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SCIE.N.CE & TECHNOtOO'l
bi1l33gS@
March, 1973
Vol. 22, No.3
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CD
and people
+++
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"VISUAL STRUCTURE NO. 98"
-
Management of Computer Technology
Social Implications of Computerized Information Systems
Computers, Automation, and Technological Change
Who Knows You: A Look at Commercial Data Banks
Engineering for Society
The Watergate Crime and the Cover-Up Strategy
U.S. Electronics Espionage: A Memoir - Part 2
Principles for Solving Problems
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TECHNICAL SERVICES
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Carl J. Weinmeister III
Robert P. Henderson
Mike Cooley
Donald S. Willis
H. Guyford Stever
Richard E. Sprague
Ramparts
Edmund C. Berkeley
IF YOU COULD PREVENT JUST
ONE IMPORTANT MISTAKE BEFORE IT HAPPENED -
- like the Democratic Party's mistake with Senator Eagleton
- like the Republican Party's mistake with the Watergate Bugging
like the West German government's mistake in not catching the Arab
guerrillas before they penetrated to the Israeli Olympic Team's building
like Southern Airways' mistake in allowing three hijackers with guns on to
one of their planes
HOW MUCH
WOULD THAT BE WORTH TO YOU - $100? - $1000?
more?
Our considered estimate is that 10 to 20% or more of the cost of operation of most businesses is the cost of
mistakes. (Just one foreseeable mistake that "Computers and Automation" made in 1970 has cost us $4000.)
WOULDN'T YOU AGREE
THAT SENSE, COMMON AND UNCOMMON,
OUGHT TO BE THE KEY TO PREVENTING MISTAKES?
J
In a number of the issues of "The Notebook on Common Sense, Elementary and Advanced", we examine
systematically the prevention of mistakes, such as:
No. 15:
Preventing Mistakes from Failure to Understand
No. 23:
Preventing Mistakes from Forgetting
No. 38:
The Concepts of Feedback and Feedback Control
No. 41:
Preventing Mistakes from Unforeseen Hazards
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COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
~
III
.s::
INVENTORY OF THE 36 ISSUES OF
- TITLES AND SUMMARIES
THE NOTEBOOK ON COMMON SENSE, FIRST YEAR
VOLUME 1
1. Right Answers - A Short Guide to Obtaining Them
A collection of 82 principles and maxims. Example:
"The moment you have worked out an answer, start
checking it - it probably isn't right."
2. The Empty Column
A parable about a symbol for zero, and the failure
to recognize the value of a good idea.
3. The Golden Trumpets of Yap Yap
4. Strategy in Chess
5. The Barrels and the Elephant
A discussion of truth vs. believability.
6. The Argument of the Beard
The accumulation of many small differences may
make a huge difference.
7. The Elephant and the Grassy Hillside
The concepts of the ordinary everyday world vs.
the pointer readings of exact science.
8. Ground Rules for Arguments
9. False Premises, Valid Reasoning, and True Conclusions
The fallacy of asserting that the premises must first
be correct in order that correct conclusions be
derived.
10. The Investigation of Common Sense
11. Principles of General Science and Proverbs
8 principles and 42 proverbs.
12. Common Sense - Questions for Consideration
13. Falling 1800 Feet Down a Mountain
The story of a skimobiler who fell 1/3 of a mile
down Mt. Washington, N.H., and was rescued the
next day; and how he used his common sense and
survived.
14. The Cu It of the Expert
15. Preventing Mistakes from Failure to Understand
Even though you do not understand the cause of
some trouble, you may still be able to deal with
it. The famous example of a cure for malaria.
16. The Stage of Maturity and Judgement
17. Doomsday in St. Pierre, Martinique - Common Sense
vs. Catastrophe
How 30,000 people refusing to apply their common
sense died from a volcanic eruption.
18. The History of the Doasyoulikes
19. Individuality in Human Beings
Their chemical natures are as widely varied as ,
their external features.
20. How to be Silly
71 recipes for being silly. Example: "Use twenty
words to say something when two will do."
21. The Three Earthworms
A parable about curiosity; and the importance of
making observations for oneself.
22. The Cochrans vs. Catastrophe
The history of Samuel Cochran, Jr., who ate some
vichyssoise soup. '
23. Rreventing Mistakes from Forgetting
24. What is Common Sense? An Operational Definition
A proposed definition of common sense not using
synonyms but using behavior that is observable.
25. The Subject of What is Generally True and Important Common Sense, Elementary and Advanced
26. Natural History, Patterns, and Common Sense
Some important techniques for observing.
27. Rationalizing and Common Sense
28. Opposition to New Ideas
Some of the common but foolish reasons for
opposing new ideas.
29. A Classification and Review of the Issues of Vol.
30. Index to Volume 1
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
VOLUME 2
31. Adding Years to Your Life Through Common Sense
32. The Number of Answers to a Problem
33. "Stupidity has a Knack of Getting Its Way"
34 and 35. Time, Sense, and Wisdom
36. Wisdom - An Operational Definition
.... 24 issues promised, 36 issues delivered, for good measure
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reading that I have had this year.
- Harold J. Coate, EDP Manager, St. Joseph, Mo.
Your concept is brilliant, and a welcome antidote to much
which is passed off as useful knowledge these days. Keep
up the good work.
- Charles E. Abbe, Data Systems Analyst, Pasadena,
Calif.
Very good articles; something all managers should read.
- William Taylor, Vice President, Calgary, Alberta
As I am involved with systems work, I can always use one
of the issues to prove a point or teach a lesson.
- Edward K. Nellis, Director of Systems Development,
Pittsford, N.Y.
Thoroughly enjoy each issue.
- David Lichard, Data Processing Manager, Chicago, III.
All are good and thought-provoking - which in itself
is worthwhile. Keep it up.
- Richard Marsh, Washington, D.C.
Especially like "Right Answers".
- Ralph E. Taylor, Manager of Research and Development, West Chester, Ohio
Your tendency to deal with practical applications is very
Irewarding.
- Jeffrey L. Rosen, Programmer, Toronto, Canada
'PAST ISSUES: As a new subscriber, you do not miss past issues. Every subscriber's subscription starts at Vol. 1, no.
1, and he eventually receives all issues. The past issues
are sent to him usually four at a time, every week or
two, until he has caught up, and thus he does not miss
important and interesting issues that never go out of date.
GUARANTEE: (1) You may return (in 7 days) the first batch
of issues we send you, for FULL REFUND, if not satisfactory. (2) Thereafter, you may cancel at any time, and
you will receive a refund for the unmailed portion of
your subscription. -
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I
To: Computers and Automation and People
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3
Vol. 22, No.3
March, 1973
Editor
Edmund C. Berkeley
Assistant
Editors
Barbara L. Chaffee
Linda Ladd Lovett
Neil D. Macdonald
Software
Editor
Stewart B. Nelson
Advertising
Director
Edmund C. Berkeley
Art Director
Ray W. Hass
Contributing
Editors
John Bennett
Moses M. Berlin
Andrew D. Booth
John W. Carr III
Ned Chapin
Leslie Mezei
Ted Schoeters
Richard E. Sprague
Advisory
Committee
James J. Cryan
Bernard Quint
Editorial
Offices
Berkeley Enterprises, Inc.
815 Washington St.
Newtonville, Mass. 02160
617-332-5453
Advertising
Contact
The Publisher
Berkeley Enterprises, Inc.
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"Computers and Automation" is published monthly, 12 issues per year, at 815
Washington St., Newtonville, Mass. 02160,
by Berkeley Enterprises, I nco
Printed in
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Please address all mail to:
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© Copyright 1973, by Berkeley Enterprises, Inc.
Change of address:
If your address
changes, please send us both your new
address and your old address (as it appears on the magazine address imprint). and
allow three weeks for the change to be
made.
4
cornI?,H~!!!:i!
and people
Computers and Management
8 Management of Computer Technology
[T A]
by Colonel Carl J. Weinmeister III, Lackland Air Force
Base, Texas
How a data processing manager can use modern computer
technology to do a better job, discarding principles that no
longer apply, and adopting new, more valid principles.
Computers and Society
1i
Social I mplications of Computerized I nformation Systems [T A]
by Robert P. Henderson, Vice President, Honeywell Information
Systems, Inc., Wellesley Hills, Mass.
How information systems are developing internationally, and
thereby greatly modifying and altering people's access to information and knowledge.
15 Computers, Automation, and Technological Change
[NT A]
by Mike Cooley, National President, Amalgamated Union of
Engineering Workers 1971-1972, Langley, England
How computers and other high-capital more-automated equipment are producing changes like: "1968 to 1971 - work
force, down from 260,000 to 60,000 - profits, up from £75
million to £105 million"; and what unions can do about it.
Co mputers and Privacy
18 Who Knows You: A Look at Commercial Data Banks
[NT A]
by Donald S. Willis, Fort Worth, Texas
How commercial data banks commonly operate, and how
they threaten the privacy of an individual.
Problem-Solving and Computers
6 Problem Solving
[NT E]
by Edmund C. Berkeley, Editor, Computers and Automation
and People
We must admit there are a great many important problems
that neither mathematicians nor computers have yet solved,
but which human beings have gathered some principles for
solving.
7 Principles for Solving Problems
[NT A]
by Edmund C. Berkeley, Editor, Computers and Automation
and People
Thirty principles by which human beings solve (or appear to
solve) problems- and perhaps computers may be able to
apply some of these principles.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
The magazine of the design, applications, and implications of
information processing systems - and the pursuit of truth in
input. output, and processing, for the benefit of people.
The Profession of InforlrUltion Engineer and the Pursuit of Truth
22 Engineering for Society
[NT Al
by Dr. H. Guyford Stever, Director, National Science Foundation,
Washington, D.C.
Science and engineering have a growing responsibility to the
public, especially to emphasize work on large-scale systems;
and engineers need to make a sophisticated contribution to
achieve an "ecologically" sound society. .
[NT Al
26 The Watergate Crime and the Cover-Up Strategy
by Richard E. Sprague, Hartsdale, N.V.
A report on the trial of E. Howard Hunt, James McCord,
Bernard Barker, and four other persons for their raid on
Democratic National Committee Headquarters in June
1972 using funds of the Republican Committee for the
Re-Election of the President; and the strategies of cover-up
that have been employed.
31 U.S. Electronic Espionage: A Memoir - Part 2
[NT A]
by Ramparts, Berkeley, Calif.
How the National Security Agency intercepted and decoded
enemy messages in order to direct bombing strikes in Viet Nam,
and often failed; and how the hideousness of what the American
military forces were doing in Southeast Asia finally led this
interviewee to resigning and terminating.
Computers and Puzzles
Front Cover Picture
"Visual Structure No. 98" was
produced by Michael Thompson,
Rechov Remez 1, Kadima, Israel.
He states: "Visual structures can be
explored by developing rules capable of generating them. ... The
rules which are stored in the computer determine how to fill in each
element in the context of its neighboring cells."
Departments
Across ~he Editor's Desk Computing and Data
Processing Newsletter
Advertising Index
Calendar of Comi ng Events
Monthly Computer Census
NQw Contracts
New Installations
40
30
38
46
44
45
25 Numbles
by Neil Macdonald
30 Problem Corner
by Walter Penney, COP
Key
[A]
[C]
[El
[NT]
[T]
-
Article
Monthly Column
Editorial
Not Technical
Technical
Corrections
In the November, 1972, issue of Computers and Automation, on
page 11 at the foot of the page, the following note should appear:
"Reprinted from, and © 1972 by, the American Mathematical
Monthly, June-July, 1972." We regret this unfortunate omission.
In the February, 1973, issue of Computers and Automation and
People, on page 1 and on page 4, replace "Vol. 21" by "Vol. 22".
We regret this stupid mistake.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
NOTICE
*0 ON YOUR ADDRESS IMPRINT
MEANS THAT YOUR SUBSCRI~
TION INCLUDES THE COMPUTER
01 RECTORY.
*N MEANS THAT
YOUR PRESENT SUBSCRIPTION
DOES NOT I NCLUDE THE COMPUTER DIRECTORY.
5
EDITORIAL
PROBLEM SOLVING
In the January 1973 issue of the American Mathematical
Monthly there is a letter by Dr. George Polya, Professor '
Emeritus, Stanford University, to an unnamed chairman of
a mathematics department in which he says:
As you may know, I am especially concerned with
problem solving ... That the role of problem solvi?~
in mathematics is not understood by nonmathematIcIans
and not duly appreciated by outsiders is not surprising
. . . [but] I heard lately that such lack of understanding
and appreciation led to denying a promotion to a member of your Department. I feel that there is serious
matter of principle involved ....
Problems play an essential role both in the progress
and in the teaching of science .... Problems play an
important role on all levels of mathematical instruction
.... Problem-solving is a perfectly acceptable and respectable professional activity for a mathematician and
can favorably influence his teaching .... If it is true
what I heard that your colleague's promotion was refused because he "only" solved problems and did not
publish, such a decision is unwise and unjust.
The basic mission of a computer is to solve problems.
With more than 2300 applications of computers (according
to a list published in the last issue of the Computer Directory and Buyers' Guide), it must be agreed that computers
- programmed computers - solve a very large number of
significant problems, or else the persons who have paid for
them would not have bought them,.
But if we consider all the kinds of problems that exist,
we must admit there are a great many important problems
that neither mathematicians nor computers have solved as
yet, arid may never solve. Such problems are likely to be
solved (or not solved) by human beings, using principles
for solving problems that have been gathered for many cen;.
turies by h-uman beings.
In spite of the vast numbers of problems, the general
methods for solving them are rather small in number, perhaps as many as 60, probably fewer than 300. On the opposite page is a list of principles for solving problems made
up some time ago, partly in fun, partly in earnest.
6
To me there are several very interesting aspects to that
list of principles for solving problems.
.
One aspect is this. For nearly everyone o.f those pn~
ciples, there actually exist one or more situatIOns to whIch
it applies. Take for example The Principle of Fate ("Allah
wills it"). In regard to my own death, this is the principle
I adopt, except that in my version of the principle I re~
place "Allah" by the "Laws of Natur~:'? t~e only s~lut~,on
to the problem "How to live forever? IS No solutIOn .
Even the Principle of "Not Invented Here" - for which I
have a hearty dislike - applies properly in some cases: ~
man who writes in to the Patent Office and says he has Invented a perpetual motion machine is not given a hearin.g.
A second aspect is this. Suppose we could make an Inventory of say two thousand kinds of situations that occur
the most often in the real world. These situations often
present problems that human beings must. de~l with. Suppose a group of practical engineers and SCIentIsts could
make a handbook of principles for dealing with these common, real world problems. It would be like an engineering
handbook, except that it would deal with situation.s. that
occur far more often than the situations alluded to In an
engineering handbook - or even a consumers' buying. gU,~de.
I think such a "Handbook for Practical Problem SolVIng
would be useful; and it would certainly save many mistakes
and many losses.
And it might even be computerized.
Edmund C. Berkeley
Editor
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
PRINCIPLES FOR SOLVING PROBLEMS
by Edmund C. Berkeley
The Principle of Ignorance ("what you don't know won't hurt you")
The Principle of Fate ("Allah wills it")
The Principle of Waiting ("everything comes to him who waits")
The Principle of Postponement ("never do today what you can put off till tomorrow")
The Principle of Procrastination ("if you wait long enough, the problem will take care of itself')
The Principle of Mr. Micawber* ("something will turn up")
The Principle of Pure Chance ("let's flip a coin")
The Principle of Nonsense ("let's see what the horoscope indicates")
The Principle of Denial ("there is really no problem at all - you're just worrying over nothing")
The Principle of Intuition ("let your subconscious work on it while you sleep")
The Principle of Willpower ("man has free will and can choose or not choose")
The Principle of Tolerance ("de gustibus non disputandum" - "about tastes there is no sense in disputing")
The Principle of Forgiveness ("forgive them, for they know not what they do")
The Principle of Departure ("that problem is not for me, and I am leaving")
The Principle for Dealing with Mountains ("if the mountain won't come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain")
The Principle of Faultfinding ("it's your fault it does not work")
The Principle of Poor Me ("nothing ever goes right for me")
The Principle of Excuse ("this is why it did not work - listen ... ")
The Principle of Not Invented Here ("any method or idea not invented here is n6-good")
The Principle of Action ("don't just stand there - do something, anything")
The Principle of Authority ("consult an expert, and do what he says")
The Principle of Experience ("experience is the best teacher")
The Principle of Trial and Error ("if at first you don't succeed, try and try again")
The Principle of Successive Approximation ("if at first you don't succeed, try some more - but learn from each trial")
The Principle of Theory and Practice ("theory enriches practice, and practice modifies theory")
The Principles of Calculation ("figure it out, compute it")
The Principle of Feedback Control ("every time the process strays off a little, correct it, bring it back to the desired
condition")
The Principles of Science and the Scientific Method ("experiment, draw conclusions, and test them")
The Principles of Systems Analysis and Synthesis ("take all the factors into account")
The Principle of Careful, Systematic Verification ("continually check all statements - they tend to get out of date")
* a character in David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, published 1850.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
7
Management of Computer Technology
Colonel Carl J. Weinmeister III
111 Yount Circle
Lackland AFB, Texas 78236
"To illustrate computer operations, one way is to imagine a three dimensional
planetary system with the various parts as orbital bodies: each body has its
orbit, and the orbits intersect."
