PROPOSAL FOR DECLASSIFICATION AND RELEASE OF SELECTED AGENCY PUBLICATIONS AND HISTORIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82M00531R000400270004-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 22, 2005
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: September 19, 1973
• Content Type: MF

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19SEP1973
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
Executivi Secretary. CIA Management
Committee
Deputy Director for Management
and Services
SUBJECT t Proposal for Declassification and
Release of Selected Agency Publications
and Histories
1. Action Requested: It I. requested that you approve a
plan to increase the amount of information made available to
the public. The plan outlined below represents an effort to
meet two objectives which, on the surface, may appear to be
mutually contradictory--i. e.. to be more forthcoming in releas-
ing information and, at the same time. to protect intelligence
sources and methods. Inasmuch as the plan constitutes an
initial attempt to formulate a program along these lines. it
should be regarded as tentative in nature and subject to modifi-
cation as experience is gained.
2. Background: You have advised the Congress of your
intent that the Agency be responsive to the public' s right to be
informed, while, at the sauna time, vigilant In the protection of
intelligence sources and methods. The clear requirement to
protect sources and methods severely limits Agency options in
releasing information and dictates a conservative approach;
information once released cannot be recalled. and it is imperative
that nothing be done to cause sources to lose confidence in the
Agency' s discretion. For this reason, operational traffic, other
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correspondence, plan3, raw information reports, and documents
incorporating data from sensitive collection systems have been
eliminated from consideration. Further, it is not proposed to -
include estimative intelligence products in this program. The
Agency' s finished intelligence publications remain, and it is
these which would probably hold the most interest for the general
public. In addition to the various series of Agency publications,
Agency histories, particularly those which chronicle the Agency' a
role in connection with specific events, would also be of Interest
and value to the American public. The proposal, therefore, calls
for the establishment of a program for the release to the public in
unclassified form of selected Agency finished intelligence publica-
tions and episodic histories. Separate plans are advanced for the
two types of documents.
The plan for releasing finished intelligence publications calls
for each production office to conduct a systematic review of its
products in order to identify publications appropriate for release.
The prime criterion for release would be the impact of such an
action_upon national recur-may.If-^ it,is determine d that this test is
izze , other criteria would scvrne into play: potential public interest;,
t meline s a -af the information; quality. of the pr ct. -whether
craariiices from other agencies would be required; etc. It can be
assumed that the number chosen for release will be very limited.
It is proposed that each production component review at the and
of each calendar year all publications which it produced over the
preceding five-year period. To the extent that the producing
office can at the time of publication fix a definite date or event
for the declassification of the report, they review task will be
atnuplifiod. Those publications which in the judgment of the
originating office can be declassified and are otherwise suitable
for public release shall, be forwarded to the Chief of the Informa-
tion Systems Analysis Staff by 31 January of each year, asscl die'
shall be responsible- for arranging for their review by the CIA
Information Review Committee. For those publications in which
the Committee concurs in their release, the documents shalt be
reprinted with a new cover, all classification markings and
coordination statements having been deleted. If the author is
overt and he so desires, he shall be identified and., if appropriate.
a few of his scholarly credentials noted. Subject to the approval
of his office, the originating component shall also be cited. The
version thus sanitized shall be released through the Document
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Expediting (DCCE.') Project of the Library of Congress, a channel
- which the Agency now utilizes for the release and distribution of
seicted unclassified reference aids.
The plan for the preparation and release of unclassified episodic
Histories is patterned after a technique successfully employed by
the Historical Office of the Atomic Energy Commission. As applied
to the Agency, it would entail having an Agency historian collect
all -pertinent documents and write an. all-source history. The
history would be coordinated like all other Agency histories. On
the basis of this all-source history, the same Agency historian.
upon the recommendation of the Chief of the klistorical. Staff and
subject to the concurrence of the CIA Information Review Committee.
would then prepare an unclassified version, with all pertinent.
documents. The two versions with their documentation would then
be submitted to a panel of historical consultants composed of five
to seven professional historians of "recognized competence" who
had been fully cleared for Agency employment. This panel would
render an opinion on the value and accuracy of the unclassified
version. Consideration would be given for the inclusion of
minority dissents or caveats in the unclassified version. provided,
of course, that such measures did not disclose sources or methods
appearing in the classified version. If the panel so recommended,
the history would then be reproduced in the requisite number of
copies and distributed through the facilities of DOCEX. No histories
currently available should be considered for declassification and
release at this time. The preparation of unclassified versions,
however, should be considered for histories now in the process of
compilation or programmed for future production.
Obviously. both the unclassified histories and the declassified
finished intelligence products could be made available to Congressional
watchdog committees and/or deposited in the National Archives simul-
taneously with their release through DOCEX.
3. Staff Position.:
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4. Recommendation: That approval be given to a plan
calling for the systematic review, effective January 1974, of
intelligence publications for the purpose of possible declassifi-
cation and release through DOCEX, such plan to be incorporated
into Agency regulations; and that approval also be given to a plan
for the preparation of unclassified Agency histories and their
publication and release through DOCEX, subject to the recorn-
rr~endation of a panel of historical consultants and approval by the
CIA .Information Review Committee, such plan also to be incorporated
into Agency regulations.
HAROLD L. BROWNMAN
Deputy Director
for
Management and Services
APPROVED:
DISAPPROVED:
Distribution:
Orig Rot to ISAS
I ? DDCI
I - C/Historical Staff
1 - Assistant to the Director
2 - DD/?vl&S
11 MC
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