penne Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030015-8 FOUO Star Gate Records Declassification 1.0 Current Status The Congress directed that Star Gate be reviewed for declassification and provided billets and funds to achieve this end. In reviewing the 20 year history of the intelligence community's projects in parapsychology, CIA concurs with the Congressional direction that the program and all historical information should be declassified and released to public sources except where national security policy regarding disclosure of sources and methods or specifics of operational missions requires that the information continue to be protected under approved classification procedures. In addition to the contractor reports that are listed in the bibliographies prepared during the Star Gate review (which includes all of the contractor reports that have been declassified already), there are 43 boxes of material related to Star Gate and its predecessor projects conducted under various government organizations that are now under the management and control of CIA. These boxes include 38 boxes transferred from DIA under Congressional direction, two (2) boxes containing copies of contractor reports (in addition to the contractor reports noted above) and three (3) boxes of historical CIA documents. The DIA documents date principally from 1979 to the present time. CIA documents generally cover the period from 1972 to 1977. The documents include a variety of types, e.g., contract records, remote viewer (RV) training records, RV inputs against operational tasks, internal reports, memoranda and briefings, open literature information on parapsychology and its interest to others, contractor communications, etc. Some of this material is classified (much of which appears to be over-classified) and some of it is unclassified and/or not marked. Twenty-three (23) of the 38 DIA boxes principally contain multiple folders each with a report of two similar types and most of which - 95% or more - should be considered as unclassified regardless of how it is currently labeled. These reports contain either: raw RV inputs as a part of RV training exercises [Type 1] or raw RV inputs in response to operational tasks [Type 2]. For both types of inputs, raw RV data essentially comprises handwritten or typed text and/or hand sketches/drawings which record the "visions" or “impressions” -FOUO Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030015-8
Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030015-8 FOUO that the RV is experiencing during his/her RV "session" on a particular task. For the training sessions [Type 1], the tasking is all related to readily available material or sources, e.g., describe a person (perhaps a notable politician or entertainer) or describe a situation or place which has been created by the trainer, etc. Except in those cases, if any, where the task description might telegraph intelligence interests, none of these data are classified. Certainly the RV inputs, if separated from the specifics of the task (which is the general Situation in the report folders) are unclassified. Similarly, the only data related to the operational tasks [Type 2] that is classified are those describing: the specific details of the* operational task, the tasking organization (if it is a classified entity) and/or the requested EEI’s (Essential Elements of Information). Again, RV inputs, once separated from the details of the operational task (and once again the general situation in the report folders) are clearly unclassified as they provide only random snippets of information and crude drawings that do not relate to anything classified in and by themselves. Thus, if the assumed guideline noted above regarding the Classification (or lack thereof) of the RV inputs is adopted, the major declassification effort will need to engage only the review and sanitization of: - the two (2) boxes of remaining contractor reports that have not been declassified already (38 in number), and - thel8 boxes of DIA and CIA material which contain documents of all types. 2.0 Resource Estimate The review of the RV operational input folders [Type 2] would require only assurance that the folder for each task does not include details of the tasking (usually the case) and, if it does, the extraction of that information for subsequent declassification review and processing. Subsequently, the classification marking on the residual RV information will have to be excised prior to release. FOUO Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030015-8
Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030015-8 . FOUO Similarly, but even less demanding, is the review of the RV inputs in the training folders [Type 1]. Here, as above, tasking details - usually separated - should be removed for subsequent review. However, in this case, most of the tasking information also will be unclassified except in those circumstances wherein the task might imply classified intelligence information, knowledge and/or interests, not a common situation for these training tasks. Review of both type folders to identify and extract tasking details is estimated to require 2 person-days/box (or less). Excising the classification markings on the residual information and completing the necessary records management information is estimated to require 1 person-day/box for records management staff and 2 person-days/box by administrative/clerical support staff. Thus, the 23 DIA boxes can be sanitized by an estimated total of 69 person-days