LETTER TO IVAN WLADAWSKY-BERGER FROM DAVID FARNHAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90G00152R000100190004-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: December 4, 1987
• Content Type: LETTER

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ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
ISB Meeting with IBM (Wladawsky-Berger) - 12/10/87
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
OFFICER'S
INITIALS
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Executive Registry
7E12 HQS
FOR
I-79M 61 0 USEEDITIO PREVNSIOUS
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
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Central Intelligence Agency
ER 3912-87
4 December 1987
Dr. Ivan Wladawsky-Berger
Vice President for Engineering and
Scientific Computing
IBM Corporation
44 South Broadway
White Plains, New York 10601
Dear Dr. Wladawsky-Berger:
We are delighted that you will be able to meet with us next
week to discuss your company's plans for large scale computation.
Enclosed is some information describing the CIA, how we use
information technology, and the participants in next week's
meeting. If you have any questions, please call me at
Sincerely,
/signed/
Enclosures
1. Background for Meeting
2. Intelligence Community Chart (Orig only)
3. CIA Organization Chart (Orig Only)
DCI/EXDIR
Distribution:
Orig - Addressee
1 -
1 - ISM
1 - ER
(4 Dec 87)
STAT
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CIA Information Systems Board Meeting in
New York City during 10-11 December 1987
Information Technology at the CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency is an information business. We
gather information from around the world -- through clandestine
means such as human agents, through technical means such as
signals or imagery, and through open sources such as diplomats or
press reports. This information flows into our Headquarters
where it is refined through extensive processing and analysis.
Our product, finished intelligence, is then passed on to our
customers, principally the President and other National decision
makers. The CIA might be characterized as a specialized provider
of news and information services to the Government.
As our customers have turned to the Agency to produce better
intelligence more rapidly and dealing with a wider range of
issues, the Agency has turned to technology to achieve the
productivity gains necessary to satisfy ever increasing demands.
The past decade has seen an extraordinary proliferation of infor-
mation systems within the Agency. There is a strong corporate
commitment to provide every employee with the information
processing tools necessary to get the job done; today most
employees have some sort of workstation at their desk. We spend
a significant portion of our budget on technology which moves,
stores or processes information. We are dependent upon informa-
tion technology to fulfill almost every aspect of our mission.
To support general-purpose computing and corporate applications,
the Agency operates more than twenty large IBM systems (308X and
309X processors running VM and MVS). We have several Unisys
systems (119X processors) and a Cray for specialized intelligence
applications. The most common mid-range computers are Digital
Equipment VAX systems, also supporting specialized intelligence
applications. A large base of teletype terminals is being
replaced with IBM-compatible personal computers (using the IBM
3270 protocol). Some of our more sophisticated applications are
based upon SUN workstations. The Wang Alliance is our ubiquitous
office system, although growing numbers of Wang VS systems are
being acquired. Within our Headquarters, voice and data connec-
tivity-is provided by a large network of digital PBXs. We are
beginning to replace our dedicated telecommunication circuits in
the Washington area with an IBM SNA-based network. Similar
efforts are underway to migrate our telecommunications between
our Headquarters and the field to an X.25-based network.
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Management of Information Technology
In many respects, the Agency bears little resemblance to the
popular image of Government. The Agency tends to decentralize
authority and responsibility. The result is a "federal system"
for managing information technology in which corporate services
are centrally managed and customer-specific services are
decentralized.
The central services are provided by the Directorate of
Administration. The Office of Information Technology provides
centralized data processing and domestic telecommunications
services. The Office of Communications provides centralized
telecommunications between Headquarters and our offices overseas.
While many of our corporate systems are built and operated by
these two offices, neither has a monopoly.
Three of the four directorates within the Agency have their own
information service organizations. The Office of Information
Resources deals with information technology matters for the
Directorate of Intelligence, as does the Information Management
Staff for the Directorate of Operations and the Office of
Information Technology for the Directorate of Administration.
Due to the nature of the Directorate of Science and Technology,
information services are decentralized with coordination at the
directorate-level.
The Executive Director deals with management issues which span
the directorates. The Information Systems Board is an executive
steering committee which assists the Executive Director in
fulfilling this responsibility as it relates to the management of
information technology.
Information Systems Board
You will be meeting with:
Executive Director (and chairman).
Director of Information Resources (Directorate of
Intelligence).
Chief, Information Management Staff (Directorate
of Operations).
Director of Security (Directorate of
Administration).
Director of Communications (Directorate of
Administration).
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STAT
STAT
Deputy Director of Information Technology
(Directorate of Administration).I Ithe
Director of Information Technology, will be unable
to attend.
Deputy Comptroller.
Jim Hirsch, Associate Deput Director for Science and Technology
STAT will be unable to attend; his assistant for matters
pertaining to information technology, is attending in his place.
STAT Also present is an assistant to
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