INFORMAL MEMO: SUBJECT: PROCEDURES FOR HANDLING DOWNING COMMITTEE REQUESTS
Originator: CIA
From: BRODY, ALAN E., CIA
To: BRECKINRIDGE, S.D., LEADER, JOHN L.
Document date: 02/09/1976
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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2022 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

Background Use Only

Do Not Reproduce

Admatatio - litornal Usa Onl

S. D. B.

copy

9 November 1976

HSCA

77-0007/9

INFORMAL MEMORANDUM FOR:

S. D. Breckinridge

John L. Leader

SUBJECT: Procedures for Handling Downing Committee Requests

Mr. Leader and I met with (Steve Hunt and Ray Reardon, OS, today

to discuss ur. Hunt'S experience on the Review Staff in preparation

for making recommendations concerning how Downing Committee requests

should be handled. Mr. Hunt made the following suggestions:

- Al? requests from the Downing Committee should be in writing.

- We should check on the tasking sheets formerly used by the

Review Staff.

These sheets showed who had the action, who received

info copies of the requests, and what the proposed deadline for re-

sponse was. They also were forwarded with a copy of the request as

it was received from the Congressional Committee. Each such request

was assigned a registry number. IMPORTANT: Be sure the registry

number assigned to

an incoming request is also used for each re-

sponse keyed to that request; i.e., as a reference number on each

response.

-- Sanitization guidelines should be consistent for all: Agency

components and

should be developed as soon as possible.

• Stembridge, Os, has had one discussion already with

Mr. Sprague/concerning security procedures.

- File Reviews: All files reviewed by the Downing Committee

should be kept in one room and should be reviewed in that room. The

Unrectorate forwarding such files should be required to send someone

to sit with the Downing Committee

staffers when the files are reviewed

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by them. The "file sitters" will be those people most able to answer

the questions concerning the material involved, and to review and

sanitize notes which the Downing Committee staffers may take.

notes are sanitized, we should supply paraphrases of the excised ma-

terial. All files and documents to be reviewed should be logged into

the review room.

Downing Committee staffers should be required to

initial for each file or document they read.

- Mr. Sprague and a few of his senior staffers should receive

an early introduction into our indexing and file systems, both those

of security and those of the DDO. This should enable them to better

understand what the system can and cannot produce for them, and the

time and effort needed to respond to their queries.

- Interviews with Current Employees: Such interviews con-

ducted by the Downing Committee staffers should take place in one

location in the Headquarters Building, rather than having the

taffers fan out to different offices.

leTicacy of this subject, it would be most helpful if staffers were

required to write MOR's concerning the subject matter covered in

subject interviews. It would also be helpful if arrangements could

be made before hand with the Downing Committee to delimit the sub-

ject matter to be covered in any particular interview.

-- Indexing and Control: The Review Staff registry controls

documents received from Congressional sources and forwarded to them

by recording the subject matter, date of request, and request number.

The registry also attempts to keep track of interviews conducted and

materials reviewed by Congressional staffers.

It would probably be

wise to establish a separate, more sophisticated indexing procedure in additi to

for the above described function.

All documents forwarded to the

Downing Committee could be indexed by having experienced employees

underline the necessary inputs and then forwarding the marked docu-

ments to computer people for inputting. This was done during the

external investigations when all such documents were forwarded to a

unit neaded by Linda Young, Bob Young's wife.

Having this informa-

tion computerized is an expensive process.

It may be more reason-

able to index the documents forwarded to the Downing Committee by

using a system similar to the one used by OIG during the external

investigations. However, we should keep in mind that, if we index

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only our responses to the Downing Committee, we may not have the informa-

tion on which those responses were based in a readily recoverable form.

--Mr. Hunt)asked that any system we devise should include forward-

ing a copy of the final response which goes to the Downing Committee on

any particular question to the component most involved in the preparation

of the response.

- The Review Staff registry needs a better Xerox machine than it

now has.

Distribution:

Original - S.D. Breckinridge s

1 - Mr. Leader

1 - IS

Subject (SSC-Warren Commission/Schweiker File)

1 - A. E.Brody Chrono

OIG/A. E.Brody :aal

3

Antatatia • Cateral Use Caly

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