APEX STEERING GROUP MEETING, 18 MARCH 1980

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00788R000100070034-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 23, 2003
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: March 20, 1980
• Content Type: MF

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CONFIDENTIAL
FRE
20 March 1980
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MEMORANDUM FOR: SA to the DCI for Compartmentation
FROM : Deputy Chief, APEX Control Staff
SUBJECT : APEX Steering Group Meeting, 18 March 1980
1. The 10th meeting of the APEX Steering Group was called t~_]
order at 10:00, 18 March 1980, with the following in attendance:
OSD Maynard Anderson
ACS
ACS
ACS
ACS
NSA
NSA:
DIA
DIA
Air Force
Army
viv I
COMIREX
COMIREX
SIGINT
SECOM
CIA
CIA
RMS
INR/State
Colonel Herbert Kamm
Gerald Berkin
William Deary
Chairman
Deputy Chairman
2. The meeting opened with the Chairman distributing a set of
strawman equivalency tables for APEX product and for the various
subcompartments. He commented that about one-third of the questions
we have received deal with equivalency, and promised that at the next
meeting he will have a paper on how to go about converting to APEX. Q
WORKING PAPER
DESTROY 20 March 1986
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3. asked whether we will continue to use COMINT
codewords. responded that we may continue to use COMINT
codewords simply because we can't do anything about them. He pointed
out, however, that the "U" is patently redundant, and that it signifies
,PC !C/-
NT
MI
4. sked whether there was anything fixed about the
order in w i the items appear on the strawman equivalency charts.
The question was answered in the negative.
7
5. A paper showing the changes proposed in the Industrial Manual
glossary, which were not made, was passed out. I advised
the Steering Group that the Industrial Manual was sent to the printer
this date, and it is expected to be completed by next Monday. He
urged the members to provide any comments they may have promptly so
that we will be able to make the'various deadlines and have the manual
printed by 5 May. II
6. The Chairman announced that a letter on the nomination process
for O.tems is being prepared and will be presented to the Steering
Group. The letter provides that the proprietor of the sensitive informa-
tion can stipulate the controls over it, e.g., dissemination list.
or only the initial group of nominations. repliie teat
the Final Report is explicit on this oint aragrap .5. says that
NFIB will review nominations fo
7? advised that he has sent a paper to the DCI
proposing that the Steering Group members from CIA, DIA, INR, and
OSD should see all nominaticns for0 if these members are to function
effectively. In addition, of course, the originators and processors
must know the content of the items. document he sent to the
DCI calls for NFIB review of items.
8. Mr. Anderson observed that he has determined that the 4-C
system will be capable of suppressing specific projects or other
information. He indicated that he objects to entering items of a
one-time nature, but favors a bigot list for long-term continuing
items. I commented that he expects NID annexes may last
for weeks or even mont s, but he would hate to enter lists for things
that won't be published'a Mr. Deary commented that two recent
apparent I ominations w is never were actually issued, did not
go before NFIB. explained that these items had been
National Security Council directed. asked whether each
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subset will have a discriminator, for example~SOMETHING?
aid yes. Each item will have an identifier, and
Law iirrv Items will be marked as
asked how ma eri wi 1 e handled which is
olely because of its source, like Blue Border-!
responded that some Blue Border will be res rictions
on dissemination would reduce its usef ness, an it is an ti ted
that an effort will be;made to hold such items to a minimum.
taff is constantly urging us to hold down dissemination.
Security Council Staff is adamant in its concern that we pass out
too much too highly classified materials in too many copies. The
NSC S
9. commented to the members that the National
10. The Chairman announced that nothing has been done about the
production of slides and cassettes for the APEX orientation, pointing
out that our choice is to produce those items, or produce the clerical
trailer for the APEX film. He also advised that answers have been
formulated for approximately 55 new questions on APEX submitted by
DIA. If there are any other questions, especially on conversion,
members were asked to submit them promptly. The Chairman wil s
out a consolidated list of questions and answers next week. L7
11. The draft working scri t for the secretarial trailer film
was distributed to the members. sked that if anyone
has explicit problems with the script o a vise the APEX Control Staff
as soon as possible. We will be committed on format and will be into
production of the film by the end of the week. He indicated that the
principal problem with the film is length. We are trying. to select
material carefully in order to hold the length of the film to 20 or
25 minutes.
