TRANSFER OF SDS AND GMDS: ALLOCATION OF FUNCTIONS WITHIN CIG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R003400120004-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 29, 2003
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: May 28, 1947
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release 2003/10/078
28 May 1947
1' _,dQE kN'DUM FOR. ADVISOR FOR v1ANAGECJCMT, ICAPS
SUBJECT: Transfer of SDS and GMDS: Allocation of Functions
Within GIG
1. By agreement with the Director of Intelligence, PJDGS, the existing
intelligence functions of GMDS and SDS will be assumed by Central Intelli-
gence Group on 30 June.
2. Physical custody of all captured German documents, which are jointly
owned by the United States and Great Britain, will be transferred from the In-
telligence Division, WDGS, to the Adjutant General, 31 May 1947. Captured
documents returned from the European Theater in tie future will be received
and controlled by the Adjutant General. All such documents will be available
for screening and exploitation by the Central Intelligence Group, but title
to them will remain with'the War Department.
3. The present intelligence functions of GNWDS are outlined in Appendix
I; the archival and library functions hitherto performed by this section are
not included in detail, since these will be transferred to the Adjutant General.
The present functions of SDS are shown in Appendix II. A War Department state-
ment of functions and status of current SDS/GMDS projects is attached as
Appendix III.
4. Since certain of the intelligence information operations now per-
formed by GMDS and SDS are normally the responsibility of different offices
within the Central Intelligence Group, the following plan for the allocation
of functions and personnel has been agreed on by authorized representatives
of the Office of Operations, Office of Reports and Estimates and Office of
Collection and Dissemination.
a. (1) All functions directly concerned wit.a the processing,
translating and exploiting of foreign documents for intelli-
gence purposes will be assumed by the Office of Operations,
Documents Branch. All necessary working files, indexes, records
and linguist personnel from 5DS and GiMDS will be transferred to':*
and integrated with Documents Branch, which will continue the
strictly documentiry projects and functions currently assigned
to GMDS and SDS.
(2) Future projects and priorities for production of in-
telligence information will be determined by the Office of
Collection and Dissemination in close coordination with the
Office of Reports and Estimates.
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b. The functions of inter-agency coordination and liaison will
be assumed by the Office of Collection and Dissemination, delegated by them
as necessary to Documents Branch, or handled according to the procedures al-
ready authorized for the latter by Memorandum of 31 December 1946. Subject:
Control and Functions of the Washington Documents Center. The Office of
Collection and Dissemination will authorize direct contact between Documents
Branch and the Adjutant General for the purposes of screening and exploiting
captured documents and advising the War Department as to the disposition of
European documents of intelligence value. The Office of Collection and
Dissemination will. determine policies and channels in regard to incoming re-
quests for information and the distribution of translations, index cards, and
other publications now issued by SDS and GMDS through War Department channels.
C. There shall be no direct collection and dissemination of docu-
ments between offices of GIG and representatives of Great Britain or Canada.
Such exploitation of the documents as the British or Canadians may desire to
conduct will be accomplished through arrangements between the British and/or "
Canadians and the War Departiiient. Requests from the British and Canadians
ti r'i
British and Canadians will be channelled through the Wax Department.
If- 464 ,, (
d. The function of maintenance of the Industrial Card File, (which
has been established on an inter-agency basis and includes information from
other sources) will. be taken over by the Office of Reports and Estimates as
soon as practicable. The time factor will be reviewed on 1 October 1947. At
such time Documents Branch will continue to extract and collate pertinent in-
formation from foreign documents for inclusion in the ICF by the Office of
Reports and Estimates. In the interim, Documents Branch will carry on the
entire ICF function of SDS, subject to the limitations in paragraph b above.
Two complete sets of ICF cards will immediately be provided to the Office of
Reports and Estimates, Reference Branch. The Office of Reports and Estimates
will coordinate closely with the Office of Operations on procedures to be
established for this and other specific projects of SDS and GMDS to be con-
tinued permanently or temporarily by Documents Branch.
EDWIN L. 5IBERT
Brigadier General, USA
Assistant Director for Operations
Concur:
Assistant Director for Collection and Dissemination ep
71 - 2S 3j, lqf 7.
Assistant Director for Reports and Estimates ~
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APP:r d DIX I
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1. The following functions are now performed by the exploitation sub-
section of German Military Documents Section.
b.
A.
f.
Screening of all incoming documents shipments for material of
intelligence value; determining priorities for setting up (by
the archival sub-section) of documents or document collections
(1) which contain material needed by Special Documents Section
or other intelligence agencies for exploitation or special
projects, (2) which require detailed screening and indexing
for items of intelligence interest.
