NOIWON MODERNIZATION: YOUR MEMO OF MARCH 11, 1988

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00776R000500040020-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: March 24, 1988
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/29: CIA-RDP91 B00776R000500040020-1
United States Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT
Operations Center
March 24, 1988
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Charles E. Allen
National
Central
Intelligence Officer for Warning
Intelligence Agency
FROM:
Joseph E. Lake's-'
Director, Operations Center
SUBJECT:
NOIWON Modernization: Your memo of March 11,
1988
I believe it is important to move forward with NOIWON
modernization as soon as possible. Should it be possible to
shorten the implementation timeframe, or perhaps even upgrade
the system incrementally, this should be carefully considered.
Nevertheless, my key concern is reliability, both for a new
system and for the current system. The current system suffers
from degradation in voice quality; on at least one occasion a
NOIWON was terminated prematurely because conferees were unable
to understand each other.
My major concerns are as follows, in order of importance:
Reliability
The new system must be one hundred percent reliable and must be
immediately available in a crisis. The current system should
be maintained as a backup for at least three months after the
installation of the new system.
Speed of Activation
Any site should be able to initiate a conference in well under
one minute. One of the disadvantages of the current system is
that the White House operator must individually ring each
participant, delaying the onset of the conference. The 1983
IHC proposal seems to deal with this problem by automatically
ringing all sites as soon as any site picks up.
DEL: OADR
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Clarity
Voice quality should be excellent, even with all sites on
line. Occasional poor voice quality is a major problem with
the current system. The 1983 proposal includes use of the
current KY-3 encryption equipment and lines, which leads me to
wonder whether the new system would really improve clarity.
Simplicity
Since the system will be used in crisis situations, simplicity
is very important; there should be no complicated procedures to
use or numbers to dial. The 1983 proposal seems ideal in this
respect, since it requires nothing more than picking up an
extension to initiate a NOIWON.
Modes
Only voice mode should be supported. Anything else would risk
complicating the system and would make it more difficult to use
in a crisis. In addition, all current Washington NOIWON sites
except Justice are on the Washfax and SVTS circuits (Justice
will have SVTS in the near future), so these capabilities are
already available if they are needed.
Recording Capability
I believe institutionalized, system-wide taping of NOIWON's
could inhibit the free flow of information, which would be
undesirable in a crisis. If any ambiguities remained after the
conclusion of a NOIWON, a site could reconvene the call or call
another participant directly using standard secure voice
phones. However, since some centers tape NOIWON's on their
own, system-wide taping may be preferable in the interest of
uniformity.
Expandibility
Provision for future expandibility should be included.
Although I have no objection to including additional sites to
monitor NOIWON's, adding additional participants would degrade
the usefulness of the system and should not be considered at
this time.
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Other Considerations
The only feature not included in the 1983 proposal that I would
add is a display to indicate which sites are in the conference
and which site is speaking at any given time. This would make
it clear which site is providing the current information. It
would be more useful than the proposed recorded announcement,
which should be omitted.
State would require six phones:
-
S/S-O Watch Officer
-
S/S-O Emergency Action Officer
-
S/S-O Secure Voice Room (with speaker phone)
-
INR/IS/CIS
7th floor
-
INR/IS/CIS
6th floor
-
INR/IS/CIS
cell, 7th floor Task Force 1 (plug-in handset)
Drafted: S/S-0: GTDel
3/22/88 x71512 Waylg'SSOMEMO 337
Cleared: INR/IS: JFa
SECRET
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/29: CIA-RDP91 B00776R000500040020-1