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5Eeft:g'f - tJ.5. F.fE5 OHL¥ 

SUBJECT NUMBER 

USCIB: 25./1 

Subject.: 

Item B (Not on Agenda) for the 114th Meeting of USCIB, 

held on 8 April 1955. 

NSA Research and Development Program. 

GENERAL CANINE, ref erring to charter provisions which require that 

he inform the Board of his intent to adopt a new policy, stated that he 

has an opportunity to get 10,000 sq. ft. of floor space at the NSA School 

on R Street which he is considering obtaining for use in work on 

unclassified R and D projects. He said that there is a tremendous 

amount of unclassified work to be done in the R and D field, and that he 

often has difficulty in obtaining qualified engineers when they realize 

that a complete security investigation is a prerequisite for the job. 'By 

being able to offer employment on unclassified work, without security 

clearance, he said that he believed. it possible to increase his R and D 

effort. It is therefore his intention, he said, unless the Board 

violently objects, to approve the staff study which has been prepared for 

him on this subject and set the wheels in motion to try this experiment. 

He continued by saying that he is anxious to determine the feasibility of 

the project before moving to Fort Meade in that it would be more 

difficult to operate on a trial basis at the new location. He suggested 

that if the trial is successful it may be possible to make an arrangement 

with, for example, the University of Maryland at the time· of the Agency 

move. 

The ACTING CHAIRMAN (General Cabell) recommended. that the Board note 

that the Director, NSA intends to obtain certain isolated space in which 

he intends to conduct certain unclassified activities. 

GENERAL CANINE asked if any of' the members could foresee possible 

difficulties which he had not mentioned. 

CAPTAIN TAYLOR asked two questions, the first pertaining to cover, 

i.e., whether the unclassified group would be associated with NSA or with 

some other activity such as, for example, OSD. His second question 

related to the association between the unclassified work and NSA's 

classified projects; he asked if there would be a chance that the unclassified group would be able to associate their work with classified 

projects of the Agency. 

The ACTING CHAIRMAN commented that the Director, NSA is undoubtedly 

aware of these pitfalls, which come under his responsibility to :implement 

this plan in such a way as to have it an unclassified activity. 

USCIB: 25./1 - 11 -

ursu nt to E. 0. 13 2 
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USCIB: 25./1 

GENERAL CANINE stated that both points raised by Captain Taylor 

have been and are being discussed. With regard to the second point he 

said that it does not present too great a problem because NSA 1 s interest 

in the electronic and nuclear physics fields is well known throughout 

the country. On the first point he said that it hasn't been decided yet 

whether the project could be unclassified if recognized as an NSA 

activity. He added that this aspect is being given further study and 

consideration. 

DECISION: (8 April 1955) USCIB noted the intended action by the Director, 

NSA as outlined in the foregoing discussion. 

The meeting adjourned at 1130. 

USCIB: 25./l - 12 -

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