OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH PRODUCTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T01762A000800030020-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Sequence Number: 20
• Content Type: MEMO

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CONFIDENTIAL
N 50-64
OCI NOTICE
NO. 50-64
OPERATIONS
21 July 196
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
RESEARCH PRODUCTION
1. The attached memorandum discusses the various types of research
done in OCI and establishes a new category of "problem-oriented" re-
search papers to be called Intelligence Studies. This notice is to pro-
vide a, formal basis for the preparation and issuance of these studies
as part of OCI's normal program of output. The procedures outlined in
the attachment will become SOP.
2. I intend to make the Intelligence Studies program as active as
our manpower will permit. Once production of a study is approved, it
should receive the same energy, care, and attention at all levels which
is directed to our present current output.
STAT
SI AT
R. J. SMITH
Assistant Director
Current Intelligence
Attachment:
A/S
STAT
CONFIDENTIAL
GROUP 1
Excluded from automatic
downgrading and
declassification
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A. Orientation
OCI research activity in the past has fallen roughly into three
fairly distinct categories. It is intended that these categories be
retained, though probably with various internal changes as time goes
on and certainly with the emphasis falling, as much as OCI capabilities
permit, on the third category.
1. The Handbook or Survey. This category, which in most cases is to
be considered departmental rather than national intelligence, is
essentially a compilation of relevant facts about a country or
region. It of course contains analysis too, but usually no new
analysis. It has generally been produced by analysts on regular
current intelligence assignments.
Past examples of this category include the old OCI Country Handbooks,
the Berlin Handbook, the Arab-Israeli Handbook (an inter-agency
product), and the Survey of Latin America. The last is, in effect,
a batch of 24 somewhat abbreviated and modified Western Hemisphere
country handbooks bound together and given a regional introduction.
Two other examples of research papers in this category represent
commitments on OCI. These are the Basic Intelligence Factbook
(now in process of structural revision)
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2. The National Intelligence Survey. The OCI contribution to this
national intelligence activity represents a formal commitment to
USIB by CIA. It is also, and necessarily so, a considerable
obligation on OCI manpower, since an analyst producing an NIS
section needs to be relieved of current intelligence assignments.
Thus, the 30 "General Surveys" to which OCI is scheduled to
contribute in Fiscal 1965 will each require up to six months of
an analyst's time; the 15 specialized sections (on "Subversion"
and "Public Order") up to four months each. The "Subversion"
sections have also been a principal DD/I contribution to intel-
ligence on the Insurgency problem.
Problem-Oriented Research. Papers in this category are different
in purpose and approach from those in the other two; Category #3
papers aim at the more effective consideration of possible U.S.
policies for coping with a pending development or problem--often
by seeking to identify and analyse threatening situations before
they become critical. The main characteristics making a problem
a suitable research subject are:
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GROUP 1
Excluded from automatic
downgrading and
declassification
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(a) It will affect U.S. national security.
(b) It is of manageable size for treatment in a single
research paper (under 50 pages of text and requiring
less than six months to produce).
(c) Ascertainable factual data, properly analysed, are
likely to shed new light on the problem.
(d) The tempo of the development seems such that a
research paper can identify its important elements
before a crisis occurs.
Another type of paper in this category might be an attempt to
reconstruct a critical development now past which had in it the
seeds of a new crisis; such a study would both re-examine the
sources available at the time and examine those that became
available afterwards.
Category #3 papers are different from CIWR Special Reports mainly
in the depth of coverage and length of perspective they attempt;
they have less need than the CIWR for being topical. They differ
from Current Intelligence Memoranda (or CIA Memoranda) in some-
what the same respects; a rule-of-thumb drawing the line between
memoranda and research papers in operational terms is that
memoranda are those papers written to a deadline of two weeks or
less.
Since it addresses itself to a more than normally complex problem,
the Category #3 paper is likely to cut across ordinary jurisdic-
tional lines and to deal with matters on which qualified specialists
may differ. At the same time, it is important that,the paper re-
flect the best thinking of OCI and the DD/I area--not just that of
an individual analyst--on a carefully chosen subject. The nature
of the medium, however, provides room for stating differing points
of view, although every effort should be made to resolve such
differences by discussion.
