CAMS PROGRAM MANAGER'S REVIEW 17 JULY 1975

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M01133A000600070035-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2004
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: July 23, 1975
• Content Type: MF

I Approved For Release 2004/O N .'JJ A.133A00060UU7003i~-8' Co I ''
DCI/IC-1535-75
23 July 1975
MEMORANDUM FOR: Chairman, IHC
SUBJECT: CAMS Program Manager's Review
17 July 1975
1. I attended a two-hour program review of CAMS
presented by OJCS in the CIA auditorium on Thursday 17
July 1975. A pre-brief had been given to the COMIREX
Staff the preceding Friday.
2. The briefing was a very detailed system over-
view, going into fine-grain description of the inner
workings of the CAMS. Much of it was highly technical
and some incomprehensible except to an insider. The
briefers stated that this effort to develop the soft-
ware and system design and to install, test and deliver
an operating system by October 1976 would require more
than 20 man-years of work. Fourteen OJCS man-years
and seven contractor man-years are programmed thus far.
3. My impression of the briefing was:
(a) As a program review device to inform
a large mixed audience, this was not a
very effective presentation. Little inform-
ation was given that would enable a listener
to determine the current status of the pro-
grain, where it stands as compared to the
original milestones, actual costs compared
with programmed funding, or major obstacles
that might prevent the maintanence of the
schedule. The briefer said that develop-
ment was on schedule and that something
like 86% of the original CAMS system re-
quirements or objectives are being addressed.
Of this 86% something over 46% will be
completed on time and the balance will be
partically completed. This was the ally
mention of the degree to which the system
will meet the specifications.
Approved For Release 2004/09/03 : CIA-RDP80M01133A000600070035-8
 Approved For Release 2004/09/03 : 118000600070035-8
(b) The overly technical and detailed
presentation obscured an understanding
of how the objectives of the original
CAMS program are being met. The brief-
ing described a large data storage and
retrieval system, which is not what I
had understood CAMS to be. CAMS has
been billed as an imagery collection
management system, but this picture did
not come through in the briefing.
4. Based on this briefing, one must have reservations
as to whether an operating system responsive to the orig-
inally stated needs of the users will be provided by OJCS
at the time required. For example, what are the original
CAMS requirements that OJCS says it is not going to be
able to meet, and how important are they? If only 460
of the requirements are to be completed in time, what
does this statement really mean in terms of an effective
operating capability? The OJCS presentation did not
answer these questions.
25X1
Distribution:
Original - C/IIIC
1 - IIIC Subject (CAMS)
1 - i_ng
1 - hrono
1 - ICS Registry
1 - C/COMIREX
LA U
}l iuf q &133A000600070035-8
Approved For Release 2004/09/0
 AdOaQl "e 04JMXN5-CIA- ff01133A000
24 July 1975
SUBJECT: CAMS Briefing by OJCS
1. Per your request, attached is a
report on the OJCS briefing on CAMS, 17
July 75.
2. The report of the briefing does
not leave me with a feeling of confidence
in what OJCS may produce. To some extent
this may have been a defect of the briefing,
but I have a gut feeling the problem goes
deeper.
3. IHC has not been tasked by D/DCI/IC
to monitor CANS, and that project falls
within the responsibility of a sister USIB
committee. An authoritative evaluation would
require digging into a detailed level of
computer programming. We have no one on our
staff with that level of expertise. The
person best qualified to judge the adequacy
of the CAMS development effort by OJCS is
the advisor on automation
to C COMIREX. I have a great deal of con-
fidence in Dave's technical abilities.
C IHC
cc: C/COMIREX
INFORMATION
Approved For Release 2004/09/03 : CIA-RDP80M01133A0006 0070035-8
25X1