NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00400R000200030017-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 2, 2008
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: March 13, 1951
• Content Type: STUDY

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CIA 36144 TOP SECRET
AC D-
13 March 1951
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEYS
1. On 8 February the IAC decided to postpone consider-
ation of the recommended increase in the rate of production
for the NIS program until certain matters could be investigated
(IAC-M-19).
2. The conclusions of these investigations are presented
herewith for information in connection with further consideration
of the recommendations of the NIS Committee (IAC D-13).
3. Attached are:
TAB A. A memorandum from the Deputy Director for
Intelligence, The Joint Staff - setting forth
a revised priority list.
TAB B. The findings of the NIS Committee with regard
(1) Estimated completion dates for the
NIS on the revised priority list.
(2) The possibility of omitting portions
from the standard NIS.
TAB C. The findings of CIA with regard to:
(1) CIA assistance to the military on
recruitment.
(2) Contracting NIS sections to private
institutions.
(3) Training additional personnel.
4. The question for decision remains whether or not to.
authorize an increase in the rate of production of NIS from
8 to 15 per year.
JCS review completed
Secretary
Intelligence Advisory Committee
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FORM 1N3501. 38-13
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CIA 36144
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IAC-D-13 1
13 March 1951
THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
Washington 25, D. C.
JOINT INTELLIGENCE GROUP
DDIM-23-51
21 February 1951
MEMORANDUM FOR: The Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Subject: Priority List and Production Rate for National
Intelligence Surveys
References: a. DDM-236, dated 20 March 1950
E. IAC-M-19, dated 8 February 1951
1. The "Priority List of N.I.S. Areas for use of C.I.A. in
Preparation of Basic Intelligence Studies," dated 15 March 1950, has
been reviewed by an Ad Hoc Committee composed of representatives of
the Army, Navy, Air Force, Joint Strategic Plans Group (JSPG), Joint
Logistics Plans Group (JLPG), Joint Intelligence Group JIG), and the
State Department. All agencies have concurred in the recommended
changes.
2. The Deputy Director for Intelligence, The Joint Staff,
recommends that:
a. The present HIGH PRIORITY GROUP I with certain additional
areas be placed in a new group to be accorded HIGHEST PRIORITY.
Also that the new HIGHEST PRIORITY GROUP be further sub-divided
into priority groupings as follows:
HIGHEST PRIORITY
China-Manchuria
Indo-China
Yugoslavia
Greece
Turkey
Iran
U.S.S.R.
b. Norway c.
Sweden
Denmark
Thailand
India
Pakistan
Burma
Malaya (British
Indonesia
Finland
Albania
East Germany
Czechoslovakia
Hungary
Austria
Poland
Bulgaria
Rumania
JCS review completed
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b. The capabilities for the production of surveys in the
HIGHEST PRIORITY GROUP be increased sufficiently to insure a
much greater production rate.
c. Studies currently in progress be continued if it is
determined that personnel employed on these studies can be
utilized on them without detriment to the preparation of
studies of areas recommended for inclusion in the HIGHEST
PRIORITY GROUP,
d. The Deputy Director for Intelligence, The Joint Staff,
re-examine the N.I,S. Priority List semi-annually with a view
to determining if changes should be made in the List.
/s/ V. E. Megee
V. E. MEGEE
Brigadier General, USMC
Deputy Director for Intelligence
The Joint Staff
cc: Spec. Asst, Intel.(State)
A.C. of S., G-2, U.S. Army
DNI
D/I, USAF
JOP SEMI
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CIA 36144
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TAB B
NIS COMMITTEE FINDINGS
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IAC D-1 l
13 March 1951
1. The following questions were asked the NIS Committee:
a. At the presently authorized T/0 of the contributing
agencies, which is based on the production of the equivalent
of 8 NIS a year, when will the NIS be completed on the 24
Highest Priority Areas contained in reference memorandum?
b. Assuming the rate of production proposed by the NIS
Committee in its Special Report of 16 February 1951, when
will the NIS be completed on the 24 Highest Priority Areas
contained in reference memorandum?
c. What portions of the NIS outline do the IA.C Agencies
consider could be omitted with a view to reducing the pro-
duction load2
Completion Dates
2. The Committe feels that, while a certain amount of
production on the new Highest Priority Areas is already being
accomplished, it will require an appreciable length of time
before maximum effort can be directed to these new Highest
Priority Areas. In many instances, area specialists will have
to be recruited. In other instances, current production will
have to be completed before starting work on some sections of
the Highest Priority Areas in order that the large amount of
production work already accomplished will not be wasted. In
other words, it takes time to realign NIS production to new
priority objectives. Moreover, the existing staffs in the
contributing agencies include area specialists concerned with
other high priority areas who should continue NIS production
in the interests of realizing the maximum production capabilities
of these agencies. There is no assurance, either, that some of
these other high priority areas may not be raised in priority
at some later date.
