REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON REMOTE SYSTEMS INPUT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01139A000200110031-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: January 4, 2017
• Document Release Date: July 13, 2005
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: May 19, 1961
• Content Type: NOTES

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S-E-C-R- E-T
CODIB-D-85
19 May 1961
UNITED STATES INTELLIGENCE BOARD
COMMITTEE ON DOCUMENTATION
Report of the Working Group o _ Systems Input
Attached report was considered by the members present at the
CODIB Retreat during a Special Meeting called on 17 May (see CODIB-M-31).
The Chairman asked those present to staff out the report within their
organizations and to be prepared to discuss the recommendations in para. 5
while CODIB is together on the Boston trip; he specifically asked that each
member be prepared to suggest the department or agency best qualified to
act on behalf of the Community to develop the required device.
Secretary
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12 May 1961
MEMORANDUM FOR: Chairman, USIB Committee on Documentation
SUBJECT: Report by Working Group on-Remote Systems Input
1. As instructed by the full Committee on Documentation, the
Working Group on Remote Systems Input has considered the community's
need for a typewriter which may be used, in overseas installations to
create a machine language byproduct for use in both communications and
data processing equipment.
2. At its meeting of 11 May 1961, the Working Group took :its
final action on a requirements statement for such a device. This
statement is contained in\Attachment 1.
3. At the same meeting the Working Group was briefed by techni-
cal personnel of NSA and CIA on the general scope of the security
problem revealed by recent investigation. Some hope remains that
redesign of equipment such as the Flexowriter, a suitable physical
security environment, or other countermeasures may yet be devised to
permit the use of presently available equipment. Work in this area
needs to be intensified. On the other hand, the advance in inter-
cept technology, and the consequent complexity and growing costs of
courntermeasures,.suggest that a more basic long-term solution not
now in sight needs to be sought.
Ii. It is clear to the members of the Working Group that the
Government needs to procure for use in installations which may be
physically vulnerable to technical attaCk a machine-language producing
typewriter in which the hazards resulting from the discharge of com-
promising emanations are minimized. The Working Group believes that
it will be necessary to contract with industry for a research and
development effort to eliminate, or to reduce to the greatest possible
extent, the causes of these emanations at the source. This more funda-
mental approach holds greater promise of solving the input typewriter
problem than the present course of limiting ourselves to applying
remedies to commercially available machines with all their built-in
emitters.
5. The Working Group therefore requests the Committee on
Documentation to act in the following manner:
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a. Ascertain which authority in the Government is best able
to act in the interest of the intelligence community as a whole.
b. Request this authority to appoint one member-of tho intelli-
gence community as the contractor to negotiate with industry for develop-
ment work along the lines of Attachment 2 for a secure device which meets
the requirements specified in Attachment 1 as closely as possible.
c.- Request that appropriate research and development funds be
made available for the work involved.
d. Urge those concerned to commence work as soon as specifica-
tions in line with Attachment 2 can be developed in adequate depth.
e. Request the contracting agency to keep the members of the
Committee advised on progress at frequent intervals.
?f. Seek a commitment from, all members of the intelligence
community to the effect that once s, device has become available which
comes as close aspossib11 to the specifications in Attachments 1 and
.2,, no other input typewriters will be used for the typing of classified.
Information at diplomatic or other jointly used installations abroad.
6. It is the sense of, the Working Group that this is an urgent
task. No time should be lost in identifying the action agency and the
source of funds. We consider delays in this area hazardous because the
pressure for the use of equipment such as Flexowriters is bound to
increase rapidly in the light of advances in the communications and
data processing fields. Member agencies will thus find themselves in
the increasingly unpleasant dilemma of having to forego the manpower,
speed, volume processing,?and quality advantages of modern equipment,
or of accepting greater security risks.
C ro
Attachments:
1. USIB Equipment Requirements for
Remote Systems Input Device
2. General Security Specifications
for Equipment Development
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USIB EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR REMOTE SYSTEMS INPUT DEVICE
1. This is a statement of USIB requirements for an input device to
be used in typing classified information at diplomatic establishments and
other jointly used installations abroad. The statement has been formu-
lated by the USIB/CQDIB Working Group on Remote Systems Input. The re-
quirements listed include those common to all participating agencies, as
well as those of major significance to one or more agencies. They will
be the basis for developing agreed engineering specifications for a
common use machine which will be operable by 1965.
