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USCIB: 9.3/35 Item 2 of the Agenda for the Twenty-sixth Meeting 

of USCIBEC, held on 25 February 1955. 

Subject: USCIB Ya.star Requirem3nts List. 

Th~ CHAIRMAN (Captain Taylor) introduced this item by referring 

to the Ad Hoc Committee Report on the Master Requirements List circulated as an enclosure with USCIB 9.3/26 of 18 February 1955. He 

said that, in his opinion, the report presents an excellent comprehensive basis for solution or a complex problem. He recommended 

that the report be considered in two major parts: The memorandum 

for the Chairman, USCIB, and Tab A as part l and Tabs B and C as 

part 2. On the subject of Tab B, he suggested that the Committee, 

when addressing itself' to it, keep in mind that the mechanism described therein is one which is open to further adjustment. The 

CHAJRMAN concluded by stressing the importance of agreeing on a 

method of attack and urged approval of the viewpoint contained in 

part l.· 

I I said heuW91ll.d.uu~ike to make it very clear that Tab 

0 is only the first preliminary dra:f'tandisnotPI'13sented with any 

idea of acceptance as is. 

After acknowledgmen~ lutheud:HA.i:RMAN 

expressed the members' gratitude to the Ad Hoc Committee for their 

work on the report under discussion and invited its senior member 

to comment. 

CAPTAIN HOLTVfICK explained the philosophy of' the report and 

concluded with three suggestions: two, he said, are of an editorial 

nature and one is a proposed revision of' Tab B. He passed copies 

of' the proposed revision to the members and invited comment. 

The CH.AIRMAN, turning to the general philosophy of solution 

as expressed in part l, suggested that the members be canvassed to 

ascertain their general feelings with regard to this portion of the 

report before discussing part 2. 

MR. PATTON said that he was not in a position to accept complet;el;v any specific part of the proposed solution until he could 

aee the finished product. He added that he would like the pa.per 

going to USCIB to indicate that USCIBEC had agreed on a method of 

solution rather than on any particular part of the report. 

All 0£ the other members, except the Department of State 

Melllber, indicated general conaurrence with the philosophy contained in part 1. 

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OGA 

Declassified and approved for release by NSA on 11-10-2014 pursuant to E .0. 1352a 
'l'OP S!QR81' '8. 6. ElYES ONLY 

USCIB: 9 .3/35 

MR. POLYZOIDES said that the report includes a great many good 

points and that the Department of State has carefully considered it the 

way the Chairman has asked that it be considered. It consists, he noted, 

of' three parts or phases: ( 1) preparation of' a COM.INT requirements list; 

(2) preparation of an implementation plan and periodic reports on its 

application; and (3) procedures f'or levying supplemental COMINT requirements and making adjustments thereto. He stated that the steps proposed 

f'or phase 1 appeared to be time consuming and wasteful. They would take 

months to complete and do not appear to add much to the present picture. 

He saw little difference between the proposed list and the current Master 

Requirements List except that the proposed list would be more complicated 

and even less relevant to actual allocatioh of COMINT resources, e.g.: 

it would probably contain some 143 generalized statements of national 

intelligence requirements grouped under 3S objectives as compared with 

67 requirements under 11 objectives in the MRL. Ref erring to the second 

phase, he said that he is in agreement. He also expressed general concurrence with the supplemental guidance portion of' the report. He 

concluded by explaining that the Department of State has given this matter 

thorough consideration and f'eels strongly that any solution to the problem 

must lead as directly as possible to development of NSA1 s implementation 

plan and actual al.location of resources. 

The CHAIRMAN, commenting on part 1 of the Ad Hoc Committee Report, 

expressed his opinion that it is a new and rather good approach. He 

said that it proposes a list of National Intelligence Requirements 

further segregated on the basis of requirements which are suitable for 

NSA to attempt to attack. It appears to be a much broader approach, he 

commented, than the old one or the one just recozmnended. He then asked 

the Department of State Member if' the approach contained in the Ad' Hoc 

Committee Report is totally unacceptable from his viewpoint. 

MR. POLYZOIDES replied that he could not endorse or participate in 

those proposals of the report which dealt with preparation of' the CRL, 

but that he did not desire to block a majority of' the Committee from 

proceeding with this preparation. He continued by saying that he would 

abstain from voting on those proposals, but would be prepared to submit 

an example of how the Department feels that basic guidance for diplomatic 

communications can be presented more usefully. This would enable, he 

concluded, continuation of work on the proposal at hand and provide also 

for consideration of' the separate views of the Department of State. 

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The CHATIUlAN said that the suggestion is fair and constructive 

and could well assist in coming up with the final answer. 