3. Taking into account the above factors, and based on
the assumption that adequate staffs can be recruited within a
reasonable time, the NIS Committee considers that the NIS on
the Highest Priority Areas can be completed with the presently
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CIA 3614 TOP SECRET
IAC-D- 1
13 March 1951
authorized T/0 by 30 June 1953. The NIS Committee further
considers that, while the NIS production rate proposed by the
Committee in its Special Report of 16 February 1951 will be
capable of a much greater "across-the-board" production of the
60 High Priority Areas than with the presently authorized T/O,
the completion of the NIS on the new 2L Highest Priority Areas
will be accomplished with the proposed larger staffs about six
months earlier, or 30 December 1952.
Portions That Could Be Omitted
4. The NIS Committee members stated that their agencies
did not consider that any substantial reduction in the NIS
outline should be made. The Air Force is eliminating certain
Order of Battle data in Section 83, Chapter VIII (Armed Forces),
but since this information is maintained by the Directorate of
Intelligence as a standing requirement, its exclusion from the
NIS will not appreciably reduce the amount of effort necessary
to produce this NIS section. The NIS Committee has kept NIS
requirements under continuing revision since the inception of
the NIS Program, and the Committee considers that any major
reduction in the present requirements would be prejudicial to
the NIS Program.
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o? SKI MI *Me
CIA 36144 TAB 0
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IAC D-13
1,3 March 1951
CIA FINDINGS
1, CIA was requested to consider the following questions
relating to the NIS program:
a. How can CIA be. of assistance to the military
services in their recruitment for NIS positions?
b. Could sections of the NIS be prepared under
contract by Universities or private research groups?
c. Could training programs be instituted to pro-
vide more analysts with the special kinds of competence
required for NIS work?
Recruitment Assistance
2. The CIA personnel office is in touch with the Array'
NIS people and will endeavor to render such assistance as
they can. Upon preliminary examination CIA believes it can
be most helpful by making available the services of CIA's
recruiting teams and by drawing on extensive CIA application
files. This can best be done by getting the Army's specific
qualification requirements. Although the matter is still
under study, it does not now appear that CIA can be of much
assistance with regard to the civil service aspects of the
problem or financial support.
Contract Research
3. Arrangements of this kind have been tried in the past
with somewhat unsatisfactory results. There is a tendency for
academic experts to reflect in their contributions special
points of view which are not in keeping with the purely objec-
tive and factual tone required in the Surveys. An understanding
of the precise specifications, requirements, and editorial
character of the NIS can be acquired only by a contact between
the writer and the editorial group closer than that which is
possible when the work is done in a distant city by people not
familiar with the program. Finally, in many cases a good deal
of classified material must be used in the preparation of the
Surveys which cannot easily be made available to private groups.
The possibilities of having completed sections ready for publi-
cation farmed out on contract do not, therefore, look promising.
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IAC-D-13 1
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). On the other hand, a real saving in the time and
effort needed for final preparation in Washington may be
possible by having done at Universities background studies
which assemble some of the basic material and which can then
be edited and blended with classified data by the Washington
agencies. The extent to which this can be done depends upon
the availability in private institutions of qualified analysts
and information relating to the high priority areas. The
External Research Staff maintained jointly by the State Depart-
ment and the CIA is currently conducting an inventory of the
research facilities of 90 leading colleges and universities
throughout the United States. When this survey has been com-
pleted it will be matched with the list of NIS sections still
to be done on the high priority areas to determine the specific
possibilities of contract research. It is believed, howevery
on the basis of 'a preliminary comparison of the sections to be
done and the probable research facilities available that only
a few contracts of this kind will turn out to be feasible or
desirable.
Training
5. The problem of training analysts for NIS work is
inseparable from the broader problem of training people capable
of doing competent research on various areas of the world. The
principal requirements for NIS analysts are a sound grounding
in one or more of the major disciplines (e.g. economics, political
science, history, military science, etc.) and some academic study
in the language, institutions, and characteristics of an area of
the world. No short program of special instruction can supply
these qualifications, which can be furnished only by appropriate
academic training. Such special skills as are peculiar to NIS
production are best acquired by on-the-job training in the NIS
program itself.
6. Any increase in the number of area specialists being
turned out by the colleges and universities, and any improvement
in methods of drawing such people into intelligence work will
benefit the NIS program. The problem of ways of encouraging'the
universities to expand their area programs is one which CIA is
considering jointly with the State Department.
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