COMMENTS ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00499R000700130021-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: December 11, 1950
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/19: CIA-RDP84-00499R000700130021-3
Ojfi ce Memoridim MUNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
TO Assistant Director for Special Operations DATB:11 December 1950
FROM : Chief, Communications Division
SUBJECT: Comments on the recommendations in connection with
organizational structure
1. In preparing the recommendations regarding the proper position
for communications in the organizational structure of this Agency,
consideration has been given to the following points:
(a) The communications organization of this Agency
is in fact a small signal corps. It has all the responsi-
bilities and has to meet, generally speaking, the same
varied requirements which are met by the Signal Corps of
the United States Army only on a much smaller scale.
(b) Communications is an operating rather than an
administrative type of support and must support both
operations and administration. The officer responsible
for providing this support to the Agency should be a part
of the operating structure of the organization. He should
not be made to compete in the mind of his immediate superior
with a group of individuals whose viewpoint is influenced
by the difficulties inherent in administration, personnel,
housekeeping and fiscal problems. He should be in a position
to present his requirements and his advice directly to the
officer who is responsible for the overall success of the
operations of this Agency.
(o) The provision of communications support for
several different offices whose requirements are often at
variance requires officially recognized liaison and
correspondence channels which are not involved in the
execution of policies peculiar to any one office. Offices
supported should be in a position to control their require-
ments and assure that they are met to the extent of the
capacity of the Agency, but should not be involved in the
control of administration and technical operations required
to meet their communications needs. To do so works both
to the detriment of the communications support provided
and to the effectiveness of the operations of the office
concerned.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/19: CIA-RDP84-00499R000700130021-3
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/19: CIA-RDP84-00499R000700130021-3
(d) It appears logical to assume that the major
elements of this Agency will be set up on a theatre
basis in time of war with the detailed planning
and implementation of projects being conducted in
the field. Because of its functional nature,
communications already is organized and operates
in that manner. In order to best provide policy,
seourity,,,technical guidance and the logistio
support required by offices responsible for oommunica-
tions in the theatres of operation, communications
should report to the Director or the Deputy responsible
for operations in the field.
(e) The magnitude of the organization required to
support communications for this Agency is worthy of
note. The present authorized T/0 is 0 and
mobilization plans now being prepared indicate a
T/0 of approximately r---] officers and men when
fully mobilized. The education, experience and
personality qualifications of the individuals required
to make up the communications organization are quite
different from those suited for other positions in
the covert or overt offices of the Agency. The
training, rotation and promotion policies to assure
the best communications personnel should be separate
from those of any one office in the Agency, and
communications personnel should not be required to
compete with personnel of any particular office either
professionally or numerically (refers to percentages
of promotion quotas,etc.).
(f) In view of the title commonly used throughout
the Government to indicate the senior individual in a
department or agency's communications organization,
and the fact that the head of CIA's communications must
be in a position to deal with these individuals on equal
terms with other agencies, it is recommended that the
title "Chief, Communications" be utilized regardless of
the location of this office in the Agency organizational
structure. Such title also serves to subordinate some-
what communications to the operational offices it serves,
as Assistant Director is generally considered senior-to
any chief.
rn C
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/19: CIA-RDP84-00499R000700130021-3