when seen as a whole, not only in terms
of time, brt also in terms of the number of copies required which must be
based on extreme potential needs, rather than specific known needs.
Alternatively, dissemination might be achieved within the Agency,
from a central point directly to individual analysts, on the basis of
their specific requirements, kept up-to-date on a continuing basis, by a
feedback system suitable to mechanization.
Wider such a system, dissemination can take place by subjects coded
in the ISC, thus taking advantage of the fact that reports moved by the
proposed reporting system will carry pertinent codes on every copy. Coded
requirements, on the one hand, and coded reports on the other, are a pre-
requisite for any attempt to mechanize the routine portion of the dissem-
ination process. (Unusual spot requirements would be handled outside the
system.)
An analyst's Statement of Requirements may be derived in the first
instance by tabulating his response to Qiestion 1 of the Initial Reaction
Sheet over a period of some months. The tabulation would contain all the
reports he received, and their subjects in terms of the ISC Code.
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Document analysts could translate this tabulation into a tentative State-
ment of Requirements, for refinement in discussion with the analyst con-
cerned. This would yield the analyst's current Statement of Requirements
on which disseminations to him would be based. This in turn would be
kept up-to-date by the continuing feedback of his reactions on the IRS.
The experiment in automatic dissemination now underway in AFCIN-1
indicates that much additional paper is pumped into the mill by the
straight-faced, undiscriminating machine. This is due to inadequately
spelled out requirements which are adequately understood by trained
analysts, but cause hash by machine. A feedback system as proposed here --
properly used -- will tend to give the analyst and his supervisor direct
control over the volume of information delivered to the "In" basket.
The supervisor is an interested party inthis process because of his
responsibility for a proper workload distribution to his subordinates.
This, in practice, is a most difficult task; most supervisors carry their
own workloads, and do not inspect their subordinates' "In" baskets at
regular intervals. Based on the Initial Reaction Sheet, supervisors may
receive every week, or at any other convenient interval, a tabulation by
name of their subordinates of the reports they took in, and their reac-
tions to them. This is a tool which might lend itself very well to
proper workload distribution.
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Feedback for Collectors
The remaining material on the form is intended to guide the collector.
It does not contain Written evaluations, but provides for checking off
the simplest and, under the circumstances, most useful elements of
guidance. A punched card system will be developed to bring these ele-
ments to the rapid attention of field stations and Headquarters desks and
Staffs concerned. The system embodies the essential facts of projects,
sources and reports, i.e. the Operational and Source Cover Sheet, the CS
report form, or its TD equivalent, Project Summary Sheet, and lists of
Requirements and their numbgrs. Non-operational portions of these cards
will be reproduced for OCR for tabulations of use to W/I elements. On
the basis of this material, and the Initial Reaction Sheet cards received
from OCR, the Machine Branch in the CS will be in a position to distribute
such reports as the following at appropriate intervals:
1. To the field --
Py station or base, source cryptonym, and re-
ports officer: a tabulation of reports in field report
and cable number order, citing the CS number, the subject,
and each Initial Reaction received to date; requirements
levied on the station, citing reports and IRS reactions
pertinent to each; a list of reports not disseminated by
Headquarters, giving brief reasons.
For the Headquarters Branch --
Copies of the above; in Source or CS number
order, a list of outstanding evaluations (from Question 7
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of the IRS) with the names and telephone numbers of the
analysts who promised theme.
In order of customer offices: a tabulation of
CS reports originated by the Branch, giving the names of
individual analysts and their initial reactions.
Copies of materials detailed below.
For the Re:quirementa and Project Staffs By Requirement Numbers: reports referenced to
them and Initial Reactions received.
By source cryptonym: a tabulation of materials
rejected by cuetomers in response to Questions 2 through 6
of the IRS.
While the value of materials of this sort should be apparent -- take,
for example, the operational usefulness of a quick reaction to Question 3 --
the limitations need to be pointed up as well. The chief intention is to
provide officials concerned with a convenient handle by which to investi-
gete a situation. If Initial Reactions run consistently high on a low
cost source, Headquarters personnel need to spend little time on opera-
tional massage in the renewal process. On the other hand, if Initial
Reactions run adversely, this provides an indication to the desk and-the
Staff that the situation needs to be looked into. The purpose of the
tabulation is not to allow rejections to be drowned in the stack of paper
which is surfaced once a year in the project renewal process, but to pro-
vide a convenient method for the prompt. closing of marginal operations
in the light of all pertinent facts.
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A
S-E-C-R-B-T
Effect on Substantive Evaluations
The amount of bookkeeping now undertaken in the Cs to keep track
of individual projects and their reporting product is very consider-
able. The scheme as outlined here does not encompass the present
substantive evaluation process, the importance of which is in no way
affected by it. In present experience, more than half of the rather
elaborate Form 39 are returned by customer analysts with check marks
only, and no substantive comments whatsoever. By diverting these to
the IRS, and by freeing desk and Staff personnel of routine bookkeep-
ing chores, it should be feasible to spend more time in personal or
telephone contact with qualified analysts to obtain specific useful
comments.
One novelty of this scheme, which is apt to meet with some appre-,
hension in the CS, consists of the direct, uninhibited two-way
communication between the recipients of information and its producers.
An initial reaction to the product is sent right back without inter-
vention at the Headquarters desk. This carries the risk that the
field may act independently on the feedback to stop or redirect a pro-
ject, as the case may be, without being so directed by the Headquarters
desk. There are two sides to this controversy: we would argue that
the CS have personnel in the field so competent that we entrust them
with the conduct of operations which sometimes carry considerable risk;
we can rely on them to discriminate. Furthermore, the desk is in a
position rapidly to add its comments to the material communicated-to
the field, since it receives a copy simultaneously.
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0
9-~-CAR-~-T
Under the impetus of this system, it is to be hoped that substa
tive evaluations will. be processed to the field with a speed
approximating that of the Initial Reaction system. They no-4 take on
the order of six months to reach the field from the date of the ori--
iral report. They are often valueless by that time. The its sons for
there delays are for the most part mechanical and will be separately
Investigated and dealt with.
 t iLed a .eaett4,on ee};; ; :h ,