Overview
Today's computers provide unique opportunities
for management innovations.
The creativity of the data processing manager is
a key to these innovations. Top and middle management also must provide thei r imaginati ve contribution.
turers' announcements to realize the creativity of
computer manufacturers. Technical enhancements are
announced daily. They are clearly measurable in
speed of processing and new technology in manufacturing. Miniaturization, especially in the mini
computers, is opening a whole new concept of operation. Then also there are the new peripherals
that include video display devices, teletypewriters,
optical character readers, large capacity random-
This article provides a departure pOint from
which a dialogue can be developed between these various managers.
"Am I running old-fangled computer programs on
new-fangled computers?" "Did the organization purchase a faster, more expensive machine to do the
same old things - faster?" "Even with these sophisticated machines, management still wants the
same old reports - why?" These are some of the
questions that plague today's data processing manager. Technology is almost overwhelming him; yet,
can he use this technology to do a better job? To
answer this last question one must step back, take
a thorough look at the setting, evaluate the challenge and set the course that he deems will do the
best job.
The Setting
The setting consists of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Today's computers.
Non-application programs.
Data base.
Application programs.
People.
T oday's Computers
Very little need be said about the quality of the
computers on the market today. One only has to read
any of the many professional magazines or manufac8
Colonel Carl J. Wei nmei ster III is presently
the Di rector of Personnel, Lackland Mi Ii tary
Training Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
He previously served as the Data Processing Manager for the Commander-in-Chief's Pacific Auto'matic Data Processing Group. Colonel Weinmeister
holds a BBA degree from Emory Uni versi ty and an
MA degree inPersonnel Administration from George
Washi ngton Uni versi ty, where he speciali zed in
the "people problems" associ ated wi th computers.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
access devices, and many other new innovations.
There is fast developing the concept of a distributed computer network where small satellite computers provide data for larger central computers.
The hardware daily gets better, faster, smaller,
and more efficient. It leads the pack. The hardware has always been ahead of all other parts of ADP
and it appears that it will keep out front.
There have been many attempts to illustrate the
computer operations, but the listener often gets
confused because of the subtle interrelation that
exists between the various parts. One way to imagine this abstract relationship is to think of computer operations as a three dimensional planetary
system with the various parts as orbital bodies.
Each body has its orbit and the orbits intersect.
(See Figure 1)
prestigious it should be because the executive software that the computer manufacturers deliver today
are a powerful extension to sophisticated hardware.
Some executive software treats peripherals like
core. Some can evaluate applications and see which
application should be performed first. Additionally,
if a high priority shows up in the queue, today's
executive programs get a restart point for the pro.gram that is running, clear it from core and put it
aside to be done at a later time.
Executive Programs
Today's executive programs accommodate time sharing while doing batch processing in the background.
Through the. time sharing feature they can support
cathode ray terminals, teletypewriter terminals and
other remote peripheral devices. These devices, entering the computer through the time sharing mode,
offer exci ting opportunities for future applications.
A third orbital body in our computer celestial
arrangement i~ the data management system (OMS).
This is the new name for computer programs that have
existed since the first time that two machine instructions were combined into a computer macro. The
data management system really combined all the computer languages into a common environment. It is a
hierarchy that begins with assembly language and
moves up the scale through JOVIAL, FORTRAN and COBOL
to the new higher level languages that use near English sentences and allow non-programmer people to
reach into the data base and extract the data needed
to provide information to the boss. Data management
systems also include those routines that do preprocessing, data checking and edit functions. The OMS
also includes communication computer programs that
link the center of the computer to remote users
throughout the world. It is realized that this
definition of a OMS may seem broad; but, when one
considers the items being advertised as OMS's, one
begins to realize that the new innovations are only
more sophisticated languages.
Computer Solar System
The OMS for each new computer is a powerful tool
that must be evaluated to see how far the hardware
technology has been expanded through advanced software.
The Data Base
Figure 1
In the first orbit is found the central processing unit (CPU) of the computer. This arithmetic
operation has become so commonplace that it is almost forgotten. The processor is a fundamental
part of the computer solar arrangement.
Non-application Programs
For the purpose of this discussion, non-application programs are simply all those routines that
are not specifically identified with one particular
computer program. These programs continue to grow.
They might be called the internal software subsystem that combines with the hardware subsystem to
form the operating subsystem. Notice that all of
these are "subs" because the total system is a composite of all the parts. Too often one tends to
think of one's part of the whole as a system. The
system only exists when all parts come together to
provide the products.
The second orbit in the computer solar system is
difficult to clearly delineate. It used to be called
the executive program. It now is called the operating system (OS) or some other prestigious name. And
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
A new celestial body has recently been discovered
in orbit in the computer solar system. It is the
data base.
Much emphasis in the past was placed on the computer and the computer programs; little attention,
if any, was placed on the data that provided information for management. In early applications data
was considered a part of the computer application
program. Each programming team developed its own
"systems" (computer programs) in isolation from
other programming teams. A large number of redun.dant data elements developed.
Increasini att~ntion is being given to development of common data bases. There is now a tendency for the pendulum to swing far to the other.
side. The establishment of data base administrators (DBA) are suggested. Some proponents go so
far as to suggest"data base czars just as AOP czars
were suggested several years ago.
Recognition of ' the data base as a component of
the information equation is a positive step; but
the idea of data base administration must be kept
in perspective. This administrator would be a per9
son and he would be responsible for the structure,
purity, adequacy and availability of data elements.
He would uti! ize a software package called "data
base manager" to keep up with what was in the computer data base and to perform checks on the data
as pre-processors do now. This data base manager is
an integral part of sophisticated data management
systems that are evolving.
The requestor in the new data base concept is
the person that uses information. He would ask for
a certain information product and the data base administrator would obtain it through the means that
he determined was most efficient. If the administrator through his data base manager discovered
that he needed more data, he would go to the logical
source and ask this source to provide the data. The
data base administrator would not be limited to computer data; in fact, if he is truly an information
scienti st, he will recognize that "all" management
data will never be in the computer. A key responsibility of the data base administrator will be to determine what data should be computerized and which
should not be computerized.
The concept of a data base separate from the application programs provides some unique opportunities for the creative thinker.
Application Programs
Application programs will be developed in the
following environment. The computer is a modern one
with an operating system that has the capability for
time sharing, multiprogramming, remote batch processing, and normal batch processing. The data management system includes the popular computer languages plus at least one near English language that
is operable from either a card reader or remote terminals. There is a separate data base under a data
base administrator who is required to know where all
data elements are. What is left for the application
program and what should it look like?
Application programs should retrieve data from
the data base, make calculations as required and
provide the product in the format desired. Some of
the best products from the computer will be one
line statements that answer the manager's question.
Others will continue to give results and provide the
background through which the final results were obtained. Others will, fortunately or unfortunately,
provide a thick printout that includes the whole
history of all transactions.
Priorities
With the advent of time-sharing, computer programs will be associated with the priority assigned
to the computer product. For example" a program used
in an airline reservation system that tells the passenger agent whether or not he can sell a seat has a
higher priority than the daily compilation of seats
sold that is provided to operations personnel. When
the programming team beg~ns to program an application, one of their preliminary actions will be to
establish the response time required. If an overnight response is satisfactory, a batch job will be
prog·rammed. If a faster response will be required,
then" the application may be designed to operate as
batch, remote batch, or from a remote terminal.
By use of the near English languages, one-time
queries will become more common. Some retrievals
will be eliminated and some programmed reports will
be replaced by queries. Some reports will be submitted only when something is wrong. Programs will
be developed that monitor the data base and advise
10
the requestor when data exceeds pre-established
parameters.
There will continue to be the standard batch processing of structured data bases but there will be
increased emphasis toward determining what management data should be in the computer and what management data must remain manual.
People
People are the most important ingredient of any
computer system and as such are the center of the
solar system. The creativity of man is what has
given us the advances in ADP that we have seen so
far; however, to offset this creativity is a tendency for people to resist change. When an idea is
new, it is easy to think creatively; but, as policies get established and industry momentum is built
up, the ability of people, and the industry, to accept and utilize change becomes less and less. The
computer industry has entered a level of maturity
where change comes hard.
The data processing manager is the most critical
person in the data processing organization. On his
shoulders rests the responsibility to establish
standards and stabilities while encouraging creativity. He must lead his people so that they grow with
the advancement in technology.
Some of the most successful and most senior ADP
people are now becoming obsolete because of resistance to change. Time sharing, multiprogramming,
remote job entry and other innovations have made
obsolete some of the very qualities that made ADP
people successful in the past.
Modern Programming Economics
Early programmers were taught to use all parts
of the computer because their program was the only
one that was running. If they were not ingenious
enough to use it all, part of an expensive computer
was going to waste. Today, with multiprogramming
and multiprocessing, it is desirable to use only
that part of the computer which is needed. The remainder can be used by another program. In fact it
is desirable to limit the amount of the computer
that a programmer can use so several programs can
run together. This limiting lends itself nicely
toward breaking the program into several parts or
modules. Modules can be programmed independently
and tied together. All of these concepts plus the
concept of the data base administrator require senior programmers to learn new techniques and unlearn
old habits.
The cost of computing power as compared to the
cost of people is another factor that must be considered in optimum utilization of the components in
a computer system. The cost of computing power is
going gradually down while the cost of people continues to climb. At some time in the past computer
costs went below people costs. Multiprogramming is
continually accelerating this separation. In today's
typical computer operations, people costs are often
three to four times that of the computer. The progressive data processing manager should consider
offsetting some of his high people costs with lower
computer costs.
The Challenge
With all the factors described above, let's return to the original challenge, "Can the data pro(please turn to page 24)
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
Social Implications of
Computerized Information Systems
Robert P. Henderson
Vice President and General Manager
North American Operations
Honeywell Information Systems, Inc.
60 Walnut St.
Wellesley Hills, Mass. 02181
"There are literally two directions in which computerized data banks can
take us. One leads toward a radical realignment of knowledge and power
where the controlling interests have little or no regard for human values.
The other path enlists computers in expanding knowledge for the benefit
of all ... to help cope with the complexities of modern life."
The information industry is worldwide in nature.
And the entire question of social responsibility of
computerized information systems is one which must
concern all of us.
Apart from glaring exceptions brought about mainly by political considerations, the flow of information is worldwide and is not hindered by national
boundaries. And even these political barriers to
communication are being removed. Slowly, of course,
but removed just the same.
Multinational Companies
Besides political rapprochement, one of the most
significant forces in the internationalization of
information is the multinational company. Although
many people tend to think of the multinational company, or MNC, as an American institution, they are
of course as old as trade itself. Many of the larger
and more influential of the MNCs are headquartered
outside the United States, such as Shell, Lever,
Nestle, Bayer. Even Canada has made its contributions to the list of multinationals with such companies as Massey Ferguson and Alcan.
The point is that these companies operate on a
worldwide basis and thus transmit and receive data
around the globe. Whatever else they might be, and
I think that they are generally a force for good,
the MNCs have certainly contributed to the worldwide
information flow and the worldwide need for equipment to process this information.
To put some of these thoughts in the realm of
reality, I would point out that Honeywell manufactures computers and computer-related equipment in
the United States, Canada, the U.K., France, Italy
and Germany. Our products and services are sold in
more than 50 countries.
Specific examples of internationalized information flow include our time sharing network in Europe. A customer dials up the network on his telephone and his input is transmitted by satellite to
Based on a speech delivered before the Royal Canadian Institute,
Toronto, Canada, November 25, 1972.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION forMarch, 1973
a computer center in Cleveland, Ohio for processing.
It is then sent back to Europe and the customer via
the same satellite. Many of our customers are multinational companies. Such well-known names as S.C.
Johnson, Ford, General Motors, American Express and
Kennicott use Honeywell computers around the world,
often communicating with each other.
Worldwide Problems
So it is clear that both information flow, and
the need and use of equipment to handle this flow,
is worldwide in scope. It is for this reason that
problems, both real and potential, arising from computerized information systems must be dealt with on
a worldwide basis.
For simplicity I would like to examine two basic
areas: (1) privacy; (2) all other social implications of computerized information systems. By this
division, I do not mean to imply that privacy is
the most important consideration. But the issue of
privacy has been given a great deal of treatment in
the general and trade media in the past few years
and because of its notoriety, I think it deserves
some special attention.
A Question of Use
Even the most vocal and vehement defenders of the
rights of privacy concede that the computer in itself is not at fault. It is a passive instrument -it can do only what it is told to do by human beings.
Therefore what is being urged, and in many quarters
demanded, is not the abolition of the computer, but
that action be taken regarding the use of computers
and their data banks.
By his very nature man is a hoarder'of information, particularly about his fellow man. In our
complex society, neith~r government nor business
could function without the ability to receive, digest, process and store vast amounts of data. The
computer makes this possible.
Each person leaves an ever-increasing trail of
statistical infQrmation about himself from birth
to death; and in this era of the credit card,
scarcely a day goes by when the average person does
11
not deposit in some computer's records a business
transaction at a store, restaurant or gas station.
Much of the material now being fed into computers and data banks has been on record for years, including data relative to birth, schooling, employment, social security, military service, marriage,
insurance, courts, hospitals, credit bureaus,
churches, clubs and taxes. Many vital decisions regarding jobs, housing, education, etc. are in part
determined by the data we have said about ourselves
and what others have said about us.
Public Concern - Growing
Despit& the obviou~ significance of this storehouse of personal information, usually held by unknown third parties, until recently there has been
little public concern about it. There were two primary reasons: First, until the advent of the computer, the data was scattered around in many different places among many different organizations. Hence
its quantity and use never seemed too threatening.
Second, most people are quite willing to tell their
life stories (or the life story of a neighbor) to
almost anyone who appears to have a quasi-legitimate
need for this information.
The past several years, however, have seen a new
concern mounted over the volume and availability of
these personal files, and the computer is the reason
for it. With the computer, and its abilities such
as time sharing and communication with other computers, the old practical limits of time, effort and
cost on the size of manual files have been eliminated. The unprecedented efficiency of the computer
in storing, processing, manipulating and disseminating information has created central, highly detailed
and easily available dossiers on millions of individuals.
"Privacy" and "Security": Two Distinct Issues
In considering the problems that arise from keeping computerized records, many people use the words
"privacy" and "security" interchangeably. In fact
there is a great deal of difference between the two
and different parties must be responsible for each.
In his widely read book, Privacy and Freedom, Prof.
Alan Westin described privacy as "the claim of individuals, groups or institutions to determine for
themselves when, how and what information about them
is communicated to others." In relation to computers, security is the means taken to insure the privacy of the information once it is contained in a
data bank. Privacy is a legal, political and philosophical concept and its guarantee properly belongs
in the domain of government. Security is a matter
of equipment and technique, which is the,province of
the computer manufacturer. The users of computers
should assume responsibility for both privacy and
security.
The computer industry today can provide a large
number of security devices and systems to guard
against the unauthorized use of private information
within data banks, and it is working on many more.
Such developments have taken place in both the hardware and software areas of electronic data processi ng • Here are some ex.ampl es :
Possible Security Devices
Encoding consists of scrambling data transmission
'so that intercepted messages will be unintelligible
unless the interceptor has the code. In principle,
data on such storage devices as magnetic tape or
discs also can be in cryptographic form.
12
A number of security devices, however, are designed to prevent unauthorized persons from getting
to the encoded information. These constitute systems requiring positive identification of anyone
seeking access to the files and the information in
question.
The security of the computer room itself is relatively easy to achieve, and yet many installations
make the mistake of maintaining a showplace atmosphere behind plate glass windows. The computer room
is not an area for casual visitors or even the mass
of employees. Aside from privacy considerations,
business and government organizations must keep in
mind the danger of destruction of vital records by
natural disaster or sabotage.
The best location for a computer room is one of
isolation from other work areas. It should be fireproof, of course, and for extra protection all files
and programs should be stored in a separate room.
Never before has it been possible to concentrate so
much vital information about an organization in one
spot, so the need for the right location and design
is imperative. Once that has been accomplished, the
usual protective measures of guards, locks, special
passes and badges should be enough to secure the
computer room.
Time-Sharing Requires Remote Security
The most serious problems result from time sharing or remote entry systems, where the user of the
computer may be working from a terminal many miles
away, and hence beyond the control which can be
maintained at the site of the computer.
The most common remote security measure today requires passwords to identify a user. Nearly all
time sharing systems use passwords for entry today
-- a vital need in many instances where two or more
competitors may be tied into the same timesharing
system and each want to protect his own files.
A password program can be as simple as an entry
code name which can be checked and verified against
the computer's files, or as complicated as a long
series of questions which only an authorized user
can answer -- about birthdays, pets' names, grandparents' names, or anything else.
We can also limit not only who has access to a
file, but also who can alter a file. The input can
also be controlled by designing a format that will
accept only certain types of information. A credit
bureau or government agency, for example, may be allowed to store information pertaining to age, marital status 'and income, but not political affiliation,
reading habits or health problems. By designing the
software to permit only specific data, extraneous
information will not be accepted. However, this
feature is a function of the user, since software
programs designed by the manufacturer can be al tered.
It is thus the user's responsibility to enforce a
restricted software format in order to limit file
input.
Nevertheless, a wide variety of ingenious safeguards against unauthorized access via remote terminal is available or under development. The simplest security device is a lock on the terminal so
that it will not operate until keys are punched in
a special sequence, or a special key or card is inserted into the terminal. More elaborate devices to
identify the user, including voice prints, fingerprint scanners and picture phones are under study.