The Committee proceeded to review paragraph by paragraph the 

.memorandum for the Chairman, USCIB, and Tab A (enclosures with 

USCIB 9.3/26) together with the proposed changes presented by the 

NSA Member. During this review, USCIBEC considered: (1) \Vhether 

or not the list of USCIB National Intelligence Objectives and 

National Intelligence Requirements should be submitted to the IAC 

for their approval. (2) Whether to accept part of the report and 

forward it to USCIB or forward the complete package. l3J Contents 

and modifications of Tab C. (4) A proposal that the National Intelligence Objectives as set forth in DCID 4/4 of 14 December 1954 

be substituted for Tab C and forwarded to NSA as basic guidance 

upon which to base an implementing plan. l5) Whether to decide 

now on the manner of supplemental guidance to be furnished NSA or 

await results of application of the basic guidance given NSA. 

The members ultimately agreed to the following amendments to 

part 1 of the Ad Hoc Committee lieport: 

a. Memorandum. for the Chairman, USCIB: 

(1) Delete all of subparagraph l3J of paragraph 6, 

(2) Substitute the following for the 2nd and 3rd 

sentences of paragraph 7: "It would likewise 

be improper to require, except under emergency 

conditions, that the Director, NSA, divert any 

of the resources which he is employing to 

.maintain technical continuity. This Committee 

has therefore provided, in Tab A, for such 

changes in USCIB1s basic guidance. TAB B describes two alternatives for a mechanism to 

provide the Supplemental Guidance mentioned in 

paragraph 3 above. USCIBEC is still considering the several proposals in TAB B and includes 

it in this report only to illu5trate the nature 

of the problem and the solutions of it that are 

under consideration." 

(3) Change the last sentence of paragraph B to 

read: 11After study of this report, USCIB should 

advise the National Executive Agent as to the 

extent of the estimated additional resources 

it considers should be made available for CClllNT 

production in the coming year." 

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b. TAB A --

(1) Change the last sentence of paragraph 3b to read: 

"The CIA Member of USCIBEC is preparing a document 

from which it is hoped such a translation can be 

ma.de. II 

(2) Change "Recommendation" under paragraph 3b to read: 

11USCIB note that USCIBEC is preparing a draft of a 

National Intelligence Requirements List to be 

attached as TAB C to this report. This draft, when 

completed, will be forwarded.to USCIB for approval 

as a base from which a CCJ.1INT Requirements List 

will be derived. Concurrently, it would be anticipated that USCIB would seek IAC approval of the 

USCIB approved draft National Intelligence Requirements List, when completed, but not of the COMINT 

Requirements List based thereon." 

• (3) Change 11Recommendation11 under paragraph .3e to read: 

11USCIB designate USCIBEC to carry out this operatlon. 11 

(4) Change 11Recommendat.ion 11 under paragraph 3f to read: 

11USCIB review, and approve the completed COMINT 

Requirements List • " 

DECISION: (25 February 1955) USCIBEC (the Department of State Member 

abstaining as regards those proposals which dealt with the preparation of 

a COMINT Requirements List) agreed to approve, as modified during this 

discussion and edited by the Chairman, the memorandum for the Chairman, 

USCIB, and Tab A (enclosures with USCIB 9.3/26 of lS February 1955). 11 

USCIBEC further agreed that the CIA Member would continue work on 

Tab C (enclosure with USCIB 9 • .3/26) and circulate it for comment within 

two weeks with the understanding that the list, after review by USCIBEC, 

will be sent to USCIB for approval together with the recommendation that, 

as approved by USCIB, the list be forwarded to the IAC for approval as 

representing Priority National Intelligence Requirements. It was further 

recognized that approval of the list by the IAC may be a time consuming 

process. USCIBEC accordingly agreed to recommend that USCIB use the list 

(as approved by itself) as a basis for indicating which requirements 

USCIB believes should be assigned as COMINT tasks, thus avoiding a long 

wait in implementing the plan set forth in Tab A. 

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USCIBEC did not reach unanimous agreement as to the contents or Tab B 

(enclosure with USCIB 9.3/26). The majority o! the Committee agreed with 

the following changes to Tab B proposed by the NSA Member: 

"Paragraph 1: No change. 

"Paragraph 2: Delete all after subparagraph d. 

"Paragraph 3: Delete entire paragraph and substitute the following: 

113. The Committee is or the opinion that it would be 

:impracticable to set forth details of the mechanics or the 

mechanisms by which supplemental guidance is provided until 

after the procedures for providing suitable basic guidance 

have been implemented and been round to be satisfactory. 

It therefore recommends that the Director, NSA, submit the 

recommendations in this respect, as soon as possible, but 

not later than sixty days after he receives the initial 

basic guidance as provided in TAB A.11 

The Navy and Air Force Members did not accept the above quoted NSA 

proposal. They felt that the mechanism for providing supplemental guidance 

must be stipulated as part of the complete plan. The Department of Defense 

Member did not share either of the above two views on Tab B and will submit 

a third proposal. 

Subsequent to the meeting the Chairman obtained approval from all of 

the members to forward to USCIB the report set forth in USCIB 9.3/30 of 

4 March 1955 which includes the major elements of the above discussion and 

decision. 

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