Advising the archival sub-section as to the disposition of
captured documents which are (1) of no intelligence or mili-
tary value; to be deposited on permanent lorin with other
government agencies. (2) Gf primary technical value; to be
exploited by the technical services of the War Department.
Preparing information abstracts and compiling and maintaining
an index (knovin as the GMDS Intelligence Catalogue) of all
items of intelligence value contained in documents in the
German Military Documents Section collection.
Indicating which documents are of particular interest to
agencies maintaining liaison groups with GIES, such as the
F
BI, War Crimes Commission, etc.
Coordinating with the War Department (Chief, Information
Control Branch, Security Group, ID, YvDGS) on the security
classification of captured German documents, i.e., the up-
grading or downgrading, from the overall classification of
"confidential," of individual documents or information
therefrom.
Determining the availability within GMDS of all documents
containing intelligence information on a specific subject
in response to requests from authorized agencies. This
involves searching the collection for, and assembling the
relevant documents for the interested agency, but does not
include the translating of documents.
W
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2. Documents Branch will assume the above functions and provide a
CIG detachment to operate in the Pentagon in direct conjunction with the
Adjutant General. The latter will take over the title "German Military
Documents Section,rr and all non-intelligence functions, such as those of
the archival sub-section. These including receiving, library cataloguing,
shelving, storing, recording, loaning to other agencies, and otherwise hand-
ling and disposing of documents. A detailed plan for coordination and coopera-
tion between CIG, the Adjutant General, and the Intelligence Division on such
matters as declassification, directives to field collecting agencies, etc.
will be submitted later.
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1. The mission and functions of SDS may be summarized as follows;
Extracting from captured German and Russian documents factual
information pertaining to the USSR and European satellites.
b. Preparing full translations of selected captured German and
Russian documents.
d.
Preparing project studies from collated documents on selected
subjects, as assigned or approved by the Chief, Intelligence
Group, ID, Y/DGS.
NOTE: All current projects will be completed or merged with
the Industrial Card File before the transfer to CIG
except two:
(1) Transportation and Communications of the USSR
and European Satellites
(2) Soviet Military Potential
Extracting and translating intelligence information from
current Russian newspapers and periodicals for inclusion in
the above projects or in the Industrial Card File.
Maintaining and operating the Industrialar~. This
file contains in fragmentary form all available information
on individual industrial installations in the USSR and
satellite countries. It was established by the Intelligence
Division in October, 1946, in direct coordination with the
State DeparUient, A-2, ONI and other interested agencies.
Agreement was reached on the essential elements of infor-
mation to be obtained on each plant and on a standard card
format. Since captured German and Russian documents proved
the most prolific and dependable source of such information,
SDS was designated as the central working agency for the
project. The ICF now consists of approximately 17,000 items
which have been produced and circulated, and 15,000 which are
in process of reproduction.
The majority of the information is still extracted by the
staff of SDS from captured documents, which are borrowed from
G)S and other document repositories and agencies in the USA
and abroad. Information from other sources is carded by the
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participating agencies and submitted to SAS for collation,
assignment of ICF number, reproduction, and dissemination.
Direct channels were set up between SDS and member agencies
for all matters pertaining to the ICF and to captured docu-
ments.
On completion of the card file, it is planned to have competent
analysts examine the information on each individual plant.
After further collation, checking, evaluation, and analysis
of the collected data, they are to produce a current basic
plant list which will be adaptable for use on International
Business Machines.
2. Documents Branch will assume the functions de cribed in Paragraph 1,
a through d, and will continue the extraction of ICF information from foreign
documents. A plan for the continued operation of the ICF by CIG, and the
possible incorporation of the ICF into the Foreign Industrial Establishments
project, should the latter be implemented, will be prepared by ORE.
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WAR D ?ABTI T STATR&E1 T:
'TJ TOT IuNS uF THE GM WAIT MI1,ITARY DuCTD=, TS SECTIUN
AID THE SPECIAL DuC E iS u CTIuN AS of 1 APRIL xL947
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I14p, 9ved For Release 2003/10/07 : CIA-RDP80R01731 R003400180nWL 1947
SUBJECT: Transfer of German Military Document Section and Special
Document Section, Intelligence Division, WDGS
1. Reference is made to memorandum your office dated 15 April 1947,
Subject: "German Military Document Section and Special Document Section,
Intelligence Division, WDGS, and to telephone conversation of 21 April
1947 between General Sibert of your office and Colonel Ennis, Intelligence
Di=vision, WDGS.
