ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE - - AN ACTION PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82B00871R000100230002-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 22, 2006
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: November 7, 1974
• Content Type: REPORT

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Attachment
USIB /IRAC-D-44. 1 / 2
7 November 1974
ECONOi~"!IC INTELLIGENCE -- AN ACTION PROGRAM
Among the Objectives for the Intelligence Community
that the DCI presented in Segtember 1973 in a memorandum to
the President was one requiring action to enhance the .
utility of intelligence in support of "ecanomic policies of
the U.S. Government." A program meeting this commitment is
outlined below. While this program focuses primarily on
formal institutional arrangements, it is recognized that to
a great extent the effectiveness of economic intelligence izx
.supporting policymakers is governed by the day?to-day,
informal contacts between intelligence officers and those
officials responsible for policymaking and negotiations.
A. With respect to management, the following
steps aze being taken to increase the responsiveness
of the intelligence community:
--- The policy-level Requirements Advisory
Board (RAB) will be reactivated this fall under
the chairmanship of a senior.economic policy
official. This body will play a central role in
identifying high-level user needs. In effect,
it will function as a subcommittee of NSC.IC, which
now includes a Treasury representative.
-- The NIO far Economics and Energy, in
consultation with policy officials, Yias drafted
eight economic Key Intelligence Questions (KTQs}
for FY 1975. They, and others containing economic
aspects, will soap be vetted by NSCIC and USIB.
-- The EIC Chairman and his committee will
work in concert with the three USIB collection..
committees -- the Human Sources Committee, the
SIGINT Committee, and COi~IIREX -- to improve
collection guidance and to facilitate the
coordination of the economic intelligence col-
lection effort. In so doing, the Economic
Intelligence Cammittee will be responsive to the
priority needs of the policymaking departments
and agencies.
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-- ~'he ETC will continue to provide reporting
guidance to the Foreign Service and other non-
intelligence officers abroad via the Combined
Economic Reporting Program (CERP}, which is
administered by the Department of State.
-- The Human Sources Committee will encourage
EIC memoers to supplement their formal rek~orting
guidance by responding positively to the State
Department's recent invitation to provide missions
abroad with informal, working-level fc:Fdback on
economic reporting.
-- The Intelligence Resources Advisory-
Committee (IRAC) will be tasked to recommend
suitable resource levels for economic in.t~~llicjFnce.
Invitations to participate in the work of IRAC
.will be extended to representatives of non--member
agencies and departments with economic interests.
Based on tree work done in F~' 1975, it should be
possible. for IRAC to examine NIP resources allocated
to; political-economic intelligence ca].lec:tion in
FY 1976.
-- Efforts will be made by the NIC7 for
Economics and Energy and the SIGINT Committee to
identify the impact of user needs for incrE~asing
economic intelligence support on the coming five-
year cansalidated cryptologic program.
}3. With respect to the national collection apparatus,
economic intelligence responsibilities will be allocated,
taking into consideration not only the traditional
intelligence collectors but also the capabilities of
other organizations, namely the Treasury, CommErce, and
Agriculture departments. The goal is to achieve greater
responsiveness to the needs of policymakers ~,rhile at the
same time minimizing both risks and costs. Specific steps
include:
-- The Human Sources Committee will assess
the limitations and potential of overt and
clandestine activities directed against economic
targets in selected, non-Communist countries.
The EIC and the NIO for Economics and Energy
will assist the committee in the preparation
of this assessment.
-- The NIO for Economics and Energy, with the
assistance of the EIC and economic intelligence
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consumers, will review responses from the
field to collection guidance, taking into account
information available from open sources. In
particular, he will review the posts to which
Treasury officers ar.e ass~_gned to determine
whether the establishment of new positions should
be recommended. He will also evalue the reporting
of the financial a-rtaches in terms of responsiveness
to national intelligence priorities.
--- The EIC Chairman and ?~:he Chairman, SIGINT
Committee, will institute a procedure for providing
coordinated community guidance to NSA for SIGINT
economic callection.
--? The NIO for Economics and Energy will work
closely with representatives of policymaking depart-
ments and. agencies and of NSA in an exploration of
the possibility for ~.ncreasing the SIGINT contribution
to the economic intelligence effort.
` -- The OER Director will complete his initial
evaluation of the application of overhead photo-
graphy for estimating crop conditions.
C. With respect to the economic intelligence
product;` efforts are being concentrated on the HI~s.
Thus, intelligence producers are supporting a Substantive
Objective of the Intelligence Community far ~'Y 75 to
"Provide reliable, timely and comprehensive information
and assessments relevant to US international economic
policy decisions and negotiations.?" The intelligence
producers will also work toward improved early warning
of international developments of priority interest to.
economic policy officials.
Past experience clearly indicates that a
substantial number of demands placed by golicymakers on
economic intelligence producers cannot be foreseen far
in advance because of the rapidity with which new
economic events occur. Therefore, economic intelligence
producers (and collectors) will be prepared to shift
their efforts and resources in line with changing needs.
Efforts will be intensified to improve the
quality, scope, utility, and timeliness of the econam~.c
intelligence product and its relevance to policy needs
through the establishment of better communications with
consumers and the freer interchange of research plans
among the Washington economic community. Specific steps
include:
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-- The NIO f_or Economics and Energy will
expand his contacts, formal and informal, with
consumers of economic intelligence to gain better
guidance on subjects of concern to policymakers
and t.o provide mare e~.f.~:ct~ive feedback to producers
and collectors.
~---- Under the aegis of the RAB, the EIC will
hold annual meetings to discuss the direction and
focus of economic research. programs and to deter-?
mine how these programs relate to the KIQs and to
the expressed needs of policy officials. The
Department of State representative will report the
committee's findings to the NSC/USC Subcommittee
on Foreign Affairs Research (FAR).
-- The NIO for Economics and Energy and the
Intelligence Community Staff's Coordinator for ,
External. Research, worka.ng with the EIC and FAR,
will provide advice to contract managers of external
research so that there vai7.l be a minimum of ~annecessary
duplication. At the same time, they will review ongoing
external economic research contracts so that, if
needed, a recommended program pf work using external
sources can be imYlemented in ~'Y 1976.
-- 't'he NIO far Economics and Energy will consult
with the CIEP staff-P with others in the Washington
economic community, and with outside consultants,
as necessary, to assure that intelligence studies and
estimates have the greatest relevance and appropriate
rigor, including the employment of relevant analyt~..c
methodologies.
10 October 1974
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