Their feasibility and their economics have yet to be
positively determined.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
~
"Branch" and "Ring" Security Systems
The data base of a computer's memory can be
structured like a tree, with data leaves on its various branches. The system would make security
checks on the user at each junction of a branch to
the tree trunk, User A, for example, may be authorized for access to only one certain portion of the
computer's memory or files of information. When he
arrives at that particular junction, his identity
will be checked and he will be allowed to examine
the data leaves on that branch. If he attempts to
access the computer's files at any other junction,
his identity will not match and he will be denied
entry. This system would allow a computer customer
to position his checks at various junctions as he
.desires.
To guard particular critical information, a user
might be asked for further identification at the appropriate junction.
Another system under development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in conjunction with
Honeywell, employs what are called "Rings of Protection". In addition to the tree or pyramid structure
of conventional data bases, the ring structure is
built like concentric circles. Thus segments of the
system containing sensitive informationiC:an be
placed in a privileged ring together with programs
which process, update and extract this information
in a carefully prescribed and controlled fashion,
A subscriber is allowed to enter a ring only at
a carefully defined point, and once he enters a
ring the way the information is processed and handled is completely beyond his control. Further, the
user's movements are controlled, i.e, he is prevented
from moving elsewhere, even within that ring. New,
updated computer hardware has just been delivered to
MIT so development work can continue.
Another feature designed to maintain the security
of files is an audit-monitor to record the identity
of the person who requested access to information,
as well as when and for how long. The audit-monitor
system can note abnormal patterns or frequencies of
any given file being accessed, and it can record attempts to access a file which were foiled by other
security systems.
This is only a sampling of security measures
available today or being studied. There are many
other devices including signature recognition devices and typewriters which conceal the typed information so that an unauthorized individual cannrit
read a password by looking over a user's shoulder.
The problem will not have been solved even when,
or if, an absolutely 100 per cent secure system is
devised, because ultimately it is the people who
operate the system who are responsible.
Maintaining Privacy: The User's Responsibility
It was said earlier that the manufacturer of computer systems is responsible for the provision of
security devices required to maintain the privacy of
the files (or at lea st to elevate the level of security to the point where the cost of breaking the
security is greater than the value of the information being sought, or greater than the cost of more
mundane approaches such as bribery). Actually maintaining that privacy is the responsibility of the
user.
It is appropriate to speculate on what the government may demand of the computer user in relation
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
to the privacy issue, and to consider preparatory
steps that should be taken now by these users. Such
preparation is expedient for several reasons. First,
steps taken voluntarily will demonstrate to both
government and the public the good intentions of
the business community, and hence, business may be
in a more favorable position to influence legislation which is designed to control its data processing activities. Secondly, the earlier measures are
taken, the less expensive it is t~ implement them.
What the Government Must Do
The first step the government must take is to define the privacy rights of individuals in terms of
today's technology. There is no rear precedent in
our history for the situation as it exists now, and
in fact the constitution of the United States does
not mention privacy by name. Nonetheless, it is
reasonable to assume that any legislation regarding
privacy would have the effect of extending those
other rights guaranteed in the constitution.
The First Amendment in our Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and association. The Fourth
Amendment states "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall
not be violated ... " The Fifth Amendment has potential bearing on the situation. It forbids that
"Private property be taken for public use without
just compensation". The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits any state from depriving "Any person of life,
liberty or property without due process of law". It
is not unreasonable to assume that personal information is covered under "life, 1 iberty or property",
and the right to be secure in one's "person, papers
and effects" extends to personal data.
Of course the Canadian system is vastly different from that in the U.S., sinceCanada operates on
a common law basis similar to that in the U.K.
while the U.S. relies on a written and formal constitution. I briefly read the British North America
Acts and noted that privacy is not mentioned there,
although there are some references to general welfare. And in your system of common law, there is
no generally recognized right to privacy.
Blanket Law on Privacy Premature?
The Canadian Business Equipment Manufacturers
Association, known as CBEMA, recently submitted a
report to the Canadian Government Task Force on privacy and computers. 'Essentially CBEMA agreed wi th
the position of the Canadian Manufact~rers Association. This position is that it would be premature
to enact a blanket law on the right to privacy since
it would be inconsistent with the historical development of common law, whereby laws are developed by
a slow but steady process of responding to specific
issues and problems.
The country from which we both draw much of our
legal foundations is of course the U.K., and the issue of privacy has ~ained much attention there. This
past summer a Parliamentary Committee on Privacy
chaired by The Right Honorable Kenneth Younger issued its report. In relation to computers the report recommended voluntary adoption by computer·
users of high principles for handling personal information. As far as legislative actions, the committee simply recommended that the government form
a standing committee to review the growth and techniques of gathering and handling personal information. Like CBEMA. the Younger Committee fel t i t
would be premature to legislate specific controls
or licensing requirements on computer systems.
13
In the United States, a Committee of the National
Academy of Sciences recently issued its report on
_ its study enti tIed "Data Banks In A Free Society".
This committee, headed by Professor Westin, came to
essentially the same conclusions as the Younger Committee in Britain. The Westin Committee said that
the problem is not as bad as many civil libertarians
have suggested, and in any event it is not the computer that is at fault. One of the committee's
key phrases is "No technological fix can be applied
to the data bank problem".
A similar study of course has proceeded in Canada
under the auspices of Robert Stanbury, Mini ster of
Communications, wi th largely similar conclusions.
Guaranteeing an Individual's Access to His File
For the United States, I feel the single most effective measure to protect privacy would be legislation allowing each person access to his own file,
wherever it may be kept, for the knowledge that a
person could view and challenge in the courts his
file would deter the keeper of the file from irresponsible action. Such an action would mean a complicated set of procedures for business, but such
legislation appears all but inevitable. Procedures
must be worked out for notifying an individual that
a firm has a file about him, for allowing the person
to examine this file and change erroneous information, for informing him when and to whom the information in the file is being released, or for securing the persons' permission before the information
is disseminated.
Other
next few
ling the
trolling
legislation likely to be considered in the
years would have the effect of A) controlnature of the system itself and/or B) conthe people who work with the systems.
Certification of Staff and System
To consider the second case first, the staff of a
data processing department is still the weakest link
in a security chain, for it is the staff that has
the technical ability and the best opportunity to
tamper with the system or secure sensitive information. Because of this fact, some form of certification of computer operators and systems designers may
be required by the government, much like accountants,
lawyers, doctors, plumbers or electricians are certified. Such a measure is desirable from many points
of view. Because people are vulnerable no matter
how secure the system, it is imperative that they
be well qualified; and because they would be certified, easily identifiable. Secondly, certification
of computer operators places no burden on the businessman, other than to make sure those data processing people he hires are certified.
In addition to certifying the people, it is possible that some steps will be taken to insure that
the system itself is certified, and an institution
would not be allowed to operate a data bank without
certification. The computer, as mentioned, is the
focal point for. the privacy issue, and the reason
is the computer's ability to reorganize a large
quantity of information, each element of which is
separately harmless, into a more meaningful collection of information which together may reveal more
than desired. Thus, one aim of system certification
would be to set requirements on the input to a computer's data base. Often-mentioned facets would be
to include the identity of the supplier of each bit
of information which is included in a person's file
and to require dating of all entries.
14
r would now like to examine some other sociallyoriented aspects of computerized information systems. Although many of these concerns will manifest themselves with systems of the future, I think
we should begin to consider them now, while we are
still in the design stages.
Initial" Prevention of Abuses Vital
If I might be permitted an analogy, I think the
importance of early consideration will become clear.
Many experts feel that if the problem of obscene
telephone calls had been foreseen while the present
telephone networks were being designed, preventive
devices and systems could have been incorporated in
the phone system to easily eradicate the problem. If
for example, the problem was foreseen, something
like a little red button could have been attached to
each phone unit. When someone received an obscene
or annoying call, he could push the button to activate an automatic tracing system.
But adding protective mechanisms now that the
phone system is installed is nearly impossible and
enormously expensive.
Coming: The One-Copy Computer Archive
It is no longer considered just the province of
daydreamers to suggest that in the not-too-distant
future, we will see the world's knowledge recorded
electronically, rather than on the printed page,
la Gutenberg. We will see enormous archival computerized knowledge banks replacing books and libraries.
a
A problem becomes apparent when you consider that
knowledge as it is now recorded in books, newspapers,
magazines and so forth, is in part protected by duplications. There are thousands of copies of the
same book available for cross checking if you doubt
the contents of one edi tion. There are millions of
copies of newspapers and magazines readily available
for perusal if you doubt the version of an event as
reported by one newspaper. Having physical possession of a manuscript protects an author from liberties that might be taken by a publisher.
But the ultimate in electronic archives might be
that there is only one copy of anything -- that
stored in the knowledge bank. As mentioned in Orwell's 1984, itis so much easier to rewrite history
if there is only one copy of the history book.
Integrity and Accuracy Essential
It is obviously essential then that any such
archival electronic system have as close to an absolute degree of integrity as possible. A system
failure must be avoided at all costs.
We must also take great steps to insure the accuracy of information in the system. We must be
sure that the information stored in the system is
the same information th~t was entered. This is not
just a matter of possible invasions of privacy.
There are now plenty of examples of perfectly private secure bad data stored in computers.
If such knowledge banks are to be truly archival
and useful, we must carefully examine the long-term
storage characteristics of storage media. Will computer tape or disks stand up to the test of time or
will they deteriorate and hence lose the knowledge
stored on them? If so, what provisions should be
(please turn to page 21)
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
Computers, Automation and Technological Change
Mike Cooley
Past National President
Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers
(Technical and Supervisory Section) 1971-1972
75 Talbot Ave.
Langley, Bucks..
England
"One is frequently asked if technological change is a good or a .bad thing.
It depends entirely on how technology is used, and who controls it. . ..
in fact merely an extension of man's own capabilities."
Automation: Freedom or New Bondage?
Right from earliest times a myth has persisted
that the introduction of mechanisation and automated
processes would automatically free man from soul
destroying routine tasks and free him to engage in
'creative work. This myth has persisted as consistently in the field of intellectual work as it has
in that of manual labour. As far back as 1624, when
Pascal introduced his first mechanical calculating
machine he said, and I quote:
"I submi t to the public a small machine of my own
invention, by means of which you alone may without any effort perform all the operations of
arithmetic and may be relieved of the work which
has so often fatigued your spirit when you've
worked with the counters and with the pen."
My union feels that we have a particular social
and political responsibility to make a statement on
computers, automation, and technological change.
That responsibility stems primarily from the fact
that we organise the designers and technologists
whose skill and ingenuity produce much of the equipment which in Britain makes technological change
possible. We take the view that the designer has a
profound responsibility to understand the implications of his work and to ensure that the products of
his efforts are shared by the community as a whole,
and provide the material basis for a more full, cultured and dignified existence. I want therefore to
look critically for a few moments at the problems
which flow from the introduction of computers and
automatic equipment in our profit-oriented society.
In doing so I do not want to be misunderstood.
We are not opposed to technological change as such.
We are not like some romantics who seem to believe
that before the Industrial Revolution the populace
spent its time tripping through daisies in unspoiled
meadows, or dancing around maypoles. As designers
and technologists we are fully aware of the enormous
contribution science and technology have made in
eliminating disease, ending squalor and improving
at least economically the quality of life. Our concern is the mis-use of technology which can only be
properly analysed in the broader historical context
of technological change as a whole.
Subordination of Employee to Machine
The harsh reality of our experience tends to demonstrate that in many instances the reverse can actually be the case. To understand why this should be
so it is necessary to analyse it within the economic
base from which this kind of equipment is introduced. Firstly, there is an ever-increasing rate of
Obsolescence of this kind of equipment. Early
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
It is
wheeled transport existed in that form for thousands
of years; steam engines made by Boulton and Watt two
hundred years ago were still operating about one
hundred and five years later; a hundred years ago,
when an employer purchased a piece of machinery, he
could rest assured that it would last his lifetime
and would be an asset he could pass on to his son.
In the 1930s machinery was obsolete in about 25
years, during the 1950s in 10 years, and at the moment computerised equipment is obsolete in about 3
to 5 years. Secondly, the cost of the means of production is ever-increasing. That is not to say that
the cost of individual commodities will continue to
increase. The most complicated lathe one could get
100 years ago would have cost the equivalent of ten
men's wages per annum. Today, a lathe of comparable
complexity, with its NC tape control and the total
environment necessary for the preparation of those
tapes and the operation of the machine, will cost
something in the order of one hundred men's wages
Mike Cooley is a senior des ign engineer in the
aerospace industry, and a fellow of the Bri tish
Interplanetary Society. Hewas the National President of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers
(Technical and Supervisory Section) in 1971-72.
Mr. Cooley, who is 39, has studied the implications of technological change for his union in
most European Countries and lectured widely on
the subject at U.K. universities. He is the author
of "Computer Aided Design - Its Nature and
Implica tions".
15
per annum. Confronted therefore with equipment
which is getting obsolete literally by the minute,
and has involved enormous capital investment, the
employer will seek to recoup his investment by
exploiting that equipment for 24 hours per day. In
consequence of this, employers will seek to eliminate all so-called non-productive time, such as tea
breaks, will seek to subordinate the employees more
and more to the machine in order to get the maximum
performance, and will insist that the equipment is
either worked upon on three shifts to attain a 24
hour exploitation, or is used on a continuous overtime basis. This trend has long since been evident
in the manual field on the workshop floor. It is
now beginning to be a discernible pattern in a
whole range of white collar occupations.
Our analysis of this problem in British companies
demonstrates that employers will wish to ensure that
all their white collar employees who use this kind
of equipment accept the same kind of subordination
to the machine that they have already established
for manual workers on the shop floor. To say that
this is so is not to make a prediction about the far
distant future. Two years ago our union was involved in a major dispute with Rolls Royce, which
cost the union £ 1%1 million. The company sought,
amongst other things, to impose on our members at
the Bristol plant the following conditions:
"The acceptance of shift work in order to exploit
high capital equipment, the acceptance of work
measurement techniques, the division of work into
basic elements, and the setting of times for
these elements, such timA to be compared with
actual performance."
In this instance we were able, by industrial action, to prevent the company from imposing these
conditions. They are, however, the sort of conditions which employers will seek more and more to impose upon the white collar workers.
Social Consequences of Shift Work
When staff workers, whether they be technical,
administrative or clerical, work in a highly synchronised, computerised environment, the employer
will seek to ensure that each element of their work
is ready to feed into the process at the precise
time at which it is required. A mathematician, for
example, will find that he has to have his work
ready in the same way as a Ford worker has to have
the wheel ready for the car as it passes him on the
production line. In consequence of this many graduates, who in the past would never have recognised
the need to belong to a real trade union, now find
that they need the same kind of bargaining strength
that manual workers have accepted on the shop floor
for some considerable length of time. In fact, one
can generalise and say that the more technological
change and computerisation enters white collar areas
the more the workers in those areas will become
proletarianised.
The consequences of this will not be limited to
the work situation. They will spread right across
the family, social and cultural life of the white
collar worker. If we consider the consequences of
shift working you will see what I mean. In a survey carried out in West Germany it was demonstrated
that the ulcer rate amongst those working a rotating
shift was eight times higher than amongst other
workers. Other surveys have shown that the divorce
rate amongst shift workers is approximately fifty
per cent higher than normal, whilst the juvenile
delinquency rate of their children can often be
16
eighty per cent higher. We have a whole series of
examples in Britain of the manner in which the cultural and social life of our members has been disrupted by the introduction of this kind of equipment.
Sources of Technological Stress
Thus, whilst it is true that automated and computerised equipment could free man from routine,
soul destroying, backbreaking tasks, and free him
to engage in more creative work, the reality in our
profit-oriented society is that in many instances it
actually lowers "the quali ty of life".
Career Decline
Serious unemployment problems also arise from the
introduction of this kind of equipment. Basically,
the equipment changes the organic composition of
capital in that industries become capital intensive,
rather than labour intensive. The tendency is therefore to increase the work tempo of some, whilst putting others into the dole queue, with all the degredation that that implies. In many instances the
work tempo is literally frantic. This we have seen
in the past on the workshop floor. In one automobile factory in the Midlands in Britain they reckon
that they "burn a man up" on the main production
line in ten years. They recently tried to get our
union to agree that nobody would be recruited for
this type of work over the age of 30. Age limits
are also gradually being introduced in the white
collar areas. In the Sunday Times about a year ago
a list was given of the peak performance ages for
mathematicians, engineers, physicists and others.
For some of these the peak performance age was between 29 and 30. It has been suggested that in
order to utilise this high capital equipment as
effectively as possible a careers profile should be
worked out for those who have to interface with it.
When the worker reaches his peak performance age it
is suggested that this should be followed by a careers plateau for three or four years, and thereafter, unless the employee has moved into management, that he be subjected to "a careers de-escalation". The obvious extension of the careers
de-escalation is redundancy.
The Crime of Aging
Our own practical experience demonstrates, particularly during redundancy, that older men are being eliminated in this way. They are being eliminated or down-graded to lower paid work simply because they have committed the hideous crime of beginning to grow old. We are, as Samuel Beckett once
said, "all born of the gravedigger's forceps". Growing old is the most natural process inherent in man.