2. Inclosed herewith are the detailed functions of the two sections.
Regarding German Military Document Section, it is to be noted that
functions which do not pertain to research on captured documents have
been omitted since the organization and physical custody of the documents
will be assumed by the Adjutant General on 31 May 1947.
3. it. Col. James E. Ligon, Chief, Document Section, Exploitation
Branch, Intelligence Division, is designated as the representative of
the Intelligence Division to coordinate with your office in arranging
the transfer of the two sections.
4. Necessary action has been taken to continue on temporary duty
with the two establishments those officers who are scheduled to attend
the August 1947 class of the Strategic Intelligence School until the
opening date of the course.
3/ W. A. SOW HON
Colonel, GSC
Asst. Executive
2 Incas
1-Punct ions of GDS
2-Functions of SDS
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SOH FUNCTIONS OF GEWAN MILITARY DUB SECTION
1. Mission
The mission of the German Military Document Section is as follows:
a, organize, maintain and keep accessible an active archive of
captured German military documents,
be Receive and process incoming document shipments.
c. Screen for intelligence all captured German documents received,
and prepare and disseminate an intelligence index listing items of intelligence
interest*
d. Dispose of non-military records by lending them on a permanent
basis to governmental agencies of primary interest.
e. Make available to the appropriate technical services of the
War Department documents of a technical nature.
2. epearch Functions
To execute and implement the above mission, the following research
activities are conducted by GMDSt 0
a. Screens for intelligence and determines priority for setting up
in the archival sub-section document shipments which:
(1) Contain research material for use in special projects
conducted by Special Document Section.
(2) Contain material to be intelligence indexed.
V
be Advises the archival sub-section in the disposition of captured 4WWW
records which:
(1) Are of no military value and are to b e deposited on permanent
loan with other governmental agencies (.Library of Congress,
National Archives, State Department, Department of
Commerce, etc.)
(2) Are of primary technical value and are to be exploited by
the technical services of the War Department.
(The above activities include the appropriate disposition of phonograph
records, books, motion picture films, still pictures, slides, etc.)
c. Conducts research on captured German documents in order to produce
a card index of items of intelligence value. The exploitation sub-section
also prepares the cards for the "offset" process and arranges them for dissemina-
tion to the following agencies:
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(.1.) Intelligence Documents File Branch, Intelligence Division,
WDGS.
(2) Air Information_Division, A-2, USAF.
(3) Central Intelligence Group
(4) Canadian Army Staff
(5) British Army Staff
(6) Joint Intelligence Bureau, London, (British)
(7) Reading Panel, Intelligence Division, WDGS (12 sets for
dissemination within Intelligence Division and
Technical Services.)
d. Call documents of particular interest to the attention of
permanent liaison groups with GMS; namely:
(1) Historice.l Division., U.S. Army
(2), FBI
(3) War Crimes Commission
e. Determines the security classification of captured German documents
as ora.Lly directed by the Chief, Information Control Branch, Security Group,
Intelligence Division, WDGS. This activity includes upgrading and downgrading
of captured German documents. In this connection, overall classification of
the document collection is "confidential."
f. Conducts searches of the collection for availability of documents
on broad subject requests as opposed to requests for specific documents.
6. It is to be noted that GMDS does not translate documents for
using agencies, but lends the origina.i captured documents (or raicrofilms)
for exploitation.
3. Comp.ieted work ig GkDS
a. Aside from the archival phase which includes setting up the
collection in usable order, the intelligence index (see par. 2c) is comp.ieted
in part as follows:
(i) 52,2UU folders of captured documents have been examined and
indexed for the intelligence contained therein.
(2) 6,200 different items of intelligence value have been carded
and the information disseminated.
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b. Approximately five (b) percent of a collection of 700 reels of
microfilms have been reviewed and properly intelligence indexed.
4. Wgrk Remai ine
a. 21,000 folders of unreviewed captured documents remain to be
examined and properly indexed in the manner outlined in par. 2c,
b. Additional shipments arrive from the theater at an average
rate of ten (10) to fifteen (i5) tons per month. These, as well as several
major collections in the warehouse, remain to be screened - approximately
500 packing cases of documents.
c. Of the collection of approximately 700 reels of microfilms of
documents photographed elsewhere, fifty (50) percent remain to be viewed
to determine subject matter and ninety-five (95) percent require examination
for the purpose of the intelligence index.
