Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXXIII, Organization and Management of Foreign Policy; United Nations

273. National Security Action Memorandum No. 368¹

Washington, February 9, 1968.

TO

• The Director of Central Intelligence

SUBJECT

• Intelligence Information Handling System

The Director of Central Intelligence is requested to consider the recommendations in the attached memorandum from the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and take such actions as he deems appropriate to improve information handling in the intelligence community.² In this connection, the Director of Central Intelligence should prepare a proposal for the phased implementation of a community-wide information handling system to insure the secure and efficient dissemination, processing, storage, and retrieval of intelligence information.

The proposal should discuss alternative ways to manage such a system and present the Director’s recommendation. The plan should identify the costs and benefits of each phase of the program and include a specific detailed proposal for the first annual increment as part of the FY ’70 budget. The President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board should be consulted in the preparation of the Director’s report.

The plan, with the concurrence or comments of the State Department and the Defense Department, should be submitted to my office by May 1, 1968.³

W.W. Rostow

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, NSAMs, NSAM 368. Confidential. Copies were sent to the Secretaries of State and Defense, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, the President’s Special Assistant for Science and Technology, and the Chairman of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
2. Document 268.
3. A preliminary plan developed by the Intelligence Information Handling Committee of the U.S. Intelligence Board was approved by the USIB at its meeting on October 17. The plan and accompanying memoranda are in the Johnson Library, National Security File, NSAMs, NSAM 368.