ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NIS PROGRAM (COVERING FISCAL YEARS 1952, 1953, AND 1954)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85S00362R000600120004-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2004
• Sequence Number: 4
• Content Type: REPORT

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ARMY, DOS, JCS, NAVY and USAF review(s) completed.
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NIS PROGRAM
(COVMINO FISCAL YBARS 1952, 1953, AND 1954)
ARMY, DOS, JCS, NAVY and USAF review(s) completed.
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NIS PROGRAM
Fiscal Year 1954
1, This Report covers the sixth year of operations of the NIS Program
and reviews its broad accomplishments to date. The annex to this report
contains Part I -- a summary of NIS operations for Fiscal Years 1952 and
1953 during which no annual reports were issued, and Part II - an analysis
of NIS production for Fiscal Year 1954, The annex also includes Part III an analysis of replies received from the NIS questionnaire which was
formulated by the NIS Committee and sent to the principal NIS users by the
member agencies.
Review of the NIS Program
2. The NIS Program has shown steady growth and progress during its
six years of operations. It stands today as the largest and most comprehensive
intelligence production program of this Government. It is firmly supported
by the intelligence comaznity which is increasingly relying upon the HIS
to satisfy essential basic intelligence requirements. The availability of
a large portion of the HIS on Indochina saved invaluable time and effort
in developing the plans and estimates so vital in determining sound national
decisions during the crisis in that area, as the NIS did to the extent of
its coverage four years previously in the Korean War. Moreover, the
working files in the intelligence agencies, which were greatly expanded
under the stimulus of comprehensive NIS requirements, have provided integrated
Now, basic intelligence in depth to serve departmental and operational needs.
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30 The following are noteworthy production accomplishments of
the NIS Program during its six years of operations: the production
of more than 2200 NIS sections, representing 40% of the total world
coverage principally on areas of high priority established by the JOB;
the publication of NIS Gazetteers, comprising more than a million
geographic names, on 72 foreign areas; and the establishment of an
active maintenance program for the necessary revision of published NIS
and Gazetteers.
bo But the published NIS3like the crest of an iceberg, represents
only the visible portion of the great body of accomplishment which lies
unseen to the view of the casual observer. The published NIS is the
valuable end product of a complex operation. The published NIS renders
the essential elements of basic intelligence available for immediate use
to all who need to know. Back of these published documents are the
extensive working files -- the reservoirs of available basic knowledge
The previous approach to field
collection and file collation has been replaced by a logical and systematic
development of the whole field which comprises basic intelligence. Gaps
disclosed as a result of fulfilling NIS production requirements are
immediately made known to the field collection activities and become the
basis for direct collection effort. Files which had formerly been left
untouched until a requirement was laid on are systematically collated and
summarized under NIS maintenance.
5. In substance, the NIS Program acts across-the-board to guide and
stimulate field collection and file collation without awaiting crash
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operations to set them in motion. Moreover, the allocations of
production responsibilities develop a highly effective division of
labor consonant with the specialized capabilities of the participating
agencies. Duplication is minimized; existing capabilities in the
Government are used and strengthened& Fundamental in the broad
accomplishment of the NIS Program has been the drawing together of some
40 different government activities into a coordinated effort towards
a common goal.
6. To determine by comprehensive survey how well the NIS is satisfying
the essential basic intelligence requirements of this Government the NIS
Committee in December 1953 formulated a questionnaire which was sent out
by the member agencies to the principal users of the NIS. Some 350 replies
to this questionnaire were received. These have been summarized in the
annex to this annual report. Essentially, the scope and treatment of the
NIS are considered well balanced and satisfactory by a substantial majority
of users. Their most pressing requirement is a more rapid development of
the program both in additional coverage and in the maintenance of published
NIB. The replies to the questionnaire also reveal a need at the higher
command, staff, and planning levels for a brief summary of each NIS area
as a whole. This is being developed in NIS Chapter I, the first of which
was recently published. From now on a progressively larger number of
Chapters I will be produced as the related Chapters II to Ix on NIS areas
are completed.
Progress during Fiscal Year 1954
7. The NIS Program showed satisfactory progress during this past
year in spite of serious dislocations In the contributing agencies caused
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by stringent economy measures, Thare were many staff realignments in
the agencies resulting from reductions in force, with new personnel
replacements needing time to familiarize themselves with NIS procedures
and requirements. For instance, more than 40% of the NIS staff in State
were replaced during this period; yet State and Air Force almost attained
full production goals, while Navy exceeded its commitments by 30$. Total
production for the year was 13 NIS Sections, representing 82% of scheduled
commitments. However, many of the overdue Sections were well along towards
completion, so that actual production represents substantial attainment of
the JCS requirement of 8 equivalent NIS for the year.
8. The most serious production deficiencies of the year developed
in the CIA and in various producing components of the Department of the
Army. In the CIA, the Geographic Area
have realigned their capabilities to
overcome production deficiencies. The Army has a difficult task confronting
it in view of across-the-board personnel reductions and the fact that 70%
of all sections overdue for the year was Arm W's responsibility. The Army
coordinator has taken steps leading to the realignment of coordination
and production capabilities within the Department of the ArmV. In response
to a request from the Assistant Chief of Stafff, 0-2, the NIS Committee
has acted to reassign Chapter VIII (Armed Forces) and Section 45 (Health
and Sanitation) responsibilities to other agencies, and to cease production
of Supplement III (Telecommunications) in view of a similar requirement
being fulfilled by the Signal Corps Intelligence Studies. These actions
should ameliorate Army's situation, but it appears doubtful that Ara can
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fulfill its NIS commitments with its present staffs unless it rigorously
adheres to a priority for NIS work that will assure stability of NIS
staff components.
