SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS AFFECTING TWO ALTERNATIVE LOCATIONS OF CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP63T00245R000100170009-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: January 1, 2000
• Content Type: MEMO

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/05/14: CIA-RDP63T00245R000100170009-3
jORANDUM
3 A LTT.~~ N C LOCATIONS OF C
The two alternatives considered are as followst
The first is to locate the entire agency in one
building or group of buildings at Langley, Virginia, about
a mile and a half frog the District line. The second
alternative is to locate something more than half the agency
within the District readily convenient to the other agencies
served and some smaller portion in a different building at
e truly dispersed location. It is understood that Colonel
White, Deputy Director of CIA, has stated tht:t.the agency
would be glad to locate some portion of-the agency at a site
meeting all dispersal standards.
The two advantages of moving away from the centrr
of an' assumed target area aret a) lessened risk of damage
to the :structure and personnel by a bomb blast and b)
increased ease of evacuation from the target area. The
Langley site is on exposed high ground leas than 2 miles
from the District line. It is about the same distance from
the zero milestone as the corners of the District. itself.
A circle with a five mile radius will easily include the
Langley site, the Pentagon, the Capitol and all of downtown
Va,ehington.
25 YEAR RE-RFVIFXnil
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c-.intact with oth,_ r FgFnci s could c= :.oar trd
itr.ir: -w&lkin distance of the State Dc.partmcnt .nn ?..it'r
pt' curs efficiency for all peace time open Lions.
...zt,oratories, long-range study projects ana other functions
not rc}ruiring such contact could be located well away from
the District.
In the event of attack there would be fower
aploy es requiring evacuation from the Watington area.
F egE!rclesa of damage to that area the agency would have
a substantial nucleus from which it could: carry
ar, its vital post-attack intelligence functions. The
dispersed branch of the agency would be small enough so as
not to constitute by itself a probable target.
There would undoubtedly be some inconvenience to the
-resulting`rom having a branch building at a disperapd
iocati on. This in-convenience in peace time op-?rations might
by no greater than that which would exist were the Nntire
r ric; located at Langley. Frbm the point of view of being
r ~t ta. against . v'-ry attack and c,)nsiderinL.: the security
?i . moments o post-attack op rat4 one i cepac' iity, ern
^r b n- doubt but th4.t to locata the agenc-. .t
be worse. than to locate the bulk of the agency witntn
na Listrlct ~_nd a part of it at a truly dispFr-ea sitf..
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The lessened risk of damage in'`locating apt L~+ti.;
comps red with locating within the District is slight. ' ;Thi s
is particu rly true as the size of the installation would
be large enough to justify special attention in any attack.
From the point of view of.increased ease of,
evacuation the situation at Langley ii not good: The
evacuation from Langley would presumably be by Route 193
leading northwest to Route 7 and then on that two lane
highway. Route 193 is too narrow to carry two parallel lines
of cars at any but a slow speed. Further, the four-lane
parkway would stop at Langley causing a major bottleneck
at the very point where CIA personnel would be imposed on
the evacuation route.
From a District site near where CIA is now located,
evacuation would be across the new eight-lane Constitution
Avenue Bridge and then by any one of several major highways.
There would be a further distance to travel from the District
but the better highway position would appear to compensate
for that. In short, the Langley site would appear to have
no advantage over the District from the point of view of
ease of evacuation.
The suggested alternative of locating a major part
of the' agency within the'District and a minor part in a
secure spot at a safe distance from Washington would appear
to have substantial advantages. Those functions requiring
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