It is a biological process, but in the contradictory
nature of our profit-oriented society it is treated
almost as a crime. It is true that this kind of
equipment imposes very stringent demands upon those
who have to interface with it. Seen in terms of the
total man/machine system the man is slow, inconsistent, unreliable but highly creative. The machine
is the dialectical opposite, in that it is fast, reliable, consistent but totally non-creative. As the
man attempts to respond to the machine, enormous
stress is placed upon him.
We have identified areas within the design activity where by using inter-active graphic systems the
decision making rate of the designer is increased by
1900%. Again we can draw analogies from the shop
floor. In the British Steel Corporation a productivity agreement recently introduced medical checks.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
In practice these medical checks meant the operator
was tested to ensure that his response rates were
fast enough to interface with the equipment. He was
merely tested for his response rates as a dial might
be. A series of occupational suitability tests and
character compatibility assessments are now gradually seeking to do the same sort of thing to white
collar workers who have to use high capital equipment.
Knowledge Obsolescence
Another source of great stress for white collar
workers in these high technology environments is
the problem of knowledge obsolescence. We believe
that the scale of technological development in the
last 25 years is equal to that accomplished in all
of man's total existence. The scale of scientific
effort, which is closely related to technological
change, in the present century has increased out of
all recognition. It has been asserted by Professor
J. D. Burnall that in 1896 there were perhaps in the
whole world 50,000 people who between them carried
on the whole tradition of science, not more than
15,000 of whom were responsible for the advancement
of knowledge through research. Today the total number of scientific workers in industry, government
and academic circles is in the order of 3~ million.
Over 90% of all the scientists and technologists
who ever lived are alive tOday. Mathematical mOdels
described by authorities such as Sir Frederick Warner indicated that in order to keep abreast of his
knowledge an engineer would have to spend 15% of his
time in up-dating his current knowledge. Mr. Norman
McRae, Deputy Editor of The Economist, stated in the
January 1972 issue:
"The speed of technological advance has been so
tremendous during the past decade that the useful life of knowledge of many of those trained to
use computers has been about three years".
He further stated:
"A man who is successful enough to reach a fairly
busy job at the age of 30, so busy that he cannot take sabbatical periods for study, is likely
at the age of 60 to have about one-eighth of the
scientific (including business scientific) knowledge that he ought to have for the proper functioning in his job."
It has even been suggested that if one divided
knowledge into quartiles of out-datedness those in
the age bracket over 45 would find themselves in the
same quartile as Pythagoras and Archimedes.
The stress that this places upon staff workers,
in particular older men, should not be under-estimated. It is the responsibility of the trade unions
to protect these older men. This they should do
not in any patronising, benevolent fashion, but in
recognition of the class right of these older men
to work at a civilised tempo. For these are the
men who in the past have created the real wealth
that has made the purchase of this kind of high capital equipment possible. All younger technologists
should fully understand that however energetic and
forceful they may feel now, they will inevitably
begin to grow old, and if they allow older members
to be treated in this way they are creating a
framework of oppression which will be used against
them in the future.
Protecting Man from His Machines
It will be self evident from all of this that the
introduction of high capital equipment can create
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
enormous problems for those who have got to operate
it. Even in Sweden, where the introduction of this
kind of equipment tends to be more civilised, they
have now had to establish what they call "protected
workshops". Does it not strike you as remarkable
that we have now reached a stage in which human beings have to be protected from the very machines
which we have been led to believe would free them
for more creative work? Is it really true that we
are protecting them from these machines? Is it not
the case that the machines are inanimate? Is it not
really the case that we are protecting them from the
manner in which machinery is used in our profitoriented society? By using equipment in this way,
the stress upon our members will continue to grow.
One transitional tactical means of protecting our
members is to mount a vigorous campaign for a shorter working week, longer holidays and more leisure
time. We believe that a campaign for a 35 hour
week is not only desirable, but indeed imperative.
Another problem area to be dealt with is the
fragmentation of skills. Seen historically, technological change has always meant that j~bs are
broken down into deskilled, narrow elements. This
is also happening in white collar areas. The
draughtsman of the 1930's in Britain was the centre
of design. He could design the component, stress
it, specify the materials to be used, define the
method of lubrication, and write the test specs.
With the increasing complexity of technology, each
of these have now been fragmented into narrow,
specialised areas. The designer draws, the stress
men carry out the calculations, the metallurgist
specifies the materials, the lubricator the lubrication. It has been common for some time to talk
about dedicated machines. It is now a fact that
when defining a job function employers define a
dedicated appendage to the machine, the operator.
Even our educational system is being distorted to
produce these dedicated men. It is no longer a
matter that people are being educated to think, they
are being trained to do a narrow, specific jOb.
Much of the unrest amongst students is recognition
that they are being trained as industrial fodder for
the large monopolies in order to fit man into this
narrow fragmented function, and that they will be
unable to see in an overall panoramic fashion the.
work on which they are engaged.
Employers also seek, as they introduce computerised systems to use these pseudo-scientific means,
the unequal pay and job opportunities between men
and women. They even seek to assert, by their job
evaluation schemes, that certain fragmented data
preparation functions are what they call "women's
work". There is n~ such thing as women's work, any
more than there is women's mathematics, women's science, women's literature or women's music. There is
only work, and we must continue to demand that all
our members are paid the rate for the work they are
undertaking, irrespective of sex or age. We should
not hesitate to use industrial action to assert
this, when other means fail.
"Rationalisation" or People-Stretching
Coupled with the introduction of this kind of
equipment is a re-structuring known as "rationalisation". The epitome of this in Britain is the GEC
complex, with Arnold Weinstock at its head. In 1968
this organisation employed 260,000 workers and made
a profit of £75 million. In 1971, in consequence of
quite brutal redundancies, the company's workforce
was reduced 200,000, yet profits were up to £105
million. These are the kind of people who are inJplease turn to page 25)
17
Who Knows You: A Look at Commercial Data Banks
Donald S. Willis
2513 Boyd Ave.
Fort Worth, Texas 76109
"It can be reasonably assumed that every person in the nation is listed on at least
o~e commercial data bank containing information ... which is accessible,' for the
most part legally, to any other person in. the United States."
Information systems containing data about individuals have long been a subject of civil rights
controversy. Computers, with their mass information retrieval and communication capabilities, have
greatly increased the amount and dispersion of information in data banks. Consequently the related
controversy has also increased. The dynamic nature
of data bank computerization juxtaposed with the
static nature of regulatory legislation creates a
frightening outlook for the future. While "undesirables" files, "suspects" files, credit record
files and adverse information files are typical of
the emergent pattern for data banks, legislators are
hampered in regulation of data banks by lack of
guidance from their constituents.
definitive characteristics, each subdivided into two
or three categories. These characteristics and categories are shown in Table 1.
Many articles have been written about the danger of invasion of privacy when data about an individual are di stributed wi thout restriction. 1 In particular, much has been written as to the operations
of government data banks and the dangers to the
right of privacy inherent in those systems. 2
According to this system of categorization, a number
of common data banks are shown in Table 2.
In contrast, little has been said about commercial data banks. The scope of this paper will be
confined to an investigation of some common data
banks and the threat they may pose to an individual's privacy. In order for a person to decide
whether further control of a commercial data bank
is needed, he must first determine whether the
operations of that data bank constitute an invasion
of his privacyo There are essentially eight questions which could be used to evaluate the operations
of commercial data banks:
1. Who has information about you and of what
nature?
2. How did they come to possess the information?
3. Do you have access to that information?
4. If so, by what means and what will it cost?
5. What recourse do you have if the information
is unfair or incorrect?
6. To whom is the information given and do they
pay for it?
7. How long can information about you be kept in
a data bank?
8. Are there laws governing data banks in which
you are l i sted?
What are the Problems?
A useful means of describing information systems
in general is provided by Dr. Calvin Gotlieb. 3 He
proposes to classify data banks according to three
1. The reader is referred to selected readings in
Appendix I.
2. The reader is referred to selected readings in
Appendix II.
3. Calvin C. Gotlieb. "Regulations for Information
Systems." Computers and Automation, September,
1970, pp. 14-17.
18
Table 1
Characteristic
Data Source
Distribution
Inspection
Category
P - public record
S - supplied by individual
o - other
I - internal
E - external
A - automatic
R - upon request of individual
F - forbidden
Table 2
Classification of Some Data Banks
Type
System
OEA
Bank Account
OIR
Payroll File
Who's Who
SEA
OIF
Medical Report
OIR
Investigative Reports
OEF
OIR
Credit Record
OER
PIF
Sales Prospects' File
OIF
Sales Prospects' File for Sale
PEF
OEF
In his analysis of problems arIsIng from commercial data banks, Dr. Gotlieb projects that problems
occur only when:
(1) the data were gathered from a source other
than the individual concerned;
(2) the data are distributed externally to the
data gathering organization;
(3) the individual concerned is forbidden to see
the gathered data.
It seems doubtful that these criteria exhaustively
denote all data banks for which problems of invasion of privacy and maintenance of civil rights will
arise. Detrimental information about an individual
can be harmful whether distributed at large or contained within the data gathering organization. In
fact, the latter case may be more injurious than the
former. Most oil cow~anies, for example, maintain
their own credit files, but due to the large number
of credit customers, the information in their files
is limited both in scope and accuracy. They simply
cannot afford to gather, update, or correct information as often or as thoroughly as credit bureaus
whose only business is maintaining credit records.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
Similarly, while an individual's being forbidden
to see gathered data may have harmful consequences,
they are probably no more so than when information
is available only upon request. The individual must
first know that information about him has been collected, which he may request be made available to
him. Therefore unless an individual is automatically notified that information has been gathered,
he will probably never know of its existence or have
the chance to correct inaccuracies.
In support of Dr. Gotlieb's criteria, however,
all data banks may contain information which is potentially detrimental or undesirable to the individual concerned. Certainly if that information is
gathered from a source other than the individual
concerned, the chances of its being both inaccurate
and unjustifiably detrimental are increased.
It would seem that Dr. Gotlieb's criteria should
be amended to indicate that problems with commercial
data banks occur only when:
(1) the data were gathered from a source other
than the individual concerned;
(2) the data are distributed either externally to
the data gathering organization or retained
within it, which means that no matter what
the distribution pattern, problems are
likely to arise; and
(3) the individual is not automatically notified
that data has been gathered.
By having thus re-defined the "problem" criteria, a
more inclusive and hopefully exhaustive tool for
evaluating commercial data banks is provided.
Three Data Banks
Three types of commercial data banks commonly
found throughout the United States were examined:
Credit Records; Investigative Reports; and Sales
Prospects Files (Mailing Lists). The reader will
notice that the data banks studied are outside the
scope of Dr. Gotlieb's "problem" criteria, and yet
fulfill the revised conditions.
Most retail merchants are "members" of one or
more credit bureaus. Credit bureaus usually
"screen" potential members to insure "legal intent"
in the usage of credit reports. The retailers pay
a monthly membership fee, plus a fixed charge for
every credit report requested. Also, retailers provide credit bureaus information on customers having
credit accounts with them. The retailer may only
obtain a credit report when a person requests credit
from him. A credit bureau may obtain records from
other credit bureaus only when a member retailer has
legitimately requested a credit check.
Every person recorded by a credit bureau has the
right to inspect his record at any time. There is
usually a small charge ($1.00-$3.00) for this service. Most important, if anyone is refused credit
on the basis of a credit report, the merchant refusing credit must give that individual the name and
address of the credit bureau which made the negative
report. The person refused credit may within 90
days contact the referred credit bureau and see his
entire record free of charge. Generally speaking,
credit is refused on the basis of one or more credit
accounts which have been reported by a retailer as
delinquent, a bad debt, etc. If the person disagrees wi th the retailer's report he may file a "disputed account" report with the credit bureau. The
credit bureau is then required to relay this disputed account to any retailers to whom they have
given negative reports. The bureau is further required to include the dispute report in all subsequent credit reports.
Derogatory information, including public records,
may be retained in a credit record for a maximum of
seven years. The only exception is a court record
of bankruptcy, which may be retained for fourteen
years.
All data banks containing credit record information are federally regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act of April, 1971. Most credit bureaus
were following the above procedure prior to the Fair
Credit Reporting Act, but all are required to do so
now.
II. I nvestigative Reports
I. Credit Records
A credit record is compiled by a credit bureau.
Generally speaking a local credit bureau has credit
records only on persons resident in its geographic
area, although a credit bureau can obtain credit
records from any other credit bureau in the United
States.
•
Every person who has ever received credit is
listed in at least one credit bureau. Thus, anyone
having paid for a product or service by any means
other than "cash-over-the-counter" is definitely
listed by a credit bureau or the credit department
of a store. Moreover, even those few not listed for
the above reason generally are recorded by a credit
bureau as having always paid by "cash-over-thecounter".
Most credit records contain name, spouse's name,
age, current address, current employer, job description, previous address, previous employer, social
security number, approximate income, a history of
every credit account you have or have had, and public records. Public records in credit bureau reports generally consist of civil suit actions
against you and/or criminal court convictions.
(Every state has a Public Information Act which defines what information may be divulged outside government confines).
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
Investigative reports are compiled by a variety
of agencies, chief among them private investigators
and employment agencies. In the past, most investigative reports were background investigations (BI)
compiled for use in pre-employment screening, and
surveillance reports used in divorce suits. Recent
amendments to the Federal Truth in Information Act
have altered the investigator's license to conduct
background investigations. An investigator commissioned to conduct a BI is now required to inform the
individual a priori that he is to be under investigation, and the contents of the final investigative
report must be made known to that individual. The
individual may deny the investigator permission to
conduct a BI or, if dissatisfied with the final report, may prohibit its release. If released, however, the report is accessible only to the person
or firm requesting the ,investigation.
In the case of surveillance reports an investigator is neither required to inform the individual
that he is being observed nor make the final report
available to that individual. Any investigative report supposedly may contain only information about
an individual which can be obtained legally. However, the investigators interviewed for this study
indicated they had no problems obtaining such information as credit records, which is strictly forbidden under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
19
Investigative reports almost always contain some
information detrimental to the individual concerned.
In light of this, it is surprising that investigators are required by federal law to maintaln eternal
files of investigative reports. After compilation
a report may be re-released only upon notification
of the investigated individual or by court order.
III. Sales Prospects Files
Sales prospects files are used for saturation
mailing of business solicitations and for house to
house sales campaigns. If you have ever wondered
how some company got your address to send you a
sample can of a brand new deodorant, sales prospects
files is the answer. Sales prospects files are
maintained by firms which use them in their own
sales campaigns and by firms which offer copies in
the form of specialized lists for sale, available
to anyone throughout the United States.
prevents automation of most data banks. However,
more and more operators of small data banks are
beginning cooperative computer operations. And,
while computers are becoming larger and faster, the
cost of computer usage is decreasing. Several commercial data bank operators interviewed indicated
that computer usage was the only feasible means of
handling the increasing volume of data, and that
regional data banks will replace local data banks
within the next ten to twenty years. Some operators envisioned a single gigantic national center
with terminals in every local office.
The idea of centralized credit record data banks
is not too disturbing, but the idea of centralized
data banks for investigative reports is alarming.
(The man who was most enthusiastic about a national
data bank operated a branch office of a national
private investigation agency).
What About Security?
One source of sales prospect information is published directories. Schools, professional societies, social groups, city telephone companies, to
name a few, publish directories of one sort or
another. Another frequent source is welcome services. Almost everyone moving into a city is visited by one or more representatives of local welcome services who offer free samples and gift coupons in exchange, albeit indirectly, for information. Welcome services are informed of new arrivals
by local utility companies when new accounts are
opened. Retail credit bureaus often are associated
with welcome services and begin a credit record on
the basis of the new information.
The information contained in sales prospects
files is quite extensive, often including name,
sex and ages of all family members, current address,
employer, occupation, own or rent a home or apartment, credit card accounts, make and model of automobile(s), approximate income level, church of preference, and public record information. (As in credit records, public record information is defined by
state public information laws but may include anything from birth records to criminal court convictions ).
Mailing lists are extracted from master files
containing the above listed information according
to predetermined criteria. By far the most common
criterion is geographic area. Other criteria frequently used both singularly or in combination are
sex, income, age and profession. Criteria used depend upon the product or service being advertised.
Maintaining the security of information in a computer is not simple. Computer centers handling confidential information have elaborate programmed and
physical security controls, but unfortunately, they
often prove inadequate. One such case is documented
as follows:
Pseudo Sign-On -- A couple of enterprising high
school students in Amherst wrote the following
program for their own "amusement". We have several teletypes in the computing center that are
permanently connected to the computer. Operation
over permanent leased lines is quite common and
would be equivalent. These boys wrote a program
which mimicked the normal sign-on procedure of
the system and requested (as usual) the user to
give his user number and secret code. They would
leave the terminal running with this program in
the machine and an unsuspecting user coming up to
the terminal in question would think he was talking to the system, while actually he would be
talking to their program. Once the user number
and secret code were captured, the program would
write them out onto a file so the students could
examine them later, and then it would fake a
"disaster" (system crash) so that the user would
be forced to sign-on again -- this time to the
real system, and never know that his code was no
longer secret. By the time they were caught
these students had "secret" codes of over 100
users. Fortunately, we don't keep classified information on our time-sharing system. 4
To Answer the Question
There are no laws which directly regulate the use
of sales prospect files. Although a resident purchases a mailbox and attaches it to his dwelling,
the mailbox is officially maintained by the federal
postal service and anything sent through the public
mails must reach its addressed destination. The
postal patron has no choice except to receive the
material and discard it if not desired. The only
exception is pornographic material. If a postal
patron finds that his address has been placed on a
recurring mailing list for pornographic materials he
may ask the postal department to have his address
removed from the list. The postal department then
requires the firm sending the material to remove
the postal patron's address from its mailing list.