12. The Chairman collected re onses to the draft secretarial
supplement to the APEX manual. commented that the supplement
will have to Fu used in conjunction with the manual rather than in
isolation. u
13. called on Colonel Kamm, who presented a
written renort on the proposed APEX seminar, to be held on 5 and 6 May.
I I advised that the APEX Control Staff is working with
CIA's Security and Logistics offices on arrangements for the seminar.
He asked Colonel Kamm to let him know what package is to be sent out
to attendees, and advised that he wishes the Working Group to handle
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that aspect of the conference. He also asked the members for
comments on the organization or content of the proposed agenda.
I lasked what the correlation is between item 7 on
e rs ay and item 8 on the second day. dvised
that the presentation on the first day is in en e to ur er define
the APEX system, while the second presentation will be a progress
report on implementation and a projection on how APEX is going to
be made to work. commented that the impact of the
conference on COMINT cannot be estimated at this time. She said
the SIGINT Committee may not be able to answer questions on imple-
mentation by 5 May. I asked that the Committee try to
do the best it can . r. ear- commented that the conference will
be the first time anyone signs an APEX oath. asked
whether the audience will have subst tive knowledge anduties.
Colonel Kamm and oth indicated that the ACO's
and ASO's will come from varied back rounds but many of them will
have substantive COMINT experience. I _j asked what access
approvals the attendees will have, and Colonel Kamm responded that
TK will be the minimum. 0
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14. The APEX Industrial Indoctrination Working Group was called
.
upon, and responded that the first meeting of his
rou
g
p
was held last Thursday. He believes that the members require further
information on APEX, but that an agenda strawman will be ready for the
15. For the SIGINT Committee
reported that the
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first COMINT Panel meeting will be held on,
group will try for a draft paper by.5 May.
Wdn
u
esday, and that the
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16. rged everyone to turn their attention to
identifying manuals w is will be involved in the establishment of
operational subcompartments. He requested a report from each Steering
Group member by the end of March on what has been done and what needs
to be done. He specifically requested written responses from the
collection system management representatives, but said that users ought
to be looking at the manuals they hold and preparing to express their
desires for the content of the new manuals. After the May APEX seminar
is over, he expects everyone to turn greater attention to the matters
of rewriting the manuals and formulating the subcompartments. Until
the May conference is over, not much can be done about these matters,
except by COMIREX and the SIGINT Committee. E-1
17. advised that his investigation of the
system -Wal p em is mu more difficult than he expected.
Although he thought it would be a matter of inventorying the manuals
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issued by the system operators, he has found that there are at
least 10 manuals prepared by various DoD agencies which are
extremely revealing of the collection systems. In some cases,
there are more than 400 copies of these documents, and they are
not under the program managers' control. The manuals, which have
been prepared by TAC, TRADOC, FORSCOM, etc., are all very explicit,
and they make the problem much more complicated than he had expected.
esponded that the Steering Group has never regarded
is problem as a simple one and pointed out that the form of the
manuals mentioned by ad been discussed at an
.earlier meeting of the Steering Group. He suggested that the
system managers might write letters to the issuing authorities
of these documents, advising them that they will be reviewed and
commented that these manuals were part of the problem that
e to the APEX goal of separate collection and product compartments..
These manuals, which apparently are not for processors but for the
information of users, can cause real problems. He expressed the
belief that among the members of the Steering Group thor are
avenues to approach the issuers of all these manuals.
18. also commented that the Industrial
Manual change paper disseminated to the Steering Group last week
was not properly classified and compartmented. He believed that the
Confidential treatment of this paper was inappropriate. He requested
that the paragraph discussing Paragraph 16 of the Industrial Manual
be deleted, or that the papers be forwarded to him for proper control.[
19. announced that there had been only one request
for the $1.7 million still remaining for APEX con-
version. submitted a written proposal said he
could use E o e remaining funds. Isaid that
he may have a competitive bid by next w 7 rged him
to hurry. El
20. Finally, the Chairman introduced I an NSA
officer who will be.joining.the APEX Control Staff shortly. The
meeting adjourned at 10:51.
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Subject: APEX Steering Group Meeting, 18 March 1980
SA/DCI/C b (20 Mar 1980)
Distribu .
William Deary, INR/State
Richard L. Welch, ONI
Maynard Anderson- OSD
DIA
Colonel Herbert Kamm_ Air Fnrc;e
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