WORKING GROUP ON REMOTE SYSTEMS INPUT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01139A000200110025-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: January 4, 2017
• Document Release Date: July 13, 2005
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: June 23, 1964
• Content Type: NOTES

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CODIB-D-83/6
23 June 1964
UNITED STATES INTELLIGENCE BOARD
COMMITTEE ON DOCUMENTATION
Wor? mote Systems Input
Attached for information, and as noted in para. 6 of CODIB-M-55
dated 23 June 1964, is a brief note from Chairman, CODIB
transmitting the minutes of the 13th WGRSI meeting, particularly with
regard to their decision not to pursue further a manual, input-only
typewriter.
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downgrading and
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8 June 1964
MEMORANDUM FOR: Chairman, USIB Committee on Documentation
SUBJECT: Working Group on Remote Systems Input
1. Attached are minutes of the 13th meeting of the WGRSI. In essence,
work on the input/output typewriter by General Dynamics has been under
way for several months. The Working Group unanimously agreed not to
further pursue development of a manual, input only typewriter in view of
the technical and security problems.
2. The Working Group will convene periodically to review Navy/General
Dynamics progress.
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Chairman
Working Group on Remote Systems Input
Attachment - a/s
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WGRSI-M-13
26 May 1964
COMMITTEE ON DOCUMENTATION
WORKING GROUP ON REMOTE SYSTEMS INPUT
Minutes of the Thirteenth Meeting, 14 May 1964
Present
NSA - Mr. John B. Capell
NAVY - Mr. Edward J. Gottsman
- Mr. Carl E. Parts
Mr. Fred W. Fairchild
DIA Dr. Maurice Kellner
STATE - Mr _ Ralph Gallagher
CIA
1. The Chairman reviewed briefly, for the benefit of the new Navy
representative, Mr. Gottsman, the history of the Working Group's effort
to have secure machine language producing typewriters developed for the
Intelligence Community. He pointed out that a contract for an automatic
Input/output machine was recently awarded to General Dynamics Electronics,
and stated that the purpose of this meeting is to discuss the technical
dissertations submitted for a manual input only machine.
2. The Navy was asked to report first on the status of the input/output
machine, then brief the Group on the proposals for the manual input machine.
3. Mr. Fairchild said that while the contract for the I/O device had been
formally announced only recently, GD/E and the sub-contractor, MITE Corp.,
actually started work on the machine 3-4 months ago. Progress reports to date
indicate satisfactory performance in all respects. The contractor expects the
machine to exceed NAG-1A/TSEC specifications in the problem area of acoustics.
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There is even some concer. that it may be too quiet from the typists standpoint.
With little or no audible soutad, she could occasionally have difficulty, it is
feared, in determining whe'.Ler a non-printing key, such as a stop code or case
shift, has been operated. GD/E speculates that it may become necessary to
build in feedback (noise) deliberately. Members of the Working Group were of
the consensus that this represents no real problem inasmuch as the typist can
always check the tape when in doubt. Mr. Parta expressed the opinion that GD/E
is overly optimistic concerning the anticipated noise level. Mr. Fairchild then
stated that final keyboard arrangement must be settled soon and agreed to submit
the proposed layout to the Working Group for comment. The Chairman will solicit
and report the views of the members once they have studied the planned configuration.
.ml
4. Turning to the manual input typewriter, Mr. Fairchild reported receipt of
quotations from five firms:
General Dynamics
INVAC
Connecticut Technical
Stenographic Machines
Info/ronics
He described the devices offered by each and outlined their merits and faults,
as well as developmental costs and cost per unit when in production.
5. It became obvious during the course of the discussions that all of the
proposed machines (existing manual typewriters equipped to produce tape) would
have serious shortcomings, both with regard to security and operation.
A. None of the bids suggested an attempt to rneet the acoustic
requirements of NAG-IA/TSEC. The USCSB Technical Eub-Committee on
Compromising Emanations (SCOCE) studied the proposals and found these lacking
in several respects, although it made no formal report to this effect.
B. One of the major objectives in developing secure tape producing
typewriters is to permit the remote preparation of machine language for direct
input to computers. It was pointed out that these machines would possess no
read-back capability whereby a typist might check the accuracy of her tape, i.e.,
the proper functioning of the tape producing unit. In the event she detected a
serious error while proofreading her page copy, there would be no alternative
but to retype the entire text to produce a new tape - with the possibility of new
errors in different places.
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C. The quotation cited by the most promising, and perhaps only
feasible, proposal (that of General Dynamics) involves considerably more money
than had been anticipated. More than $90, 000 for development and up to $1900
per unit cost. This machine too, however, has the faults mentioned in sub-
paragraphs A and B above.
6. The Group concluded that pursuit of the manual input only approach does
not look fruitful and agreed that this effort should be abandoned.
Secretary
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