CIA Reading Room cia rdp84 00780r005800130037 7 pdf

CIA Reading Room cia rdp84 00780r005800130037 7

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Approved For Release 2003/05/05 : CIA-RDP84-0078OR005800130037-7 29 January 1973 MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD SUBJECT: R&D Board Meeting, Monday, 29 January 1973 Present: Messrs. Duckett, Walsh, Vattles, Steininger, Briggs 25X1 1. Carl noted that, in view of the pending changes, the convening of the Board could be considered a waste of time. Further, he noted a number of comments by Dr. Schlesinger, including his being anti-Boards/ Committees; some disbanding of external groups is underway now, including the DCFs Nuclear Panel. Carl emphasized the need to keep up discussion at the working level, to avoid taking backward steps, but thought this could be clone with or without the R&D Board. 2. Speaking further of Dr. Schlesinger’s direct or implicit observations, Carl stated the following: (a) in AEC, he saw to it that budget cuts impacted last on the laboratories; (b) R&D money is (relatively) easy money to come by; (c) the Agency R&D budget probably could be doubled to be at a more realistic level; (d) the Agency should move in the direction of expanded R&D; (e) compartmentation should be along substantive, not organizational, lines.

Carl said Dr. Schlesinger said that he would not focus much attention. at first on R&D (since he is somewhat familiar with our efforts) but would attend to other areas first (e. g. , DDP) . 3. Don summarized the TCC/Panel approach and conclusions, noting the charge to the TCC to focus on new initiatives, not on a status report on Agency R&D. (This in response to my statement that the ExDir expects an R&D report which takes account of both things that should be done and things we are doing). Don said that the 14 panels constituted reflect areas where we ought to be in the forefront. The questions now are: should they continue? Are they on track? Are there omissions? His overall conclusions were that there now is reasonable communication among R&D personnel and that there are no serious redundancies. If this is true, he said, it is something of an accomplishment.

However, there are areas (particularly agent support and remote devices) which are not well dealt with–the latter, particularly, being an area in which a total Agency focus needs to be realized. 25X1 or Release 2003/05/Q5: CIA-RDP84-00780R005800 f3UU3T 7 Approved For Release 2003/05/05 : CIA-RDP84-00780R005800130037-7 4. Solid state technology, Don said, is on the verge of an explosion– with dramatic implications for data storage memories, imaging devices, etc. Because of this potential explosion and uncertainty as to its implications, no recommendations were made with regard to these areas. The only thing to say at this point is that much interest, involvement and many dollars over many years is a logical pattern to anticipate. Carl made particular note of Dr. Schlesinger’s directive to him to focus on helti to the fl czt;r, au Walsh noted computer modeling work applicable to the latter. 5. Another area on which Don focused was R&D to assist the analyst, saying that we were doing relatively little to develop devices to help manipulate data.

Considerable positive discussion was generated on this topic. Also, Don spoke of the need for long-range covert communications R&D, noting that we appear to be in pretty good sha e fo q-lfl years, but speculating that what we will need is 6. Carl noted the need for improvement in focus in behavioral R&D. Some comment on recent OCI/OMS discussion of VIP publications ensued. Carl also noted the need for policy in the previously controversial bird and animal R&D field. 7. Bob Wattles spoke of the need to open and keep open internal dissemination of R&D information and planning . He noted some problems of access to information and of time conflicts in doing one’s regular work and staying aware of others’ efforts. Finally, he pointed to the need for more attention to human factors studies on man/machine interface. 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 Approved For Release 2003/d$I _~’: IA-RDP84-00780R005800130037-7 ~.f _r~ I_- i Approved For Release 2003/05/05 CIA-RDP84-0078OR005800130037-7 what then of Also, he said, current reservations by C/SB ro.

use of I heeds thrashing out since C/SB had committed himself previously. The upshot of all this discussion was agreement by the Board that should be reconstituted to update the 1970 study on emplacement devices. All agreed that policy re nuclear power sources was a fundamental subset of the study, Carl stating that original political concerns reflected too much mythology and that approval of operations using nuclear-powered devices in today’s environment was more likely. /s/ Charles A. Briggs Charles A. Briggs Director of Planning, Programming, and Budgeting Distribution: Orig – PPB/S&T Group 1 – DD/S&T I – A/DD/S&T O/PPB/CABriggs/mr4L2/2/73) Approved For Release 2003/05/Q G NI 1

• Creator/s: CIA Reading Room
• Date: 1/29/1973
• Book Topics/Themes: CIA Reading Room

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