What's in the Future?
In the evaluation of commercial data banks it is
necessary to determine the direction of future operations. The high cost of computer usage currently
20
At this point it seems almost redundant to answer
the question, "Who Knows You?" In looking at only
three of the many different types of commercial data
banks, we see that virtually anyone who has ever had
a credit account, moved to a different city, joined
a club or professional society, or worked at a job
requiring a background check is listed on one or
more data banks. This easily includes one-half of
the nation's population. It can be reasonably assumed that every person in the nation is listed on
at least one commercial data bank containing information similar to that shown above, which is accessible, for the most part legally, to any other person in the United States.
Laws regulating commercial data banks will not be
changed unless the constituency of the United States
4. Caxton C. Foster. "Data Banks -- A Position
Paper." Computers and Automation, March,
1971, p. 29.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
clearly understand the controversy and are provided
objective evidence on which to base their opinions.
It remains for every American to determine whether
scrutiny, measurement, and documentation of his
lifestyle constitutes an invasion of his privacy,
and further, whether future computerized commercial
data banks will curtail his civil rights.
Appendix I
Chu, Albert. "The Need to Know and the Right to
Privacy." Business Automation, June I, 1971.
Foster, Caxton C. "Data Banks - A Position Paper."
Computers and Automation, March, 1971.
Gallagher, Cornelius. "Privacy, Human Values, and
Democratic Institutions." Computers and Automation, October, 1971.
Scalletta, Phillip. "The Computer as a Threat to
Individual Privacy." Data Management, January,
1971.
Weisner, Jerome B. "The Information Revolution and
the Bill of Rights." Computers and Automation,
May, 1971.
Appendix II
Hirsch, Phil. "Who Guards the Guardians?" Datamation, June 15, 1971.
Land, Steven and John Runtzel1. "Extensive Retrieval Capabili ties Aid Law Enforcement." Computer
Decisions, June, 1972.
Miller, Arthur. "Federal Data Banks and the Bill of
Rights." Computers and Automation, October,
1971.
Robinson, Stanley. "The National Crime Information
Center (NCIC) of the FBI: Do We Want It?" Computers and Automation, June, 1971.
--0
Henderson - Continued from page 14
made for recopying the data on new media? And who
will do the transferring - again keeping in mind
the ease of rewriting history when there is only
one history book?
The Problems of Access and Time Limitations
Another area of concern is actually accessing the
information once it is stored in the system. Consider this for a moment. How would you locate a
specific piece of information in a library if there
were no card catalogue? Would you simply start at
one book stack and proceed through all the thousands
of books in front of you until you found what you
were looking for? A time-consuming task to say the
least.
So in such systems, we would have to make access
to information easy and natural for those persons
seeking the information. And yet we also have to
make such access impossible for persons not authorized to obtain certain information.
There are also many instances where certain information is what we might call time-dependent.
Sealed memoirs, for example, may be entered into a
system and yet be unavailable for a period of years.
Such information must be dated upon entry so the
system will know when to remove the restrictions.
The Mul tics System at MIT, as a sidelight, has a system clock that keeps time to the nearest one millionth of a second for a period of 144 years.
Conversely, some information might be available
for a certain period of time after it is entered,
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
but not after, say, 10 years. A statute of limitations, if you will, on misdemeanor criminal records.
This leads to another question. Once the statute
of limitations has expired, and society has deemed
it no longer desirable that this information be
available, do we want to destroy it physically, or
simply make it absolutely unavailable. We may want
parts of the information, for instance some statistical data, but not a crimi nal offender's name, some
years after the records were entered. If we physically destroy the data, then it will be lost forever.
These problems do not plague us with our current
system of storing knowledge because we have physical
possession of the information and there is a great
deal of redundancy in the form of many copies of the
material. Only in the most extreme cases of national security or industrial propriety do we find
only one copy of a document.
But in spite of the potential problems, I am convinced that sooner or later we are going to be living in the age of computerized knowledge banks. They
do offer significant advantages, particularly in the
form of speech, and as costs decrease they will be
more economical than our present system, because
while redundancy may offer a degree of protection
it is also uneconomical.
Two Directions Possible
There are literally two directions in which computerized data banks can take us. One leads toward
a radical realignment of knowledge and power where
the controlling interests have little or no regard
for human values.
The other path enlists computers in expanding
knowledge for the benefit of all, using the power
of computers to help cope with the complexities of
modern life.
A great deal can be done to make progress along
the right path. Users of computers must exercise
a special sensitivity in selecting the personnel
who have access to the data banks; for no matter
how secure the system, there is always the danger
of people being compromised. Trained, dependable
people are an absolute necessity in the matter of
privacy, security and social responsibility.
The most effective step for every user is to
exercise concern over these matters at the very beginning of the system design stage. Requirements
must be established.
Building concern into the
system at the design stage is more effective and
more economical than adding devices or altering the
system after it has been installed.
Lastly, we must have increased public awareness
of both the blessings and dangers of a computerized
society, for there is the risk that a little bit of
knowledge on the part of the public and legislators
will lead to action that is not in the best interests of the country. Before laws are passed regulating computer systems, a thorough understanding of
the nature and technology of data banks is needed,
and the efforts of the computer industry and the
users of computers is vital to bringing about such
an understanding.
Computers are essential to the efficient conduct
of our complex world, but like every technological
advance, they can be used destructively. The time
is already short for business and government to join
in developing controls to insure that they aid, not
damage, our democratic freedoms.
[]
21
Engineering for Society
Dr. H. Guyford Stever
Director, National Science Foundation
1800 G St., N.W.
Washington, D. C. 20006
"The success of systems we are designing now and
will depend largely on the integrity of their parts.
we may expect will be no better than the quality
workmanship which we put into our technological
Throughout the ages engineers have made a great
contribution to society. That contribution has
created a complex technological civilization replete with many problems of a type, and on a scale,
that man has not had to face before. Engineering
can be a major factor in solving many of those problems. Furthermore, engineering is now on a course
that will see it performing an important new function in society, that of anticipating the needs of
society and creating systems that bring man, machine, and nature into a much more harmonious relationship -- that may prove essential to human
survival.
Traditional Role
If we consider the traditional role of engineering, even a cursory study of history will show that
engineers have been among the principal builders of
our civilizations. It is their accomplishments,
whether in war or peace, in the design and construction of buildings, in mining and manufacturing, in
transportation and communication, that have molded
our societies and directed much of the course of
history. Engineering predated science. And when
science came on the scene, it was engineering that
became one of its main bridges to society, that
helped transform its knowledge into action, its
theory into tangible human assets. In each age
engineering filled the need of the society of that
period, whether it was through the aqueducts that
allowed great cities to be created, the cathedrals
that acted as man's spiritual centers, or the road,
rails, ship, and aircraft that created nations and
joined continents.
It is true that each society, each civilization,
to some extent abused, overtaxed, or mismanaged the
gifts that engineers had given it, sometimes through
avarice, sometimes in ignorance, often because they
could not anticipate their long-term effects or
their relationship to other activities of society.
In most cases, engineering came to the rescue, offering new ideas, replacing technologies that became
unsuitable and helping to alleviate the problems
those technologies might have helped to create.
A New, "Ecological" Approach
But today the complexities of modern civilization demand that society and the engineer operate
Based on a talk given at the University of Rochester Symposium on
"Engineering in the Public Interest," Rochester, N.Y., Nov. 10, 1972
22
will live with in the future,
. . . The 'quality of life'
of design, materials, and
and social systems."
on a principle far more sophisticated than simply
responding to the feedback from individual problems. For while such problems must be attacked
individually -- whether they be air and water pollution, the conservation of natural resources or
the providing of human amenities -- they must also
be dealt with in terms of their broader relationship within our technological society. The new engineer is charged, therefore, not only to refine
and expand his knowledge and skills on the most
scientific principles, but to go beyond the traditional disciplines and provide both humanistic and
mechanistic systems to create and sustain a higher
quality of life. This "ecological" approach to engineering provides the engineer with unparalleled
opportunity for problem solving. It gives him the
chance to apply the methodology and techniques of
engineering to more of the physical and human
problems of the world. It also calls for a new
dimension of engineering, a new demand on engineering genius. (This is not inappropriate, as the
word "engineer" had its roots in the Latin word
"ingenium," an invention or product of genius. I
think we've come a long way since then, as the original "ingenium" was the battering ram.)
What is involved in this new challenge to engineers? What kinds of demands might be made on them?
What innovations might be expected of them? And
what might some of their educational requirements
be? Let us briefly consider these subjects.
Upgrading Present Technologies
To respond fully to the new opportunities for
engineering, engineers will have to work on several
levels and on problems of various dimensions and
complexity. There will be specific problems and
systems problems. Many of the specific problems
include the upgrading of known technologies and the
improvement of quality and design of materials, machines, structures, products, and services now in
use. We must make these safer, more durable, more
efficient, and more environmentally and aesthetically acceptable -- even while working within economic constraints. This is a tall order, but one
essential to fill. For the success of systems we
are designing now and will live with in the future
will depend largely on the integrity of their parts.
In thi s regard, the "quali ty of life" we may expect
will be no better than the quality of design, materials, and workmanship which we put into our
technological and social systems. Engineers can
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
exert an upgrading influence throughout society by
emphasizing this message -- both directly through
their work and indirectly through their role as concerned citizens.
values. These alternative solutions, some related
to major allocations of resources and the need for
changes in institutions and life styles, could call
for many large-scale changes and trade-offs in our
society.
Developing Innovations
Applications of Systems Science
b
At the same time that engineers are at work upgrading known technologies, they will be working
toward the replacement of those technologies. Innovations will have to be developed, tested, and
integrated into the new systems we are creating. A
prime example of this can be found in the field of
energy where, as we clean up our fossil fuel plants
and improve our nuclear fission power systems, we
work toward the possibility of fusion power and the
use of solar and geothermal energy. Other examples
lie in industrial processes, transportation, and
communication. With the speed and variety of communications and data processing these days, it seems
incredible that we can expect significant change in
these areas. Yet the new work in optical communications -- bringing together such fields as physical optics and electromagnetic propagation, quantum theory and quantum electronics, and communications theory and engineering -- holds many exciting possibilities.
Three Kinds of Systems
In addition to upgrading conventional technologies and devising their replacements, engineers
work on still another level which is becoming increasingly important to society. This relates to
the relatively new field of systems science and engineering. While engineers have been working with
small-scale and medium-scale systems for some time,
more attention is now being devoted to large-scale
systems -- both mechanistic and human.
Let me make the distinction between these three
types of systems by offering a few brief examples:
-,Small-scale systems typically are those such
as motors, generators, electronic circuits in
radios and TV sets, and crude macroscopic
models of parts of biological and economic
systems.
-Examples of medium-scale systems are mInI-computers, aircraft systems, major components of
manufacturing plants, and small-scale organizations such as hospitals or department stores.
o
- In large-scale systems, some examples of a
mechanistic system might be the nationwide air
traffic control system, urban transportation
or communications systems, air defense systems,
or models for weather prediction. Typical of
the humanistic system would be large-scale
organizations such as political, religious, or
social groups, or large-scale models of biological and economic systems.
Another way of distinguishing the scale of these
systems is by the size of the computer necessary to
model their mathematical relationships and solve
their problems.
Systems science and engineering, particularly
when involving the large-scale systems, brings engineers into a whole new realm of work giving them
an expanded role in society. A major part of this
role involves using the sophisticated techniques of
systems analysis to identify problems and create
alternative solutions that decision-makers can apply, based on consideration of public goals and
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
There are many problem areas in our society which
will benefit from the application of systems science
and engineering. When we learn how to understand
and deal with our cities and their surrounding suburbs as urban systems, for example, we will be better equipped to control and direct the growth of
those cities as well as plan new ones. Applying
systems analysis to our transportation problems
will enable us to plan and build transportation systems that will move more people more efficiently,
hopefully in comfort and with less environmental
impact. And systems science and engineering can
help us deal with our energy problems in a way that
more rationally considers the balance between the
need for power and the depletion of resources and
the degradation of the environment.
Other broad areas that will benefit from the analysis and planning of systems science and engineering are municipal services -- such as the allocation of police, fire, and ambulance services -health care, criminal justice, education, and economic development.
Human Values of Large Systems
As large as these systems seem, even they must
be considered in terms of their influence on each
other. Where engineers may truly shape the direction of society is in those areas where they present the public with alternatives that call for balancing the advantages of one large-scale system
against another and calling for a new value judgment
on the part of society. For example, a total telecommunications system could raise questions about
how much human mobility is necessary when most information, many services, and business and social
contacts could be made available by instant and complete electronic communications. This, of course,
raises the question of the human value of personal
mobility and contact.
Systems science and engineering, particularly on
a large scale, is a relatively new field -- and the
current state of the art can best be described as
primitive. Much experimentation will have to be
conducted in conjunction with the modeling of system
dynamics. This will include such things as the
modeling of performance criteria. And there is
bound to be much debate -- much useful debate -over the validity and usefulness of many large-scale
models. Typical of this are the disagreements over
the global forecasts in the "Limits to Growth" study
prepared by Dennis Meadows and his associates. Such
models, however, may have the beneficial effect of
stimulating increased social and technological activities to avoid some of the more dire conditions
forecast.
By way of emphasizing the importance of systems'
science and engineering and its recognition on an
international scale, it is interesting to note that
we have just signed with the U.S.S.R. and ten other
nations an agreement to establish an International
Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. This new
"think tank," as the newspapers refer to it, will be
located near Vienna in Austria and will seek solutions to many of the problems of global development,
industrialization, and the environment.
23
N':!w Directions in Engineering Education
It is obvious that these new activities and directions in engineering will place a new and different burden on engineering education. One demand
on engineering education resulting from the new directions will be to broaden its scope and outlook.
A number of programs at colleges and universities
are changing to accomplish this.
Weinmeister - Continued from page 10
cessing manager use modern computer technology to
do a better job?" The answer is an unqualified,
"Yes". But the course must be clearly set.
Setting the Course for Improvement
One that we at NSF have supported is "The Experimental Approach in Undergraduate Engineering" at
Illinois Institute of Technology. This program will
completely restructure the undergraduate engineering
curriculum, using an approach in which problems of
a broad scope will be posed to project groups of
from 4 to 15 students. With factual information
provided by modules developed to make self-instruction possible, the faculty will be able to concentrate its efforts on these aspects of teaching which
require personal interaction with the students.
The first step in setting the course is to establish the departure point. The data processing
manager should inventory his present operation. He
should see just what capabilities his computer hardware has. He should require that his top programmers completely understand the operating subsystem
and the associated data management subsystem. He
should appoint a data base administrator who determines what is in the data base and where redundant
data elements are. It is emphasized that this is a
learning process to establish a point of departure.
An experiment at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
broadens its approach even further by eliminating
traditional courses and degree requirements and substituting a flexible curriculum tailored to the
goals of individual students. In this program, students will demonstrate competence in their field by
completing two independent study projects and undergoing a comprehensive evaluation. Their projects
could be conducted on campus or at internship centers at Government agencies, industrial corporations, or private labs.
Once the manager's position has been established
he is ready to launch into the computer solar system
that has previously been described. (Figure 1) He
should begin with one selected application from the
most sophisticated requestor. He will have probably
found a timely, flexible data base module that belongs to this most sophisticated requestor's function. The data processing manager should choose his
most creative programmer and ask him to get the requestor's data in a minimum time using the most expeditious method.
Solving Man-Machine Problems
Creative Programming
One of the problems our new engineers will face
increasingly is dealing with the interface between
man and machine. At the University of Colorado, we
are supporting a project that will involve engineers
in studying the interaction of humans and computers,
seeking to make the machines more compatible with
the people who use them. The director of the project estimates that in the next five years this program will be able to supply industry with some 400
graduate engineers qualified to solve man-machine
problems. Of course, the man-machine relationship
does not always pose a problem. For example, in
evaluating their experience with the PLATO IV computer-assisted instruction in being taught Latin,
a group of first-year college students said that the
computer was a more considerate teacher than most of
the human ones they had had.
The creative programmer will probably use a remote terminal and the highest level query language
to get to the data base, manipulate and display the
information required. This programmer has set the
course for incremental growth to maximum utilization
of the people -- software -- data base -- computer
combination. After the first trip is successfully
completed, others should be made as required by the
situation.
These are only a few examples of programs that
are considering the new needs of engineering education. There are a great many more, and they will
continue to grow. Of continuing importance, however, is of course the pursuit of excellence in the
traditional engineering disciplines, so that as we
broaden our engineering activities and goals we do
so on a strong, firm foundation. For while we must
have engineers who understand the needs of society,
they must also be engineers who know and can meet
the demands of engineering. This is so often forgotten in the new rush to relevance.
In summary then, I believe we have entered a new
era of "Engineering Enlightenment" -- both from the
standpoint of what the engineer can do and what is
expected of him. His power has increased and so has
his responsibility. The demands on him will be
broader and also more stringent. And I believe that
his new responsibilities and the successful way he
carries them out will elevate his position in society and bring him many new rewards.
