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REF ID:A72498 

SBOHB'!' 

S'!'ATEMENT OF THE FUNC'fIOifS ~lID ACTIVITIES OF 

B 1 B 

(INTELLIGENCE SECTION) .... 

l. The Intelligence Section has charge or the distribution 

or SSD material leaving B Branch and takes care or the indices 

necessary for any reference and research work. 

2. The indices are maintained on. 3 x 5 file ce.rds,, some 

or vh1ch are typed and some or vhich al'e 1'..e.nd written. It 

is left to the discretion or the individual De.king the index 

whether he prefers to use the typewriter or to cake the cards 

in longhe.n.d. 

3. One or the most important indices is a name file vhich 

contains all names and biographical material deemed of interest. 

These names are secured from :ma..~y sources, the most important 

or which is the SSD Bulletin. Na.mes are extracted from the 

Bulletin bJ the members of the editorial staff. This provides 

excel~ent coverage as vell es good security in the.t ~t keeps 

the number of persons l'eading the Bulletin at an absolute 

minimum. These names e.re turned over to file clerks who make .: .... - the necessary cards, check the references, and make additions 

to already existing entries. ~his name file as such had its 

origin in March, 1942, e.n.d, therefore, lacks to some extent 

the complete coverage which might have been obtained had it 

been in existence prior to the outbreak of var. Entries 1n 

the name file include all the 1.c!.porte.n.t events in the lives > 

or the senders or messages, 1n addition to vh1ch the names or 

any person, ship, organization, abbreviation, etc., is en~ered 

eclassified and a roved for release b NSA on 05-20-2014 

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on a ce.rd. ?lac.es are extracted not only fl'om the Bulletin 

but from the New York Times, Federal Communications COI:llD.ission 

Reports, SSD Summe.ry Messages, O.N.I., MIS, e.nd Censorship 

Reports, current periodicals, and any other special or 

captured material which beco:n.es available. The objective of' 

this file is to give a complete record or the movements e.nd 

activities or any person, ship, etc., which is likely to appea~ 

in our traffic. We now have in our f'iles approximately 

50,000 to 60 1 000 names. Each ne.m.e is entered according to 

the ~..e.tionality of the person involved. To provide for those 

instances where the nationality is llI'..knovn, a mast"'er file 

has been constructed which includes all names in straight 

alphabetical order. 

4. I. complete subject index is maintained wherein each 

message is abstracted and filed 1n accordance with a decimal 

classification. The classific&tion used is based on eight 

tundamental headings as follows: general, political, economic, 

military, naval, aviation, psychological and sociological, 

and subversive and counter subve?'sive. ·lhe subject matter 

under these general headings is fUrt~.er broken down so that 

each ce.rd has a classification number of rou~ digits. The 

f'irst digit indicates the general heading. The second digit 

indicates the particular topic vi~hin thet genere.l classification, 

and the fine.l digits indic&te the exact type or reference 

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involved. ~Therever possible, under the J:lB.jor head:f.ri_gs, 

similar types or information are given similar classification 

numbers. Within each decimal classification, the cards are 

filed alphabetically. The decimal index as now being used 

includes most or the topics referred to 1n the British filing 

system and 1n addition provides for a more detailed classification. 

By following library and research practice, we are able to make 

our index flexible;and it may be expanded to meet the de::!!a.nds 

of special circumstances. !o de.ta, the SSD Bulletin is the 

only source of information which has been indexed. However, 

with the addition of more personnel, it would be possible to 

enlarge the file to include 1nforD.~t1on from whatever source 

derived without lessening the value of the index &.nd v!thou~ 

causing it to become cumbersome to the extent that mate?"ial 

could not be readily found. At the present writing, there are 

approximately 1,000 classifications u.~der which reference 

material ma7 be found. Based on the theory that cross~referencing 

is completely desirable, messages me.y he.ve frOI:!. one to ten __ ..i.-

dec:l.!!!al classifications. This insures the rapid location 

by those not completely familiar with the s~stem. 

5. We are now in the p1 .. .:>cess or com:piling a detailed 

subjept file dealing with only ~ilitary information. At the 

present time this includes an index of the co!!'ll:&uni~ues, abstracts 

Of J..rr..:y-i':e.vy intellicence b\:.lletins 1 I:i.P..terie.l f'1•or:. the VC.l"'iOUS 

battle orde~ sections of milita~y fntellizenoe, ~nd an~ :c:.a.te~ial 

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- available through reports circulated in this office. A 

separate tree.ty file is not maintained, but all copies of . current treaties ma1 be found in our file of State Department 

bulletins or 1n one of the many commercial publications 

available 1n our reference librar7. For those treaties the 

text of which is not available in SSD the complete text is 

obtainable from the Tariff Commission in the city of Washington. 