B. Production Procedures
In the case of NIS contributions (Category #2), well established
procedures already exist. In the case of the more limited regional
surveys or Handbooks (Category #1), the nature of the proposed product
is usually clear enough and the question of the OCI authorization is
likely to turn largely on the current availability of manpower in the
light of other needs.
In the case of problem-oriented research papers (Category #3), success
depends partly on a wide selection of new ideas for papers and partly
on a searching criticism of these ideas to ensure that the project is
worth the extensive investment of trained talent it will require.
Suggestions for all sorts of problem-oriented papers should be
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forthcoming from all quarters inside and outside of OCI. The counter-
balancing safeguard is a three-stage control system and the under-
standing that no substantial amount of work is to be devoted to a
project till it has first been put through the procedures specified
below and has received AD/CI and DD/I approval.
1. Initiation of Research Project. Suggestions of whatever source
and nature should be subjected to a "Preliminary Evaluation"
(see Attachment A), normally to be prepared by the analyst
principally concerned. In this a number of designedly searching
questions are asked about the project. These questions, though
asked primarily to determine the worth of the project and the
desirability of OCI's undertaking it at this time, are largely
those which the seasoned analyst would ask'.himself in tackling the
job, and the answers to them need not be lengthy.
After review by appropriate branch and division chiefs and special
assistants, the "Preliminary Evaluation" outlinei... will pass to the
Area Chief primarily concerned, who will discuss it with the SA/R.
After they have reviewed it, consulted informally with the DD/I
Research Staff, and made sure that any other appropriate bodies
have been consulted, they will make a recommendation to the AD/CI.
If their recommendation on the project is favorable, they will
also recommend a project chairman of appropriate seniority to be
in charge of the paper, though not necessarily to devote much of
his own time to it.
These recommendations (accompanied by the "Preliminary Evaluation"
outline) will be passed on by a meeting of the AD/CI (or DAD/CI),
the three Area Chiefs, the SA for Production, the Asst. for Special
Projects and the SA/R. If approved here, it will go to the DD/I
for his personal approval (with a copy to the DD/I Research Staff)
and if it obtains this it will be registered by the SA/R's office
in the DD/I Project Records System.
2. Mid-Course Check-up. Since even the best-vetted projects some-
times turn out to be less promising than anticipated, some form
of review in mid-course is necessary. Sometime before the halfway
point between the project's approval date and the anticipated com-
pletion date specified in the "Preliminary Evaluation," the SA/R
will discuss the project with the author, the appropriate Area
Chief, and others concerned. He will then report in writing to
the AD/CI's senior staff as specified above, and that body will
decide whether (a) the paper should be completed on the original
basis, (b) substantially modified, or (c) abandoned entirely.
Modification may involve either changing its terms of reference
and publishing it in the category originally planned, or publishing
part or all of it in some other medium--as, for example, a CIWR
Special Report.
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3. Final Review. After review by the project chairman and by the
Division Research Assistant principally concerned (or by someone
else designated by the Area Chief concerned), the paper will be
reviewed by a three-man committee consisting of the Area Chief
principally concerned, the SA/R, and one other member of the
OCI Senior Staff as specified above. The AD/CI will act on this
committee's recommendation after such further review by this
senior staff as he deems advisable.
4. Modes of Publication. There will be a standard format with a
distinctive cover and the designation "Intelligence Study No.
As indicated earlier, these papers should be under 50 pages long
and should require less than six months to produce. Distribution
lists will for the present be determined on an ad hoc basis.
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Preliminary Evaluation
Brief statements covering the following points:
1. What is the paper's major point? (Why is the problem important to
the U.S. Government at this time? What in particular needs further
light? What light would the paper hope to shed?)
2. What are the principal questions the paper seeks to answer and
what are the possible answers at present envisaged? (It is
recognized that some of these questions will probably be recognized
as irrelevant or unanswerable as the paper progresses and that new
ones will emerge.)
3. What is the nature of the available source material? (How much is
there? How good is it? How much of it is classified?)
1i. What other studies on this and allied topics have been published
recently?
5. Who are the specialists in the DD/I area whose advice is likely.to
to helpful?
6. About how big is the job? (Estimated length? Estimated completion
date?)
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