[]
24
This suggestion is not intended to imply that all
applications should be on-line real time. Earlier
it was stated that programs would take on the priority associated with the request. Standard products (reports, bills, bank statements, etc.) will
continue to be run on a scheduled batch basis. Establ i shment of the correct type of program and thei r
associated priorities will become increasingly important.
As the data base concept is implemented; as the
data becomes more current and correct because it is
gathered at the source; as all the power of the
operating and data management subsystems are brought
together to query the data base; as innovative ways
are developed to utilize the time sharing capabilities of the computer through remote entry terminals;
as the programmers begin to use the relatively inexpensive computer power to develop programs more
quickly while conserving people resourses; as the
data elements needed by company management are analyzed to see which can be put in the computer; as
data base administrators realize that all management
data will never be in the computer; as all of these
factors come into focus; the data processing manager
can set his own course into the computer celestial
solar system. After he has set this course he will
become more responsive to his requestors. When he
enters this computer galaxy he will discover its
name is "Management Information System".
[]
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
o
Cooley - Continued from page 17
troducing this high capital equipment, and they make
their attitude to human beings absolutely clear.
Arnold Weinstock, as head of the GEC, is the man who
said, "People are like elastic. The more work you
give them the more they stretch." We know, however,
as engineers that all materials nave elastic limit,
and when stretched beyond that limit the material
breaks, and we see more and more those in industry
who have been stretched to their limit and have broken, and the result is nervous disorders and neurosis. One of Arnold Weinstock's managers boasted
once of him, "He takes people and he squeezes them
'til their pips squeak." I think it is a pretty
sick society that will boast of behaviour of this
kind.
Since we are assembled here as an international
trade union gathering, it is important that we understand our international responsibilities one to
the other. The giant monopolies which are now introducing this kind of equipment in their own interests are also restructuring themselves on an
international basis. It is our experience in Britain, when our members or those of other trade unions stand up and demand decent working conditions,
these monopolies threaten to move to other countries. It is important that we demonstrate our international solidarity by preventing them from setting one set of workers against the other. It is
also vitally important that we understand our responsibilities as designers and technologists, our
responsibilities to society as a whole and the class
to which we belong.
So concerned are we about the problems which stem
from technological change that my union has produced
a book, "Computer Aided Design - Its Nature and
Implications," which analyses some of these problems. As a service to the community as a whole and
the trade union movement in particular we are circulating this booklet free. Any members of any
trade union in any country who wish to have copies
may obtain them from our Head Office.
Technology Good or Bad - An Extension of Man
One is frequently asked if technological change
is a good or a bad thing. This is really a nonquestion. It depends entirely on how technology is
used, and who controls it. We need not have any
fear of technological change. It is in fact merely
an extension of man's own capabilities. Historically, man sought to extend his eyes by using telescopes, ranging from the time of Galileo to today
using radar and radio telescopes. He extended muscular power through mechanisation, and his energy he
extended and increased through the harnessing of
nuclear power. Even the most sensitive faculty of
man, that of memory and his nervous system, he has
now in many ways extended by the decision-making
techniques used through computers. It was us, and
people like us, who used their great skill and ingenuity to create all this technological change.
Members of my union desire earnestly to be able
to use that skill and ingenuity to provide the basis
for a more full and dignified existence for the community as a whole. This drive for scientific knowledge "into that un travelled land whose margin fades
for ever and for ever when I move" is to be welcomed. Indeed, it is one of the guarantees of our
future prosperity. It must not, however, be a blind
unthinking drive forward. We must ensure that technology is introduced to serve the interests of the
people as a whole, and not to maximise profits for
the few.
0
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
NUMBLES
Neil Macdonald
Assistant Editor
Computers and Automation
A "numble" is an arithmetical problem in which: digits
have been replaced by capital letters; and there are two
messages, one which can be read right away and a second
one in the digit cipher. The problem is to solve for the
digits.
Each capital letter in the arithmetical problem stands for
just one digit 0 to 9. A digit may be represented by more
than one letter. The second message, which is expressed in
numerical digits, is to be translated (using the same key)
into letters so that it may be read; but the spelling uses
puns or is otherwise irregular, to discourage cryptanalytic
methods of deciphering.
We invite our readers to send us solutions, together with
human programs or computer programs which will produce
the solutions. This month's Numble was contributed by:
Andrew M. Langer
Newton High School
Newton, Mass.
NUMBLE 733
M 0 N E Y
1= Y
xiS
O=N
OTALML
NWMMLW
SOBTOI
L
69441 0328
Solution to Numble 732
In Numble 732 in the February issue, the digits 0
through 9 are represented by letters as follows:
B=O
1=5
M=1
0=6
H=2
E=7
S=3
L=8
V=4
R,C = 9
The message is: Love covers blemishes.
Our thanks to the following individuals for submitting
their solutions - to Numble 731: T. P. Finn, Indianapolis,
Ind. - to Numble 7212: Marijoe Bestgen, Lenexa, Kan.
25
The Watergate Crime and the Cover-Up Strategy
Richard E. Sprague
Hartsdale, N. Y. 10530
"Evidence of conspiracy certainly cannot be seen or discovered unless you open
your eyes and go looking for it."
Introduction
This article is another installment of a continuing report on the Watergate Crime, its ramifications,
and related espionage and "agent provocateur" activities, closely associated with President Richard M.
Nixon, and the Republican "Commi ttee to Re-Elect the
President", and leading Republicans.
The Watergate Crime
Five men, backed up by two others now called the
"Watergate 7", broke into Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel, Washington, D.C.
on June 17, 1972. Their purpose was to remove buggi ng devi ces they had planted there a few weeks earlier. All seven were arrested, indicted, and tried
in court in Washington under Judge Sirica in January, 1973.
Five of them, Bernard Barker, Frank Sturgis, E.
Howard Hunt, Virgilio Gonzalez, and Eugenio Martinez, pleaded guilty. The other two, Gordon Liddy
and James McCord, pleaded not guilty, but were convicted on several counts.
The Segretti Affair
The Segretti Affair is related to the Watergate
Crime in that evidence points toward E. Howard Hunt
having been coordinator for both sets of espionage
activities. Donald Segretti was carrying out extensive, nation-wide spying projects, apparently at
the request of, and financing by, the Republican
"Committee for the Re-election of the President".
According to newspaper reports in the autumn of
1972, these projects were aimed at "digging up dirt"
about the leading Democratic presidential candidates and their financial contributors. Segretti
telephoned Hunt many, many times in 1972, and met
with him on a few occasions, apparently to receive
instructions. Segretti remains free because the
Justice Department, headed by the Nixon appointee
At torney General Kleindienst, "does not believe" he
committed any crimes.
Cover Ups
Any doubts about whether Richard Nixon and his
associates would seek to cover up the truth about
these affai rs, were removed when the Wa tergate tria 1
took place in Washington, D.C. The Jan. 1973 article in Computers and Automation and People, enti tled
"President Richard M. Nixon, the Bay of Pigs, and
the Watergate Incident," mentioned six separate investigations, suits and trials which Mr. Nixon and
the executive branch machinery had slowed down.
covered up, suppressed or stopped. The government
26
trial of the seven men was one of these. After delaying the trial beyond the November elections, the
Nixon strategy for cover up in the trial itself
took an interesting n~w form. It has been used once
or twice before in the past few years by the Federal Government in delicate situations like Watergate. The most notable case was the "trial" of
James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tenn., for the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.
The strategy consists of working out a pre-arranged "deal" between the defendants and their attorneys and the prosecution in which the defendants
plead guilty in eXChange for some form of guaranteed
or implied protection, remuneration, or pardon. The
judge mayor may not be party to the arrangement.
The important thing is that neither prosecuting attorneys nor defense attorneys will present any witnesses or ask any questions that could prove embarrassing to the President, or to the federal agencies
involved in the cover up.
James Earl Ray Trial
Harold Weisberg, in his book Frame Up2 has called
this technique the "Mini Trial," in describing how
Percy Foreman, Ray's lawyer, the district attorney
for Memphis, Pat Canale, and Judge Battle, handled
the case. No evidence about what actually happened
was ever presented. No witnesses were presented except the minimum number for the prosecution to summarize the presumed case against Ray. Ray pleaded
guilty because Foreman had convinced him that he
would be out of jail in a few years. Ray was also
convinced by Foreman that if he pleaded not guilty,
he would be sentenced to death. Ray's new appeal is
partially based on this illegal arrangement which
did involve at least the Federal Government (the
FBI), the district attorney (Canale), the defense
attorney (Foreman), and the judge.
Sirhan Sirhan Trial
Some of the same techniques may have been used in
the trial of Sirhan for the assassination of Robert
Kennedy. It is not certain that the defense attorneys, Grant Cooper and Russell Parsons, were party
to the cover up in the trial. The judge and the
district attorney, Evelle Younger, certainly did not
present the basic evidence of conspiracy in the
case, nor did the defense attorneys. The judge cut
off the testimony of Coroner Tom Noguchi on the autopsy of Senator Kennedy. If it had been made part
of the record, it would have been the most important
evidence of conspiracy.3
The evidence from the conducting of the Sirhan
trial and its aftermath, points toward a cover up
conspiracy involving at least the Federal GovernCOMPUTERS and AUTOMA liON for March, 1973
ment (the FBI and the Justice Department), the district attorney, the Los Angeles police department,
and the judge.
The Watergate Trial
The cover up technique required in the case of
the Watergate 7 was much trickier, even though the
general pre-arrangement strategy was obviously used.
First of all, there were a lot more people involved
who, unfortunately for the conspirators, surfaced.
Also, they were known publicly to be CIA men. Secondly, the news media, as well as the public and
Congress, were more aroused and suspicious, as compared to the situation when Robert Kennedy was assassinated and when Sirhan was tried. Suspicions
still exist about the King killing and James Earl
Ray, but Percy Foreman is held in such general overall esteem and Ray's guilty plea and subsequent escape attempts meant that the news media have not
pressed that case.
Third, there was another less controllable investigation scheduled by Senator Sam Ervin's Committee and possibly a second one by Senator Ted
Kennedy's subcommittee.
For these reasons, Nixon's strategy had to be
somewhat more complex and devious. Those making
the arrangements -- Charles Colson, H. R. Haldeman,
John Erlichman, Richard Kleindeinst, Patrick Gray,
John Mitchell, Maurice Stans, E. Howard Hunt, the
lawyers for the defendants, and the prosecuting
attorney, Earl J. Silbert -- had to be extremely
careful, and entirely "off the record" in planning
the trial. It appears that Judge John Sirica was .
not made party to the cover up arrangement, or if
he was, he played his role like a Hollywood actor,
to the hilt. There were four basic parts to the
strategy.
The "Line of Innocence," Part 1 of Strategy
The lawyer for G. Gordon Liddy, Peter L. Maroulis,
defined part one of the strategy when he used the
phrase "line of innocence" on the last day of the
trial, Jan. 30, 1973, in his summation. He said
that Liddy thought the other six defendants were
engaged in a legitimate intelligence operation and
he (Liddy) was, like other officials at Nixon headquarters, "on the safe side of the line of innocence".
Nixon saw the obvious last summer. It would be
necessary to draw a definite line somewhere between
himself and the first five men arrested. All those
on one side of the line would have to be considered
gUilty and be "sacrificed," with suitable secret arrangements made for their later pardons, paroles,
support, etc. Those above the line would be considered innocent and would be supplied with all the
Presidential back-up required to take the "innocent
and ignorant" stance. Lying before grand juries,
federal judges, and Congressional committees would
be necessary and sanctioned for the good of the Republican party, the President and the United States.
This troupe grew larger as the weeks and months
passed and the Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, The
New York Times and others put on the pressure and
certain trustworthy sources began leaking information. Those required to lie in court were restricted by using executive priviledge, and other means.
Nevertheless, a stream of government "witnesses"
lied through their teeth before Judge Sirica and the
jury. The lying became so blatant that Sirica blew
his top several times and took over the questioning
of witnesses only to be told more lies.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
Place yourself in the position of Hugh Sloan,
Jr., former treasurer of the Committee to Re-Elect
the President, one of those chosen to be above the
line of innocence. Would you lie to the judge if
you knew you were doing it for your President?
Sloan told Sirica and the jury that he met G. Gordon
Liddy at the CRP headquarters only hours after the
five men were arrested. Liddy said to Sloan, "My
boys were caught last night; I made a mistake by
using somebody from here (meaning James McCord
from CRP headquarters) which I told them I would
never do. I'm afraid I'm going to lose my job."
Sirica never did ask who "them" was, nor did Silbert or anyone else. However, Sirica was bothered
enough by Sloan's testimony to send the jury out
of the court and to question Sloan directly. He
asked whether Sloan hadn't found Liddy's remark
highly suspicious at the time. Sloan obviously
lied when he said, "No".
Alfred Baldwin 3rd, a former FBI agent who
helped Hunt, Liddy, McCord, Barker and the others
monitor the telephone taps and bugs in the Democratic offices, was placed on the safe side of the
line of innocence by making him a witness for the
prosecution with "immunity" in exchange for testifying. He obviously lied to Judge Sirica when he
said he could not remember the name of a Republican
committee official to whom he had delivered a transcript of the eavesdropping information. Sirica
knew he was lying and asked when he had suffered
this lapse of memory. Baldwin replied he started to
forget the name as soon as the FBI began questioning
him about it: Baldwin then testified about a package at the trial. On Jan. 19 he said that he had
delivered a package with the name of the official at
Nixon re-election headquarters to whom it was addressed, actually written on the outside of the
package. Baldwin said he could not remember the
name he himself wrote on the package.
There were many more obvious liars. Those on the
guilty side of the line of innocence lied according
to Nixon's pre-arranged script in one direction.
Those on the other side lied according to script in
another direction. It was like watching a well-rehearsed play unfold in which the audience knew the
plot in advance. The third act is coming up with
the Ervin inquiries. The question is whether the
lies and the script will hold up during this phase.
One possibility for Nixon is to cut off the play
after the second act, by preventing the Ervin hearings altogether. More about that later. The list
of liars at the trial and the grand jury hearings
included: Bernard Barker, Howard Hunt, James McCord,
Gordon Liddy, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez,
Frank Sturgis, Baldwin, Sloan, Maurice Stans, John
Mitchell, Jeb Stuart Magruder, Herbert Porter, Robert OdIe, Douglas Caddy, Erlichman, and Haldeman.
Some of these men took executive privilege or
merely submitted affidavits rather than lying outright.
The Guilty Pleas, Part 2 of Strategy
The second part of the strategy was to plan for
the CIA people involved to plead guilty in order to
avoid testifying and to avoid presenting any evidence or witnesses conc~rning their role and especially their motives and connections with Mr.
Nixon, wealthy Cubans, the Mafia and the CIA from
past history. The guilty pleas were obviously arranged for in advance of the trial and then suddenly "sprung" on the judge and the public in an
attempt to make it look like Hunt had late second
thoughts. The other four, Barker, Sturgis, Gonzalez and Martinez, waited for a day or two to make
it look like they had followed their leader.
27
The enticements for pleading guilty and staying
on that side of the line of innocence seem to have
been quite varied. Bernard Barker hinted at one
form of encouragement when he talked to The 'New York
Times last September, about patriotic acts in an
espionage environment. He said, "I don't talk,
period. When the time comes, I will face up to
whatever responsibilities I have, and I won't cry
in my beer, and that will be the end of it. If I
have to go to jail and so forth -- well, I did 16
months in a German prison camp and this sure as bell
isn't going to be as bad as that." Barker, Martinez,
and Gonzalez seem to be motivated by what they consider to be pure patriotism. On the other hand, E.
Howard Hunt told Time magazine (Jan. 29 edition)
that "his people" were prepared to put up plenty of
money for the defense of the men. He said that his
"friends" would offer each man $1000 for each month
spent in prison.
Newsweek (Feb. 5 edition) reported that, "Hunt
held out the promise of financial support and a
'Presidential pardon' to get the others to follow
suit in pleading guilty. Reliable sources said
that the four Miami men had 'no doubt' that they
had been working for Mitchell and Stans -- and that
they had been persuaded by Hunt that they could expect pardons when the publicity died down." The New
York Times added (Jan. 13) reports from "sources
close to the case" that the Miami four were still
being paid by persons unnamed right up to the trial
date. Payments were said to average $400 a month
and up. Frank Sturgis admitted this to reporters,
but said the current payments represented sharp reductions from what he had been getting for awhile
after he was arrested.
Hunt's incentives may have involved money from
Nixon supporters also. But he may be counting on
another income source. He announced on the William
Buckley television program (Jan. 23) that he has
completed a new book about the Bay of Pigs and his
role in it. Hunt looked very composed on the show,
and not much like a man who has just lost his wife
in an airplane crash or just pleaded guilty in an
espionage case. He received a compliment from an
anti-Castro lawyer from Miami who said he was a
great, patriotic American, by calmly blowing smoke
from his cigar. In fact, he looked just like a CIA
man who has the President of the United States behind him all the way.