As with all of our indexing problems, ve are always confronted 

with the problem of security. That material which does not 

come to SSD through regular channels and which must be obtained 

for referenca purposes is usually received throug.~ the Special 

Bre.nch. We have succeeded 1n making man,- contacts with other 

gove:r;-nmental agencies in and around Washington. Unlike the 

British setup, we do not receive regularly from other governmental agencies biographical material which could be incorporated in our name file. 

6. Since OUl' primary purpose is to supply collateral information to the crJPtanal7t1c·and translating sections, we 

have round it more useful to have our reference files in card ..... - index form. In addition to the collateral information contained on the card, we have in some instances used word patterns 

in conjunction with the name itself. All the cards 1n our 

subject tile have a trigraphic system designator which enables 

those using the file to determine the· systea used so that 

similar ~esseges in different systems or from different 

governments may be compared. 

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7. The BSD .e~uivalent of the "Cabinet Book" is in the 

form of a card index of all diplomatic officials. These 

cards are made from all available sources, that is the 

Bulletin, newspapers, reference books, State Department 

bulletins, etc. The most important publications 1n this 

pe.rticular field are the''Alme.nac de Gothe." and the 

"Political Handbook of the 'World." This diplomatic list 

is kept by country &..'l.d also by position. Newspaper refe~ences 

to the various officials are not clipped. Brief reference 

note.tions e.re made on the cards so that the ane.lyst may 

refer be.ck to the complete newspaper file. An effort is 

made to h&.ve the cards conte.1-'l e.11 che.nges of position and ~. 

rank &lld e.ny other important u.terial. The cards are annotated e.nd changed as circumstances require. 

8. A complete ship file is maintained in alphe.betical 

order as well as by the country of registration. The ship 

names are obtained from O.N.I. reports, M.I.S. reports, 

Bulletin, Navy translations, and newspapers. The list is ... -·- supplemented by copies ot"Lloyd's Register or Shipping", 

"Jane's Fighting Ships", and "Merche.nt; Ships" by 'Ialbot. 

Booth. 

9. In place of the "Diary" we }'I.ave a. very comprehen~i ve 

chronolog3 by which we e.re e~..e.bled to give the be.ckgrounc or 

political develop;ients 1n e.n~ part of the world. The index 

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or the de.ill" CO!!'.mu..11iques pl:us such :publice.'tions as "Facts on 

File" and "Ths Bulletin of Interne. tione.l i~evs" provide us 

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with the means f'or obtaining a complete ri.ct\ll'e or happen:Jllgs 

throughout the world. In additionJ we have the newspaper 

f'iles plus such stand.a.rd publications as the"Nev York Times 

Index' so the.t on the rare occasion when we are asked to 

provide the complete background of' any developmentJ we can 

read.11~ turn to the proper de.te and source. 

10. Our "'Who 1 s 'Who" is incorporated in our name f'!le. As 

previously statedJ each ce.rd contains brief' references which 

enable the searcher to readily reach the underlying material. 

This f'ile is supplemented b7 the standard reference books. 

11. SSD does not receive "A Me.nual of Current Events." If' 

such a publication is availablaJ'it would be of' considerable 

use 1n our work. As 1n the case of' the British Library of' 

"'Who 1 s 1 ..'ho 1 s" our reference books are annotated whenever 

the publication~ are out of' date. The series published by 

the British Naval Intelligence Section called "Geographical 

Be.ndbook Series" appears to be comparable to those publications issued by our Oli'll Rydrographic Office. HoweverJ it 

is believed such publications would be helpful to this of'f'ice. - .... - The annual publication of' the Empire Parliamentary Association 

cailed "Report on Foreign Ji..f'f'e.irs" is not possessed by this 

office. This too would be a ver"f desirable publication. 

12. Important files are maintained of' geographical names. . 

These f'!les are compiled f'rom e.tlasesJ gazetteeraJ and me.ps 

supple~ented by the Bull~tin me.terial anc inf'or1:1E.tion from 

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five enlisted men. and thirty-seven civilians. Of this group, 

twenty are concerned with the preparation, editing, and distribution of the Bulletin with the remaining twenty-six 

devoting all or their time to the reference unit. 

Ivan Bash 

lat Lt. Signal Corps OIC Intelligence Sub-eection 

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