COINS LOG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01139A000100020026-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2005
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: February 17, 1969
• Content Type: REPORT

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17 February 1969
1. A meeting of the COINS committee was held at NPIC at
1300 on the 14 of February 1969. State Department had no rep-
there represe
nting NPIC.
before leaving for South Viet Nam.
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Panel and as a member of the T&A Panel he was also present.
Recommendation for the adoption of a Common Users Language.
2. The first business was a discussion of COINS 047 of
13 February 1969 concerning the adoption of a Common Users
Language. This document is circulating separately.
stated, and
agreed that a common keyboard seemed as
necessary as a common users language since CIA and DIA languages
resemble each other very closely. George will probably circulate
a paper on the need for a common character set on the keyboard(and
this does not necessarily mean ASCII. Copies of two user languages
were given, to the subsystem managers. One of them was QUL (the query
and update language developed by the Computer Corporation of
America) and the other was ADEPT SO. Nothing more'was said on this
subject at this time.
Data Standards
said that he had encountered very serious
objections at DIA to GeorgeTs papers on Data Standards. These
objections were summarized in a letter which he gave to George.
Th~ Mtll- F,20 44P aggTp~ ' I - Bp~ mpQ1 %9WqW-@h ng more
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everyones attention that there is a new panel at the National
Academy of Sciences on computer Data Standards. Tony Oettinger is
the chairman.)
laid that he believed Warren House is the
secretary of this panel and was very skeptical of its success.
c
Mated that implementation vmig an agreed standard was even
more of a problem than getting agreement in the first place. He
used the ISC as an excellent example.
Results of the 10 to 14 February Experiment.
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77. Generallyspeaking the experiment was not _l1o successful
reported that the switch was up every day Ibut the various
systems-for example CIA" as not necessarily 2n all that time.
as far as getting answers to queries is concerned.
discussed with
the problem that CIA is having
with the system. He intimate. that these problems might be
major ,t^ even so major as to require that the CIA computer be
dedicated while COINS is on that computer. (mentioned that
( vIA~ u
changing the switch to a 360/30 gave CIA more difficulites than
they first realized. One of the major problems is the fact that
there is no polling on the system ) that answers to queries are
often dumped off the end of the line Wa`the CIA computer is
not up or in a position to receive them. this particular
C (A's ~u y (e
r
probb em had-been caused by the nature of the 2701 (the-pr Aeed&&-or -
). He also added that correcting this polling
problem might require either software changes at DIA or hardware
changes by CIA. t1here are a lot of major bugs now appearing
that/previous programmer had-played down but -fit is
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working better. Bob stated that the 360/67 was on the CIA
premises boxed but site prepreation problems forced back installation
to the end of February. I Iwarned that CIA is going to
have even more software problems with the 67.
reported NPIC had had similar difficulties in getting answers
to their queries.
[reported on the National
Indications Center status. The teletype and circus are in7
KW-7s are available for installation and the power supplies were
scheduled for shipment from Pennsylvania on the llth of February,
but had not arrived at NIC yet. The 2044th had scheduled the 11th
and 12th of February for installation of the power supplies. When
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the equipment did not show at those days NIC was cancelled out and
he did not know when they would be rescheduled. The Interface Panel
is going to meet during the week of 17 - 20 February and compare
user logs for each agency with the switch log to try to determine
what happened to each query made during the test of 10/14- February.
COINS Master Plan Objectives
8. As directed by George last week, the subsystem managers
of
each presented their selections of the number one objective/the
CMP and how it was to be measured. These three papers, CIA, NSA,
DIA,each selected the same first objective and the papers bore a
startling resemblence to one another (collusion??). They seem to
pretty well agree. also presented a new set of objectives
T-41
QF the experiment /A based very largely on the Support Staff Ts
previous paper$. At first glance
liked them very much
and they might be the basis for a final solution to this thorney
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9. The next meeting will be held at NPIC at 10:00 A.M.,
wednesday morning, the 26 of February 1969. The agenda will
include a continuation of the discussion on objectives. George
would like to get this cleaned up by March as he is going to
4Qy,
UCLA for a week and a half: The agenda will also include a
discussion of the Interface Panel's postmortem on the 10/14
Feburary test and an outline for a COINS Security Plan.
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14 February 1969
FROM: Manager, DIA COINS Subsystem
SUBJECT: First Objective of the COINS Experiment
1. Obiective:
To: (a) establish and operate an experimental, interagency,
interconnected, computer-based, intelligence information system with
remote access capability; and (b), accumulate experience and data that
will permit evaluation of the 'utilit of uc i a system for interagency and
inter uild -ng trans er of intel` gence information.
2. How is the achievement of the Objective to be identified and measured?
a. The first part of the objective has already been partially
achieved; i.e., the system has been designed, the hardware has been installed
and connected together, and some intelligence information files are available
for que"erfrom some remote access consoles. When all elements of the net-
work are functioning together as planned and users can access any COINS
file in reasonable time (15 minutes or less) during a reasonable period of
each working day the first part will have been achieve .
b. The second part is more elusive. Experience and data cannot be
acquired regarding utility unless the system is used by VALI1)USERS of intel-
ligence information (not just system testers). The system will not be used
unless: (1) valid users are trained and find the system reasonably easy to
operate; (3) there is intelligence information in each agency subsystem
which is needed by USERS in other participating agencies (It is not suffici-
ent for any g ncy tZ11 just its own files. This can be done without any
interagency system); and (3), the system is available to the users during
a sufficient portion of each working day.
c. If the conditions enumerated above are met, the use experience will
be achieved and the accumulation of data, as proposea-iy tie T&A panel,Z
' could permit evaluation.
3. What constitutes failure to achieve the objective? The objective will
not be achieved unless the system is used sufficiently by-intelligence
producers/users to provide data sufficient to evaluate its utility. It
will not be used sufficiently unless: (a) it works for a reasonable period
of time each day; (b) it contains material of use to intelligence producers/
users; (c) it is relatively easy to use; (d) the response time is reasonably
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