Not Guilty Pleas, Part 3 of Strategy
Some may argue, why didn't James McCord and Gordon Liddy plead guilty, too, if the mini trial
strategy was to be successful? A little logic and a
knowledge of law supplies the answer. If all seven
men had pleaded guilty, the trial would have been
over and there would have been no appeal. All seven
could be called before a grand jury or a Congressional committee and they could not take the fifth
amendment. Since McCord and Liddy pleaded not _
guilty and were found guilty, an appeal possibility
has been set up, with the long sequence of delays
that a series of appeals all the way to the Supreme
Court implies. Liddy and McCord, at least, could
not be forced to testify before a Congressional committee while these appeals were under way. The
strategy, then, may be to block Senator Ervin's committee from any effective inquiry for perhaps a year
or two. A motion may even be filed to halt ~ inquiry or questioning until Liddy and McCords' appeals have been exhausted. If that maneuver is not
successful, at least the men who can be called are
reduced to the five who Nixon can count on to continue lying for their boss.
28
That this may be the strategy is indicated by
lawyer Gerald Alch, representing James McCord, who
stated to reporters after McCord was found guilty,
that he would file an appeal and that Senator Ervin
would not be able to subpoena McCord while the appeals case was under way.
Patriotic Motives, Part 4 of Strategy
The fourth part of Nixon's strategy is a mixture
of emotional fact and fantasy. The concept is that
all seven men were motivated by the patriotic call
to duty for President and country. Men like Barker
could well believe this with all their heart. People as cool and detached as Liddy and Hunt are more
likely to be faking it for strategic purposes. The
patriotic motives varied from Barker's stated purpose of keeping Communists like McGovern out of the
White House, to Sturgis' ideas about combatting
left-wing demonstrators on the streets in Miami during the Republican convention. James McCord and his
lawyer came up with a "beaut". They argued before
Judge Sirica, with the jury out of the room, that
McCord had acted under "duress" to protect the President. He said he had been motivated by a fear of
violence against Mr. Nixon and other Republicans,
planned by radical groups linked to the Democrats.
He said he felt justified in planting bugs at Democratic headquarters to effectuate the defense of
President Nixon. McCord was, after all, chief of
security for the Committee to Re-Elect the President. He was presumably responsible for protecting
the President during the Republican convention.
Judge Sirica showed he has a sense of humor when
he said to Alch and McCord, "All Mr. McCord had to
do if he felt Republican officials were in danger
was to call the FBI, the Secret Service or the police. The Republican National Committee is just
another political organization. They don't have all
the rights in the world; you know they don't have
the right to hire someone to go in and bug the Democratic National Commi t t,ee."
The Donald Segretti Affair
On Jan. 28 a story broke in The New York Times
that Dwight L. Chapin, President Nixon's appointments secretary, had decided to leave the White
House staff. One high ranking administration official told The New York Times that Chapin was being
forced to leave as a result of the Segretti affair.
This brought back recollections of stories making
headlines in Oct. before the election. Segretti
had travelled allover the U.S. hiring young people
to plant false information, to spy on Democrats and
to collect data for the Nixon Re-Election committee.
His old University of Southern California buddy,
Dwight Chapin, had obviously been one of his contacts in the White House. Analysis of his telephone bill showed several calls to Chapin's office
and home in the spring of 1972. A Segretti friend
from U.S.C. told the Washington Post that Chapin was
the chief Washington contact for a nation-wide espionage operation financed by a secret fund from reelection committee headquarters.
The New York Times reported that H.R. H~ldeman~
White House chief of staff and Chapin's boss, asked
him to quit right away in Nov. after the election.
Chapin protested bitterly, telling Haldeman his
prospects for getting a job would be lessened if he
became the White House scapegoat for Mr. Segretti's
espionage activities. That statement certainly
makes it sound as though someone higher up was really responsible. Chapin told Haldeman, according to
The New York Times' source, that he would "blow the
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
whistle" if he was immediately dismissed. Haldeman
then agreed to let him stay on for awhile until
things cooled down and agreed to help him find a
jOb.
The White House denounced the Segretti reports
in Oct., and denied The New York Times' story about
Chapin being forced out. Ronald Ziegler, the President's press secretary said the article was absolutely unfounded and untrue. He referred to The
New York Times as "the publication that servesthe
city located on the northeastern tip of the United
States". Ron Ziegler, Donald Segretti and Dwight
Chapin all just happen to be old student friends
from the University of Southern California, President Nixon's home ground area.
FBI Cover Up
The intent to cover up the truth about Segretti's
operation was clearly indicated by Attorney General
Richard Kleindienst on Oct. 24, when he told newsmen
that no inquiry into Mr. Segretti's activities was
planned because as of that date no evidence had come
to the Department of Justice that would indicate the
violation of a Federal law. On Jan. 29, The New
York Times published an article stating that the
FBI made no attempt to investigate fully the political espionage and sabotage activities of Donald
Segretti. Justice Department officials learned of
some of Mr. Segretti's activities within weeks after
the Watergate arrests, but decided then that his
actions were legal and therefore beyond the scope of
an extensive FBI inquiry. Although Segretti and
Hunt met at least twice and conversed by phone many
times, the FBI made no effort to determine who
placed Segretti in contact with Hunt. White House
officials have repeatedly stated they knew nothing
about either Segretti's espionage operation, or the
Hunt-Liddy operation prior to June 17, 1972.
Part of the cover up strategy with Segretti has
been a Nixon-FBI-Justice Department carefully orchestrated plan to make sure he says the right
things. Lawrence R. Young, another U.S.C. close
friend of Segretti, Ziegler and Chapin, has told
newspapers that Segretti said Nixon's aides coached
him before his grand jury appearance.
Another Justice Department official who happens
to be a Democrat, Henry E. Petersen, apparently was
asked to check Segretti for criminal violations and
since he had no affirmative recommendations from
anybody, therefore called off any further investigations. This is reminiscent of three assassination inquiries and the position of former Justice
Earl Warren, who still says he has seen no evidence
of conspiracy. It certainly cannot be seen or discovered if you don't open your eyes and go looking
for it. The real criminals are not going to call
up the FBI and tell them where and how to look for
evidence.
Political "Law of the Jungle"
Among things the FBI might have learned, and
might have been unhappy to have discovered about
Donald Segretti is a particular plan linking Hunt
and Segretti to something much worse than political
espionage. According to Lawrence Young, who was
never interviewed by the FBI, he could have told
them about a Miami meeting between Hunt and Segretti
which took place in the spring of 1972. Hunt told
Segretti about a plan to hire Cuban refugees to pose
as McGovern supporters and tear up the inside of the
Doral Hotel where George McGovern had his convention
headquarters.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
In the article in the Oct. 1972 issue of Computers
and Automation several activities were described as
having been part of the plans of Hunt, Barker, apd
Sturgis for Miami. This new report from Young further reinforces the idea that a situation might have
been the ultimate Watergate and Segretti objective.
Apparently, this possibility has occurred to
someone on the editorial staff of The New York Times
as well. In the Jan. 18, 1973 edition, the following remarks appeared in the lead editorial, entitled
"Veil Over Watergate".
"Chief Judge John J. Sirica spoke for a host of
incredulous observers at the Watergate trial when he
told defendant Bernard Barker that he simply did not
believe his story that $144,000 had arrived in unmarked envelopes from sources unknown .... Defense
counsel Gerald Alch tried to cloak his clients' acts
of political espionage in a mantle of patriotism.
The violence which the defendants wanted to intercept. he said, would have been directed against 'Republican officials, including but not limited to,
the President' .... Guided only by hallucinations akin
to the anti-Castro fanaticism that motivated the
hirelings in the Watergate plot, any individuals or
groups could feel free to take up arms or utilize
any other repressive measures their paranoid suppositions dictated. Such a political law of the
jungle might readily lead from protective espionage
to defensive assassination."
What is There to Hide?
With all of these extensive, widespread efforts
on Nixon's part to cover up the truth about Watergate and Segretti, the curious person cannot help
wondering and asking, "What else is he trying to
hide? Isn't there more to it than just political
sabotage and espionage?"
There is more. These questions will be examined
and discussed in another article in an early issue
of this magazine.
Footnotes
1. The first four articles were published in Computers and Automation in August, October, December, 1972, and January, 1973.
2. Harold Weisberg, Frame Up, New York, 1971.
3. This evidence is discussed in detail in Richard
E. Sprague, "The Assassination of Senator
Robert F. Kennedy: Proofs of Conspiracy and of
Two Persons Firing," Computers and Automation,
September, 1972.
References
A. Books
Flammonde, Paris. The Kennedy Conspiracy. New
York: Meredith Press, 1969.
Warren Commission Hearings and Exhibits (Vol. XXVI),
pages 546-650.
Weisberg, Harold. Frame Up. New York: Outerbridge
and Dientsfrey, 1971.
B. Magazine Articles
Parade Magazine (May 14, 1961), interview by Jack
Anderson with Frank Fiorini (Sturgis).
Sprague, Richard E. Watergate articles. Computers
and Automation (Aug., Oct., Nov., Dec., 1972,
Jan. 1973),
Sprague, Richard E. "The Assassination of Senator
Robert F. Kennedy: Proofs of Conspiracy and of
Two Persons Firing." Computers and Automation
(Sept. 1972),
29
Gerth. "Nixon and the Mafia." Sundance magazine
(Nov.-Dec. 1972).
"Watergate: The Cost Shrinks." Newsweek (Jan. 22,
1973), p. 23.
"Trials: The Spy in the Cold." Time (Jan. 29, 1973),
p. 17.
"The Watergate Case." Newsweek (Feb. 5, 1973), p. 29.
,C. Newspaper Stories, Television and Other
District Attorney's files. Orleans Parish, New
Orleans, La.
"Watergate Trial Opens; Jury Screening Begins." The
New York Times (Jan. 9, 1973).
"Secret G.O.P. Fund Described at Trial." Washington
Star (Jan. II, 1973).
Anderson, Jack. "Watergate Figures May Talk."
White Plains Reporter Dispatch (Jan. II, 1973).
"Watergate Trial Hears Hunt Offer to Plead Guil ty."
The New York Times (Jan. II, 1973).
"Hunt Admits All 6 Charges as Judge Bars Partial
Plea." The New York Times (Jan. 12, 1973).
"Hunt Declares No Higher Ups in Plot." Washington
Star (Jan. 12, 1973).
"Six in jWatergate Case Implicated by Witness."
Washington Star (Jan. 12, 1973).
"More Guil ty Pleas Hinted Amid Watergate Secrecy."
The New York Times (Jan. 13, 1973).
Editorial. "Watergate, Mystery, Comedy - And Dirty
Tri cks. " The New York Times (Jan. 14, 1973).
"Watergate Defendants Reported Still Being Paid."
The New York Times (Jan. 14, 1973).
"Four More Admit Guilt as Spies in Watergate." The
New York Times (Jan. 16, 1973).
"Watergate Judge is Called Firm and Nonpartisan."
The New York Times (Jan. 16, 1973).
Reston, James (edi toriaU. "The Watergate Spies."
The New York Times (Jan. 17, 1973).
"Watergate Defendant to Plead He Acted to Forestall
Violence." The New York Times (Jan. 17, 1973).
Edi torial. "Veil Over Watergate." The New York
Times (Jan. 18, 1973).
"Watergate Trial in Closed Session." The New York
Times (Jan. 18, 1973).
"U.S. Hints Blackmail as Motive in Watergate Case."
The New York Times (Jan. 19, 1973).
"Watergate Trial is Told G.O.P. Got Wiretap Data."
The New York Times (Jan. 20, 1973).
"Judge Queries Watergate Witness Who Can't Recall
to Whom He Sent Wiretap Data." The New York
Times (Jan. 23, 1973).
Buckley, William. Television program. Jan. 23,
1973.
"Mitchell Linked to $199,000 Fund." The New York
Times (Jan. 24, 1973).
"Watergate Judge Assails Argument by Defense." The
New York Times (Jan. 25, 1973).
Anderson, Jack. "Watergate Dia·ry." Whi te Plains
Reporter DispatCh (Jan. 26, 1973).
"Nixon Aide Reported Being Forced Out." The New
York Times (Jan. 29, 1973).
"Prosecution Tested in Watergate Trial." The New
York Times (Jan. 29, 1973).
"Both Sides Rest in the Watergate Trial: Judge and
Prosecutor Differ on Scope of Case." The New
York Times (Jan. 30, 1973).
"F. B. 1. Did No Full Study of Reported G. O. P. Spy."
The New York Times (Jan. 30, 1973).
"White House Says Nixon Aide is Leaving but Denies
Pressure." The New York Times (Jan. 30, 1973).
"Liddy and McCord Are Guilty of Spying on the Democrats." The New York Times (Jan. 31, 1973).
Editorial. "Watergate Conviction." The New York
Times (Feb. I, 1973).
"Kennedy Panel Says Government Inquiry on Bugging
Was Limited." The New York Times (Feb. 2, 1973),
"Watergate Judge Wants U.S. to Revive Its Inquiry."
The New York Times (Feb. 3, 1973).
[]
30
PROBLEM CORNER
Walter Penney, COP
Problem Editor
Computers and Automation
PROBLEM 733: A RANDOM WALK
"What's that, a graph of our booming economy?" asked
Mike, looking at the chart Pete was drawing. It looked
like a series of gradually rising sawtooth peaks.
"No, it's actually a random walk problem I'm trying to
program."
"Doesn't look like the usual random walk with all those
segments sloping up and down."
"Well, this is a little different. In this version only diagonal steps up or down are permitted. That is, segments
connect grid points at opposite vertices of a unit square."
Mike studied the diagram a moment. "These steps seem
to go up or down, but they all go to the right. Are steps
to the left allowed?" he asked.
"No. This base line is supposed to represent time. It's
all part of a big simulation project."
"What are you trying to program then?"
"Well," said Pete, "one of the problems is to determine
the prob~bility of getting to the top. There are five stages
in this model and I'm trying to figure the chance of getting through all five."
"Let's see, you could succeed in as few as five time
units then, couldn't you?"
"Yes, but there's only a 1/32 chance of that since at
each point a step up or down is equally likely."
"You could just have the computer do it, say, 10,000
times, with random sequences of 1's and O's, 1 for up and
o for down - make a real random walk out of it."
"I could, but I don't think that will be necessary."
What is the value of the probability Pete is trying to
calculate?
Solution to Problem 732: Seance Seating
There were three couples. If men and women alternate
there are 3 ! 2 ! or 12 ways of arranging themselves. If
there is no restriction this number is 5 ! or 120.
ADVERTISING INDEX
Following is the index of advertisements. Each item contains: name and address of the advertiser I name of the agency, if any I page number where the advertisement appears.
THE C&A NOTEBOOK ON COMMON SENSE, ELEMENTARY AND ADVANCED, published by Computers and
Automation and People, 815 Washington St., Newtonville, Mass. 02160 / Pages 2,3
COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION AND PEOPLE, 815
Washington St., Newtonville, Mass. 02160 / Pages 38, 51
GML CORPORATION, 594 Marrett Road, Lexington,
Mass. 02173/ Page 39
WHO'S WHO IN COMPUTERS AND DATA PROCESSING,
jointly published by Quadrangle Books (a New York
Times Company) and Berkeley Enterprises, Inc., 815
Washington St., Newtonville, Mass. 02160 / Page 52
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
U.
s.
Electronic Espionage: A Memoir
Part 2
Ramparts
2054 University A venue
Berkeley, Calif. 94704
"One of the instructors gave us a big lecture about classifying material and
he said that it was necessary because it would only confuse the American
people to be let in on this data. He used those exact words. As a matter
of fact, I used those words when I was training the people who worked
under me."
6
Ramparts' interviewee was not identified in
the original article. However, Ramparts later
introduced him to the press at a news conference
in California. He was 26-year-old anti-war acti vi st Perry Fellwock of San Diego. Perry Fellwock enli sted in the Air Force in 1966 at the
age of 20. He was subsequently recruited by
the National Security Agency for specialized
training, and was later promoted to Staff Sergeant. In November 1969, he was discharged from
military service after 3 years of overseas duty.
He has served as a communications traffic analyst for the National Security Agency in Istanbul, Turkey, West Germany and Indochina.
In a New York Times interview publi shed
July 19, 1972, Perry Fellwock stated his reason
for leaving as disillusionment with the National
Security Agency's activities. He said:
My experience with the U.S. Government
and its global mission has convinced me
that the most dangerous threat to me, my
family and to world peace itself, is the
American military.
He asserted that to bring security and peace
to the United States:
We must take steps to insure that there
are no more Vietnams. I believe I have
taken such a step. I have done it for
neither money nor glory, but to bring \0
the American people knowledge of which
they have a 'need to know'.
Introduction
Part 1 of this article appeared in last month's
issue of Computers and Automation and People. The
National Security Agency, created in 1952, employs
upWards of 15,000 civilian and military personnel
to gather, analyze and disseminate over 80 percent
of the viable intelligence received by the U.S.
government. All of this information is gathered
technologically, by deciphering electronic, radar,
and especially radio communications of other nations. The activities cover the communications of
"allies" as well as "enemies", the chief "target"
however being the Soviet Union. Peck suggested in
Reprinted with permission from Ramparts, August 1972, copyright by
Ramparts Magazine, 2054 University Ave., Berkeley, Calif. 94704.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
Part 1 that the completeness and precision of this
intelligence operation practically destroys any
"balance of terror" in the world, since the United
States' information on Soviet military installations puts the United States much closer to a
crippling first-strike capacity than is generally
supposed. In addition, Soviet military and intelligence operations are, he noted, aimed almost entirely at defense.