of a professional reviewer (46 person-days) and a records management expert (23 person-days) plus 46 person-days of clerical support. The review task can be performed by a suitable contractor for an estimated cost of $30K. The two (2) boxes which contain the 38 classified SRI/SAIC classified reports that have not been sanitized can be reviewed for declassification most readily by the most recent contractor, i.e., SAIC. This contractor, in conjunction with the Star Gate PMO, declassified the majority of all of the contractor reports in 1994 and is, therefore, very familiar with the process. The document review process is estimated to require 38 person-days of contractor time to include document review, excising of classified data and markings, and the reprint and reassembly of sanitized versions for government review and approval. Estimated cost for this contractor effort is $40K. Subsequent government review/approval/recording is estimated to require 1 person-week of records management staff. The remaining 18 boxes of material will require substantially more time and investment. The 3 CIA boxes comprise material that has been previously archived and hence should be somewhat easier to review than the documentation contained in the 15 DIA boxes. In addition, all of the CIA documents are 20+years old and many can be declassified based upon that fact alone. The 15 DIA boxes contain a potpourri of documentation including copies of classified contractor reports (which may be duplicative and, FOUO Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030015-8
Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030015-8 FOUO as such, should be destroyed), open source literature, internal formal and informal memoranda and correspondence, program office status and progress reports, logs and details of operational tasking, etc. These data will be supplemented by any information extracted from the Type 1 and Type 2 folders noted above, although this is not anticipated to add much volume to the total. Review and sorting of these boxes is estimated to require 2 person- weeks/box including sorting of the documents into the categories of 1) unclassified open literature for destruction, 2) other classified material which is duplicative and can be destroyed, 3) classified material that cannot be declassified under current policy and must be archived by the CIA and 4) review and recommendations for the Sanitization and declassification of the remaining documents. Cost to perform this review by a qualified contractor is estimated at $120K. Subsequent records management and, as appropriate, sanitization processing is estimated to require 1 person-week/box for records management staff and 1 person-week/box for clerical support. Thus the total estimated labor and funding support to review and declassify the 43 boxes of material is: Records Clerical Contractor Mgmt Support Funding Staff (p-days) ($K) (p-days) 23 boxes of RV inputs 23 46 40 2 boxes of reports 5 30 18 remaining boxes 90 90 120 Given the uncertainty in the estimates above, recommended staffing and funding for the declassification process is 1 full-time records management staff (to also be the declassification team leader), 1 full- time administrative/clerical support staff and a contractor budget of $250K. The process should be completed in less than 1 calendar year. Finally, and in addition to the billets and funds above, a requirement for the services of 1 full-time FOIA staff expert is estimated once the bulk of the available documentation is released to public sources. Numerous FOIA request can be anticipated subsequent to this release of this information. Fortunately, most of these requests can be FOUO Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030015-8
Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030015-8 FOUO referred to the National Archives for processing once the declassified documents have been transferred. 3.0 Declassification Plan The objectives of the declassification plan and program is to declassify as much of the information described above as possible under an approved declassification TOR (such as in the attached draft TOR) and to release the subsequent unclassified documentation to the National Archives. Only those data deemed to fall under the specified caveats such as those noted in the attached TOR will continue to be classified and will be archived and retained within the CIA. Subsequent to approval of this plan, billets and funds will be provided to (for example) the Historical Records section of the Center for Studies in Intelligence to support the efforts of that office in the review, record generation, declassification, release and/or archiving of these documents. As noted above, extensive FOIA requests are anticipated once the information regarding this program is released to the public, so some funds will also be provided to that office to support responding to these requests. The declassification plan comprises the following tasks - assuming a 10/1/95 start date: Task Completed Assign lead for process to appropriate CIA organization 10/15/95 Develop, approve declassification TOR 11/15/95 Let contracts for review of contractor reports 12/15/95 Let contracts for review of all other boxes 1/15/96 Completion of all contractor efforts OOB* —= 7/30/96 Completion of government review and processing OOB 9/15/96 Complete transfer of all declassified documents to National Archives OOB 9/30/96 (*OOB - On Or Before) FOUO Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00791R000200030015-8