2. Objectives:
a. To produce reports in a machine processable language and
medium as a byproduct of the original typing by the reporting activity.
b. To transmit this information to the processing centers
concerned for further dissemination, the mode of communication depend-
ing on the urgency of the information contained in the report.
c. To put the reports into EDP systems with a minimum of
human intervention.
d. To use the same equipment to prepare information for trans-
mission to the reporting activities.
3. Requirements for Input/Output Typewriter:
a. The typewriter should be able to produce a machine process-
able language on a medium such as paper or magnetic tape as a byproduct
of typing, and should be able to automatically type when reading this
byproduct at a speed of 120 words per minute or faster.
b. Standard four-bank keyboard with upper and lower case letters,
digits, and those typing and programing functions, and special characters,
which are determined during the preparation of engineering specifications
to be needed by each agency. See example of keyboard layout attached.
c. Provision for programing; that is, the capability for auto-
matically controlling the functioning of the typewriter, including the
automatic typing of repetitive and control data, to insure formating of
records to be processed into an EDP system. The typewriter should be
designed to require the minimum exercise of operator judgment.
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USIB EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR REMOTE SYSTEMS INPUT DEVICE
1. This is a statement of USIB requirements for an input device to
be used in typing classified information at diplomatic establishments and
other jointly used installations abroad. The statement has been formu-
lated by the USIB/CODIB Working Group on Remote Systems Input. The re-
quirements listed include those common to all participating agencies, as
well as those of major significance to one or more agencies. They will
be the basis for developing agreed engineering specifications for a
common. use machine which will be operable by 1965.
2. Objectives:
a. To produce reports in a machine processable language and
medium as a byproduct of the original typing by the reporting activity.
b. To transmit this information to the processing centers
concerned for further dissemination, the mode of communication depend-
ing on the urgency of the information contained in the report.
c. To put the reports into EDP systems with a minimum of
human intervention.
d. To use the same equipment to prepare information for trans-
mission to the reporting activities.
3. Requirements for Input/Output Typewriter:
a. The typewriter should be able to produce a machine process-
able language on a medium such as paper or magnetic tape as a byproduct
of typing, and should be able to automatically type when reading this
byproduct at a speed of 120 words per minute or faster.
b. Standard four-bank keyboard with upper and lower case letters,
digits, and those typing and programing functions, and special characters,
which are determined during the preparation of engineering specifications
to be needed by each agency. See example of keyboard layout attached.
c. Provision for programing; that is, the capability for auto
matically controlling the functioning of the typewriter, including the
automatic typing of repetitive and control data, to insure formating of
records to be processed into an EDP system. The typewriter should be
designed to require the minimum exercise of operator judgment.
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d. Equipment easy for average typist to use, including provi-
sion for a simple and easy method for correcting the machine language
byproduct of typing.
e. Safeguards against interception of information.
f. Safeguards against accidental or deliberate erasure of
reports in transit, if magnetic storage is involved.
4+. Coding Requirements:
A coding structure is required which can carry the full range
of information typed through both the telecommunications and the data
processing systems while retaining the capability for reconstituting
.the original language, including the distinction between upper and lower
case, at the output terminal. This must be accomplished without exceed-
ing the internal limitation of 64 code combinations imposed by the computer
systems now planned by member agencies. This includes provision for the
direct acceptance of the machine byproduct into then-standard communica-
tions equipment. For planning purposes it is assumed that 5-channel
communications equipment will still be in general use at diplomatic and
other jointly used installations abroad in 1965. Communications coding
requirements include:
a. A 5-channel code which does not lengthen teletype message
significantly.
b. A 5-channel code which is sufficiently compatible with the
Baudot code to make possible the monitoring of messages during handling
by communications personnel.
5. Other Considerations:
Features which should be weighed in evaluating the merits of
competing devices include:
a. Office Use - equipment should be quiet, compact and durable.
b. Maintenance - telecommunications wire technicians, or their
equivalent in technical skill, should be able to maintain the equipment
with a few weeks' special training.
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