SOVA EFFORTS TARGETED AT THE SOVIET INFORMATION REVOLUTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87T01145R000200180049-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 49
• Publication Date: August 12, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87TO1145R000200180049-4
CONFIDENTIAL
12 August 1986
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
VIA: Deputy Director for Intelligence
FROM:
SUBJECT:
REFERENCES:
1. Action Requested: For your information only. I am forwarding
the study you requeste ,The information Technologies in Soviet Society:
Problems and Prospects, which was prepared
y
under contract to Dr. Julian Nall, National
Intelligence Officer for Science and Technology. I also have outlined our
present research in this area and our plans for a fall conference with
outside experts.
2. Background: I recommend the study to you as a well-done survey
of the broad scope of the impending information revolution and its
ramifications for governmental policy and political control in the USSR.
We intend to use it as a point of departure for further analysis of the
impact of the information revolution on the Soviet Union's ability to
compete economically and militarily with the West.
3. We have planned our work in this area in the following blocks:
-- Soviet development, acquisition, and assimilation of the
technologies which pace the information revolution worldwide--
computers, software, microelectronics, telecommunications, and
information management systems.
-- How application of the particular technologies the Soviets plan to
employ will limit or support efforts to improve economic
efficiency through more flexible and capable approaches to factory
automation, economic planning, and industrial and information
management.
*') cvi
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Research on the implications of ex andin use of information
technology for Soviet society.
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Douglas J. MacEachin
Director of Soviet Analysis
SOVA Efforts Targeted at the Soviet
Information Revolution
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87TO1145R000200180049-4
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87T01145R000200180049-4
CONFIDENTIAL
4. Our work in this area will be helped substantially by two
external research contracts already underway: one
"Implications of the Information Revolution for Soviet
Society") and anothe
("Application of Computer-Based Control systems in Soviet
Industry"). Given Soviet concerns and past Soviet performance in
developing and applying these key technologies, we believe that Moscow
will again turn to the West, thereby arguably presenting opportunities for
the United States to influence directly the future course of the
information revolution in the USSR.
6. You may want to consider having Dr. Ivan Selin, the Chairman of
your Military-Economic Advisory Panel, organize and chair the
conference. Dr. Selin is ideally positioned, in terms of his substantive
expertise in telecommunications applications and his stature in academia
and private industry, to select and invite substantively strong
participants. I also recommend that SOVA establish and lead a permanent
CIA-wide steering group on the information revolution in the USSR to
support this conference and to coordinate further efforts in this arena.
I nominate Deputy Chief of the Defense and Economic Issues
Group, to lea e steering group. Substantively has extensive
experience in computer and information management systems and their
applications.
Douglas J. MacEachin
Attachment:
as stated
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CONFIDENTIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87T01145R000200180049-4
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87T01145R000200180049-4
CONFIDENTIAL
SUBJECT: SOVA Efforts Targeted at the Soviet
Information Revolution
DDI/SOVA/DEIG/DID
11 Aug 86 )
Distribution:
1 - Addressee (w/att)
1 - DDC I (w/att)
1 - DCI/DDCI Executive Staff (w/att)
1 - Executive Registry (w/att)
1 - DDO/PPS (w/att)
1 - DDI Registry (w/att)
1 - NIO/S&T (w/att)
1 - NIO/USSR (w/att)
2 - FO/SOVA (w/o/att)
2 - SOVA/DEIG (w/o/att)
1 - SOYA/DID (w/o/att)
2 - SOVA/bI/IT (w/att)
3
CONFIDENTIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87T01145R000200180049-4
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SECRET botcutive Re ;Shy
3404
28 July 1986
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Soviet Affairs, DI
FROM: Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT: The Soviet Information Revolution
1. Thanks for the material you sent me on the Soviet information revolution.
The paper on "The Debate Over 'Openness' in Soviet Propaganda and Culture" is
a well done and useful background; however, what I want to focus on is not
Soviet policy on openness, but the forces which will create more widespread
exchange and circulation of information in the Soviet Union through whatever
channels, government policies, and worldwide technological forces. I want
this analysis to be pro-active in character, searching for and stimulating
a greater flow of information to, from and within the Soviet Union.
2. I'd like to see the baseline study rovided for Julian Nall.25X1
I have seen the concept paper for the study to be done 25X1
I am anxious for the conference on this subject to be held this fall. 25X1
I would like your thoughts on subjects for this conference. I will think a
little about that. Among others I would like to have participate are Leo Cherne,
Zbig Brzezinski, Ross Perot, and Charlie Wick with someone from USIS. Get
subjects, speaker suggestions in this 25X1
exercise.
William J. Casey
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87TO1145R000200180049-4
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87T01145R000200180049-4
11 July 1986
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
VIA: Deputy Director o Central Intelligence
Executive Directo F____1
Deputy Director for Inte ligence
FROM: Douglas J. MacEachin
Director of Soviet Analysis, DDI
SUBJECT: The Soviet Information Revolution
1. Action: No action required, for your information
only. SOVA a number of projects underway bearing on the
Soviet prospects for modernizing information handling and
transmission and the implications of these developments for
leadership control over Soviet society (see the attachment.)
As a by-product of these efforts, we have secured or are
ing the services of a variety of expert consultants,
directly addresses your
concerns. In addition, has completed a
good baseline study for Julian Nall which assesses Soviet
progress in applying information technology in the
economy. Taken together these initiatives point out the
technological difficulty the leadership faces in this vital
sector, the benefits they can expect and the risks they
incur in modernizing, and o m the steps they are taking
to minimize these risks.
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DDI.. -p~3a~C/11 ;9G
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87T01145R000200180049-4
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87T01145R000200180049-4
2. I have commissioned an overview paper which
directly addresses likely development and applications of
information technology in the USSR, and the implications of
this development for political, economic, and social
control. I plan on having this memorandum serve as the
basis for a conference on the issue this fall. I welcome
your suggestions regarding specific confaren agenda items
along with potential participants.
3. For your information I have also attached a draft
assessment, "The Debate Over 'Openness' in Soviet Propaganda
and Culture," which addresses current leadership problems
and initiatives in the area of information sharing.
Douglas J. MacEachin
Attachments:
A. Research and Production on
Soviet Information Revolution
B. Draft Research Paper
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/06: CIA-RDP87T01145R000200180049-4