9, The critical bottleneck in the reviewing and publication work of
the program, which has been developing over several years, is rapidly being
overcome by means of more adequate NIS staffs, and by accelerated review of
Ni33 contributions. At the beginning of fiscal year 1954 there had acowm fated
in the Basic Intelligence Division/CIA almost a year's backlog of contributions
awaiting processing. By the end of the year NIS staffs were processing
material on a reasonably current basis. However, this heavy flow of material
has temporarily piled up in the special GPO printing plant. It in estimated
that measures taken over the past several months will remove this printing
backlog by mid year. A major problem in reducing review and editorial
processing to reasonable time limits is the continuing qualitative inadequacies
of NIS contributions, During the past year less than one-third of the
contributions submitted to CIA fully satisfied NIS requirements.
20. New efforts in the refinement and development of the NIS during
the year include the start of Chapter I (Brief) publication; the revisions
of outline requirements for Chapter U (Map and Chart Appraisal), Section 45
(Health and Sanitation), Section 38 (Telecommunications), and 62C (Petroleum);
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11, The NIS Gazetteer program has shown steady progress for the year.
Thirteen NIS Gazetteers, comprising nearly 300,000 geographic names, were
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produced during fiscal year 1954. In addition, the staff of the US
Board on Geographic Names edited more than 4OO,000 geographic names
appearing in NIS contributions. The NIS Gazetteers are finding wide
use throughout the Government, necessitating reprinting of older
gazetteers as reserve stocks were depleted throughout the year because
of increasing requirements for them.
12. The NIS Committee met 21 time during tie year. Its proceedings
were characterized by solid accomplishment and a fine spirit of cooperation
on the part of its members. With the appointment of a Colonel as Army
member, the Committee now has senior representation from all agencies except
the Air Force. The stature of agency representation is an important factor
in maintaining NIS control and coordination at the proper administrative
level, and in assuring the effectiveness of agency participation in the
program. The c.~ntrol and coordinating staffs in each agency have generally
carried out their principal responsibilitieo well. It is hoped that more
effective coordination among the sub-contributors within the Defense
agencies can be developed. This matter will be studied more fully during
the coming year.
!% or Problems
13. The full development of the NIS Program is a formidable task
because of the comprehensive nature of basic intelligence and the
cope of its coverage. Much has been accomplished in the six years
of operation but much remains to be dons. The major problem areas might
be said to comprise:
a. Organizational complexity
b. Intelligence adequ4v ,
c. Inter-agency support
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319 0msizational complexity is an inherent characteristic of
3.4 e s .
the NIS Program. Production responsibilities were allocated to existing
agencies3 of the Government rather than attempting to centralize the task.
There is no question that the allocation among the agencies in terms of
dominant interests and capabilities is fundamental to a healthy intelligence
community and, in the long run, provides better intelligence than would a
centralized capabil.:ty divorced from the exigencies and realities of
conrnand support. The acceptance of this method of production carries with
it the inherent problem of organizational complexity. The maze that is
government, particularly the US Government, leaves much to be desired in
organizational efficiency. Gradually, however, the situation is improving
through numerous working level meetings and the development of mutual
understanding and community of interests. The NIS staff in CIA holds more
than 70 such meetings every month - over 800 meetings a year - with the
various coordinating staffs and analysts in the participating agencies.
Likewise, the agency coordinators and staffs work closely with their own
agency components and with those in other agencies, cutting through
departmental barriers, and gradually improving the efficiency of the
production complex.
l,. Intelligence ads uac is the goal of all intelligence collection
and production. That goal is still a long way off for basic intelligence.
There are too many important gaps which remain unfilled. The analyses and
evaluations of the information that is available too frequently fall short
of professional standards. The field is so overburdened by collection
requirements of all levels of intelligence that even clearly defined and
readily available information must await last minute high priority requests.
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H r, the maintenance program of the NIS offers good prospects for
adequate intelligence development over the years. In the process of
revising published NIS elements, gaps-are filled by selective collection
effort, qualitative inadequacies in published NIS are brought to the
attention of analysts by the NIS staff, and comprehensive review procedures
provide for the attainment of adequate intelligence standards.
16. Inter-aged supoort of the NIS Program mist be reasonably
consistent from year to year among the participating agencies to achieve
a balanced production effort. The inter-agency allocations necessitate
a nicety of production balance and timing so that subsection contributions
my fit into complete sections which, in turn, make up the scheduled
chapters and supplements. Disruptions in the production flow cause
disproportionate setbacks throughout the entire production process. These
disruptions are mainly caused by uneven fiscal support for NIS requirements
and by the use of NIS capabilities for other purposes. Balanced fiscal
support for the NIS Program can be obtained either by means of a centralized
budget or a coordinated budget. The centralized budget of CIA now supports
the non-defense agencies in the program, and provides adequately for their
production responsibilities. The separate budget and appropriations of the
Defense Agencies, however, result in uneven capabilities for NIS work from
year to year.
17. A coordinated budget for the NIS Program would not involve any
change in fiscal support, but would ensure that the Bureau of the Budget
and the Congress are are of the whole program to the and that NIS
appropriations are related to production requirements of each agency and
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GO MENTTA.1,
earmarked solely for NIS work, In a memorandan of 22 August 1950 to
the Secretary of Defense, the Director of Central Intelligence euaaamed
up the problem in these words:
"If the vital basic intelligence requirements of the
Government are to be met, continuous fiscal support and
stability of personnel organisation are imperative,"
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