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FfJNCT IUNS UP E'ECIAA DU LM 1T S3gJ ION
1. Mission
The mission of the Special Document Section is as follows:
a. Extract from captured documents factual information pertaining
to the USSR.
b. Prepare project studies under the guidance of the Chief, Eurasian
Branch, Intelligence Group, Intelligence Division, WDGS, and prepare additional
studies initiated by Special Document Section as approved by the Chief,
Intelligence Group*
co Prepare full translations of selected captured German and Russian
documents.
d. Disseminate completed projects and translations through the
Chief, Exploitation Branch, Intelligence Group, Intelligence Division, WDGS.
2. Intelligence Functions
a. In accomplishing the above mission, activities of Special Document
Section were initially centered around five (5) major research projects based
on captured documents pertaining to the USSR; namely:
(1) Atomic Energy and Allied industries
(2) Machine Tool Industry in the USSR
(3) Soviet Railway Transport
(4) Naval and Maritime Shipbuilding in the USSR
U
(5) Communications in the USSR (telephone, telegraph, cable, radio,
mail, television, radar, courier services).
b. In addition, the Intelligence Division, WDGS directed the
establishment of an "Industrial Card File Pro jeot. " The preparation of this
file of Soviet industrial plants is based on captured documents available in
the German Military Document Section, Washington Document Center and other
document agencies. This file contains in fragmentary form all information
available on Soviet Industrial installations including personnel, working
methods, equipment, output, type of production, etc. When the card file is
completed, competent analysts will examine the information plant by plant and,
after evaluating and collating it, will produce a current basic plant list
which will be adaptable for use on International Business Machines.
c.? In conjunction with the project outlined in paragraph 2b above,
a newspaper evi.luation sub-section has been established for the purpose of
extracting, translating and disseminating pertinent data from Russian periodicals
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d. The production of a handbook on the USSR was initiated in January
1947. This project is based on top-.level captured German documents as an
overall picture of Russian industry and has been given an arbitrary deadline
of i May 1947.
Status of SDS Projects
at Atomic TergyY During October 1946 it was found that all presently
available information pertaining to atomic energy had been exhausted and the
intelligence derived properly disseminated.
b. I chine 2ool : Information collected on this subject matter is
being included in the Industrial Card File Project (see par. 3f).
c. RaiiwaY Capacities: This project will provide detailed infor-
mationon Russian railway lines, their capacity, technical data, etc. This
includes a general survey of waterways in Russia. The project is long-range
and incomplete,
d. Shipbuilding: At the time of the establishment of the Industrial
Card File Project (see par 2 b) all available information on shipbuilding in
the USSR had been exploited. All future information will be included in the
card file.
e. Telecommunications: In December 1y46 it became apparent that
the documents on hand pertaining to telecommunications had been exploited fuu.1y.
The telecommunications project: was then merged with the railroad study (see
par. 3 co)
f. Industrial Card File Pzo ect: Data utilized for this project
are based on pre-war Russian material, captured German documents and current
Russian newspapers and periodicals. Ali available top-level captured German
documents have been exploited and work has begun on low-level German documents
and Russian material. This project is perpetuating ana long-range.
g. 1ewmaper 'valuations Press reading will continue indefinitely
in conjunction with activities pertaining to the Industrial Card File Project
(see par 3f).
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE GROUP TOP SECRET SF r coNFIDENTIAL RESTRICTED
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FROM
TO
DATE
FROM
TO
DATE
DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
CHIEF, CENTRAL REPORTS STAFF
DEPUTY DIRECTOR, C.I.G.
ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR
SECRETARY N.I.A.
At. recto OCD
CHIEF OF OPERATIONAL SERVICES
Western HemIsphere Branch
A sat. DixectorN, ORE
x
G
sst. Director for fl eratinna
CHI
EF CENTRAL PLANNING STAFF
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER
Personnel Branch
Budget & Fiscal Branch
Administrative Services Branch
Central Records
Security Br h _
REFERENCES:
ENCLOSURES:
1. Memo to Advisor
for Management I
re: Transfer of S
& GMDS: Allocation
of Functions within
CIG and Appendices
ACTION DIRECT REPLY
RECOMMENDATION COMMENT
SIGNATURE FILE
,
INFORMATION NOTE
RETURN MAIL
PREPARATION OF REPLY 1 & 2 Concurrence
1. It is our understanding that paragraph 4 c will be revised to conform
to new policy recently expressed by the Director and now being studied b y ICAPS.
2. Please indicate concurrence on attached memorandum and on carbon copy
to be returned to the Office of Operations.
EDWIN L. SIBERT
Brigadier General, USA
Assistant Director for Operations
D0 N4T REMOVE
OM FILE
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