Q. While you were monitoring the Soviet Union
what sort of intelligence would have been considered
very important or serious?
A. In a way you do this almost routinely. That
is, there are certain times that the activities of a
targeted entity are of such an important nature that
a special type of report has to be sent out. It is
called a CRITIC. This is sent around the world to a
communications network called CRITICOM. The people
in this network, besides NSA (National Security
Agency), are those in other intelligence or diplomatic capacities who might come across intelligence
of such importance themselves that the President of
the United States would need to be immediately notified. When a CRITIC goes out, one analyst working
alone can't do it. There is just too great a volume
of material to correlate.
Q. What would be an example of something sent
out as a CRITIC?
A. Well, one of the strangest I ever read was
sent out by our base at Crete. One of the analysts
there sent a CRITIC because he had traced a Soviet
bomber that landed in the middle of Lake Baikal. He
knew it hadn't crashed from the type of communications he monitored, and he thought they had developed a new generation of bombers able to land on
water. It turned out to be a bad mistake because he
neglected to remember that about three-fourths of
the year this lake is completely frozen over.
But actually this sort of thing is rare. Most
CRITICs are based on good reasoning and data. You
work around the clock, sometimes for 30 hours at a
stretch putting things together. These are the times
that the job stops being routine. I guess it's why
they have a saying about the work in NSA: "Hours of
boredom and seconds of terror."
Q. Did you ever issue a CRITIC?
31
A. Yes, several. During Czechoslovakia, for instance, when it became clear the Soviets were moving
their troops up. We also issued a number of CRITICs
during the Mideast War of 1967.
Q. Why?
A. Well, I was part of an analysis team that was
predicting the war at least two months before it began. I guess we issued our first CRITIC on this in
April. We did it on the basis of two sources. One,
we and the Crete station had both been picking up
data as early as early February that the Israelis
had a massive build-up of arms, a massing of men and
material, war exercises, increased level of penetration of Arab territory -- just everything a country
does to prepare for war. Two, there were indications
that the Soviets were convinced there was going to be
a war. We knew this from the traffic we had on diplomatic briefings sent down from Moscow to a commanding general of a particular region. And by April
they had sent their VTA airborne, their version of
Special Forces paratroopers, to Bulgaria. Normally,
they're based in the Trans-Caucasus, and we knew
from their contingency plans that Bulgaria was a
launching point for the Middle East. Plus some of
these forces were being given cram-courses in Israeli
and Arabic languages.
Q. All this leaves the sequence of events that immediately preceded the Six Day War -- the various
countercharges, the UN pullout, the closing of the
Straits -- still pretty obscure. Did NSA evidence
clear this up?
A. No. Not really. But one of the things that
confused us at first was the fact that until the
last days before the war the Arabs weren't doing
anything to prepare. They weren't being trained
how to scramble their air force. This is why there
was such total chaos when the Israelis struck.
Q. How did the White House react to your reports
about all thi s?
A, Well, in every message we sent out, we always
put in our comments at the end -- there's a place
for this in the report form -- and they'd say something like "Believe there is some preparation for
unexpected Israeli attack. Request your comments."
They didn't exactly ignore it. They'd send back,
"Believe this deserves further analysis", which means
something like, "We don't really believe you, but
keep sending us information". Actually, we all got
special citations when the whole thing was over.
Q. Why didn't they believe you?
A. I suppose because the Israelis were assuring
them that they were not going to attack and Johnson
was buying it.
Q. You remember about the "Liberty," the communications ship we sent in along the coast which was
torpedoed by Israeli gunboats? The official word at
the time was that the whole thing was a mistake.
Johnson calls it a "heartbreaking episode" in The
Vantage Point. How does this square with your information?
A. The whole idea of sending the "Liberty" in was
that at that point the U.S. simply didn't know what
was going on. We sent it in really close so that we
could find out hard information about what the Israelis' intentions were. What it found out, among
other things, was that Dayan's intentions were to
push on to Damascus and to Cairo. The Israelis shot
at the "Liberty", damaged it pretty badly and killed
32
some of the crew, and told it to stay away. After
this it got very tense. It became pretty clear that
the White House had gotten caught with its pants down.
Q. What were the Russians doing?
A. The VTA airborne was loaded into planes. They
took off from Bulgaria and their intention was
clearly to make a troop drop on Israel. At this
point it became pretty clear that we were approaching
a situation where World War III could get touched off
at any time. Johnson got on the hot line and told
them that we were headed for a conflict if they didn't
turn these planes around. They did.
Q. Was it just these airborne units that were on
the move?
A. No. There was all kinds of other action too.
Some of their naval forces had started to move, and
there was increased activity in their long-range
bombers.
Q. What about this idea that Dayan had decided to
push on to the cities you mentioned. What happened
there?
A. He was called back, partly because of U.S.
pressure, partly by people in the Israeli political
infrastructure. He was somewhat chastised and never
given back total control of the Army.
Q. How do you know this?
A. Like I said earlier, NSA monitors every government. This includes Tel Aviv. All the diplomatic
signals from the capital to the front and back again
were intercepted. Also at this same time we were
copying the French, who were very much involved on
both sides playing a sort of diplomatic good offices
between Cairo and Tel Aviv. As far as Dayan is concerned, the information came from informal notes from
analysts at Crete who were closer to the situation
than we were. Analysts send these informal notes
from one station to another to keep each other informed about what is happening. One of the notes I
got from Crete said Dayan had been called back from
the field and reprimanded. Obviously, by this time
the Israelis were getting heat from the U.S.
Q. What did the Russians do after the situation
cooled down a bit?
A. Immediately after the war -- well, not even
afterwards, but towards the end -- they began the
most massive airlift in the history of the world to
Cairo and Damascus. Supplies, food and some medical
equipment, but mostly arms and planes. They sent in
MIG-21s fully assembled, fueled, and ready to fly in
the bellies of their big 10-10s. At landing the
doors would open, and the MIGs would rollout, ready
to go. Also there was quite a bit of political maneuvering inside the Soviet Union right afterwards.
I don't quite remember the details, but it was
mainly in the military, not in the Politbureau.
Q. We routinely monitor the communications of
allies like Israel?
A. Of course.
Q. What other sorts of things do we learn?
A. Practically everything. For instance, we
know that the Israelis were preparing nuclear weapons at their development site at Dimona. Once the
U.S. Ambassador to Israel visited there. They had
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
been calling it a textile plant as a cover, and when
he went there they presented him with a new suit. It
was a charade, you know. They didn't have warheads
deployed then, but they were close to it. I'm sure
they must have a delivery system in operation by
now. It was said that American scientific advisors
were helping them in this development. I mean it
was said on the intelligence grapevine. I didn't
know it for a fact. But this grapevine is usually
fairly accurate.
Q. All of the material you've been discussing is
classified?
A. Almost all of it.
Q. Who classified it?
A. I did. Analysts in NSA did. In the Agency,
the lowest classification is CONFIDENTIAL. Anything
not otherwise classified is CONFIDENTIAL. But SIGINT
(Signals Intelligence) data is super-classified,
meaning that only those in the SIGINT community have
access to it, and then only on a "need-to-know"
basis. A lot of t~e stuff I'd work with was SECRET
and TOP SECRET, which is the highest classification
of all. But after a whi Ie it occurred to me that we
classified our stuff only partly because of the
enemy. It seemed like they were almost as interested in keeping things from the American public as
from the Soviets. Hell, I'd give top secret classifications to weather reports we intercepted from Soviet subs. Certainly the Soviets knew that data. I
remember when I was in school back in San Angelo one
of the instructors gave us a big lecture about
classifying material and he said that it was necessary because it would only confuse the American people to be let in on this data. He used those exact
words. As a matter of fact, I used those words
when I was training the people who worked under me.
Q. How did you relate to our allies in intelligence matters?
A. I'll have to digress for a moment to answer
that. The SIGINT community was defined by a TOP
SECRET treaty signed in 1947. It was called the
UKUSA treaty. The National Security Agency signed
for the U.S. and became what's called the First
Party to the Treaty. Great Britain's GCHQ signed
for them, the CBNRC for Canada, and DSD for Australia/New Zealand. They're all called Second Parties. In addition, several countries have signed
on -- ranging from West Germany to Japan -- over
the years as is supposed to be a general agreement
not to restrict data. Of course it doesn't work
out this way in practice. The Third Party countries receive absolutely no material from us, while
we get anything they have, although generally it's
of pretty low quality. We also worked with socalled neutrals who weren't parties to the UKUSA
treaty. They'd sell us intelligence. For instance,
the Finns were selling us everything they could collect over radar on their Russian border.
As it works out, the treaty is a one-way street.
We violate it even with our Second Party allies by
monitoring their communications constantly.
monitors all their communications, and the NSA unit
in our embassy in London monitors the lower-level
stuff from Whitehall. Again, technology is the key.
These allies can't maintain security even if they
want to. They're all working with machines we gave
them. There's no chance for them to be on par with
us technologically.
There's the illusion of cooperation, though. We
used to go to Frankfurt occasionally for briefings.
The headquarters of NSA Europe, the European Security region, and several other departments in the
SIGINT community are located there, inside the I.G.
Farben building. We'd run into people from GCHQ
there, and from the other countries. It was all
fairly cordial. As a matter of a fact, I got to
respect the English analysts very highly. They're
real professionals in GCHQ, and some are master
analysts. They'll stay on the job for twenty-five
or thirty years and learn a lot. The CGG is also
located in the I.G. Farben building. That's the
West German COMINT agency. Most of them are exNazis. We used to harass them by sieg heil-ing
them whenever we saw them.
Once I briefed Hubert Humphrey at the I.G. Farben building. It was in 1967, when he was vicepresident. The briefing concerned the Soviet tactical air force and what it was capable of doing.
It was all quite routine. He asked a couple of
pretti dumb questions that showed he didn't have
the foggiest notion of what NSA was and what it did.
Q. But you said that you often sent reports directly to the White House.
A. Yes, I did. But the material that goes there
is cleaned of any reference as to where the intelligence comes from. Every morning the President
gets a daily intelligence summary compiled by the
CIA. This information will probably contain a good
deal from the NSA in it, but it won't say where it
came from and the means used to collect it. That's
how a man like the vice-president could be totally
ignorant of the way intelligence is generated.
Q. So far we've been talking about various kinds
of sophisticated electronic intelligence gathering.
What about tapping of ground communications?
A. I'm not sure on the extent of this, but I
know that the NSA mission in the Moscow embassy has
done some tapping there. Of course all trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific telephone calls to or from
the U.S. are tapped.
Every conversation
personal, commercial, whatever -- is automatically intercepted and recorded on
tapes. Most of these no one ever listens to and,
after being held available for a few weeks, are
erased. They'll run a random sort through all the
tapes, listening to a certain number to determine
if there is anything in them of interest to our
government worth holding on to and transcribing.
Also, certain telephone conversations are routinely
listened ~o as soon as possible. These will be the
ones that are made by people doing an inordinate
amount of calling overseas, or are otherwise flagged
for special interest.
Q. Do they know this?
A. Probably. In part, we're allowed to do it for
COMSEC purposes under NATO. COMSEC, thatis communications security. There's supposed to be a random
checking of security procedures. But I know we also
monitor their diplomatic stuff constantly. In England, for instance, our Chicksands installation
. COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
Q. What about Africa?
lations there?
Does the NSA have instal-
A. Yes, one in Ethiopia on the East Coast and in
Morocco on the West Coast. These cover northern Africa, parts of the Mediterranean, and parts of the
Mideast .
33
Q. Do they ever gather intelligence on African
insurgents?
A. I went to Africa once for a vacation. I understood that there were DSUs, that's direct support units, working against Mozambique, Tanzania,
Angola, those countries. These DUSs are in naval
units off the coast. They are tasked with two
problems: first, they copy the indigenous Portuguese forces; and second, they copy the liberation
forces.
Q. Is the information used in any way against
the guerrila s?
A. I don't know for sure. But I'd be surprised
if it wasn't. There is informntion being gathered.
This intelligence is fed back to NSA-Europe, of
course. It has no strategic value to us, so it's
passed on to NATO -- one of our consumers. Portugal is part of NATO, so it gets the information. I
know that U.S. naval units were DFing the liberation
forces. That's direction finding. The way it
worked was that the ship would get a signal, people
on board would analyze it to see if it came from
guerrillas, say, in Angola. Then they'd correlate
with our installation in Ethiopia, which had also
intercepted it, and pinpoint the source.
Q. Did you ever have any doubts about what you
were doing?
A. Not really, not at this time, It was a good
job. I was just 21 years old; I had a lot of operators working under me; I got to travel a lot -- to
Frankfurt, for instance, at least twice a month for
briefings. I was considered a sort of whiz kid,
and had been since I'd been in school back in San
Angelo. I guess you could say that I had internalized all the stuff about being a member of an elite
that they had given us.· I was advancing very rapidly, partly because of a turnover in personnel
that happened to hit at the time I came to Turkey,
and partly because I liked what I was doing and
worked like crazy and always took more than other
analysts. But, like I said earlier, I had developed a different attitude toward the Soviet Union.
I didn't see them as an enemy or anything like that.
Everyone I worked with felt pretty much the same. We
were both protagonists in a big game -- that's the
view we had. We felt very superior to the CIA people we'd occasionally come in contact with. We had
a lot of friction with them, and we guarded our information from them very carefully.
Q. Was there a lot of what you'd call esprit de
corps among the NSA people there?
A. In some ways, yes; in other ways, no. Yes, in
the sense that there were a lot who were like me -eating, drinking, sleeping NSA. The very fact that
you have the highest security clearance there is,
makes you think a certain way. You're set off from
the rest of humanity. Like one of the rules was -and this was first set out when we were back at San
Angelo -- that we couldn't have drugs like sodium
pentothal used on us in medical emergencies, at
least not in the way they're used on most people.
You know, truth-type drugs. I remember once one of
our analysts cracked up his car in Turkey and banged
himself up pretty good. He was semi-conscious and
in the hospital. They had one doctor and one nurse,
both with security clearances, who tended him. And
one of us was always in the room with him to make
sure that while he was delirious he didn't talk too
loud. Let me say again that all the material you
deal with, the code words and all, becomes part of
34
you. I'd find myself dreaming in code. And to
this day when I hear certain TOP SECRET code words
something in me snaps.
But in spite of all this, there's a lot of corruption too. Quite a few people in NSA are into
illegal activities of one kind or another. It's
taken to be one of the fringe benefits of the job.
You know, enhancing your pocketbook. Practically
everybody is into some kind of smuggling. I didn't
see any heroin dealings or anything like that, like
I later saw among CIA people when I got to Nam, but
most of us, me included, did some kind of smuggling
on the side. Everything from small-time black marketeering of cigarettes or currency all the way up
to the transportation of vehicles, refrigerators,
that sort of thing. One time in Europe I knew of a
couple of people inside NSA who were stationed in
Frankfurt and got involved in the white slave trade.
Can you believe that? They were transporting women
who'd been kidnapped from Europe to Mideast sheikdoms aboard security airplanes. It was perfect for
any kind of activity of that kind. There's no customs or anything like that for NSA people. Myself,
I was involved in the transportation of money. A
lot of us would pool our cash, buy up various restricted currencies on our travels, and then exchange it at a favorable rate. I'd make a couple
of thousand dollars each time. It was a lark. My
base pay was $600 a month, and looking back I figure that I made at least double that by what you'd
call manipulating currency. It sounds pretty gross,
I know, but the feeling was, "What the hell, nobody's getting hurt". It's hard for me to relate
to the whole thing now. Looking back, it's like
that was another person doing those things and feeling those feelings.
Q. All this sounds like a pretty good deal -the job, what you call the fringe benefits, and all
that. Why did you go to Vietnam?
A. Well, I'd been in Istanbul for over two years,
that's one ,thing. And second, well, Vietnam was
the big thing that was happening. I wasn't for the
war, exactly, but I wasn't against it either. A lot
of people in Europe were going there, and I wanted
to go to see what was happening. It doesn't sound
like much of a reason now, but that was it.
Q. You volunteered?
A. Right. For Vietnam and for flying.
turned me down for both.
They
Q. Why?
A. Because of my classification. What I knew
was too delicate to have me wandering around in a
war zone. If I got captured, I'd know too much.
That sort of thing. But I pulled some strings. I'd
made what you'd call high-ranking friends, you know.
Finally I got to go. First I had a long vacation
went to Paris for awhile and that sort of thing.
Then I was sent back to the U.S. for schooling.
Q. What sort of schooling?
A. It was in Texas, near Brownsville. I learned
a little Vietnamese and a lot about ARDF -- that's
airborne radio direction finding. It was totally
different from what I'd been doing. It was totally
practical. No more strategic stuff, just practical
analysis. I had to shift my whole way of thinking
around. I was going to be in these big EC-47s -airborne platforms they were called -- locating the
enemy's ground forces.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
After this first phase in Texas, I went to a
couple of Air Force bases here in California and
learned how to jump out of planes, and then up to
Washington state to survival school. This was three
weeks and no fun at all. It wa s cold as hell, I
guess so we could learn to survive in the jungle.
Never did figure that one out. We did things like
getting dropped up in the mountains in defense teams
and learn E&E -- that's the process of escape and
evasion. Youct'ivide the. three-man team up into certain functions ~ one guy scrounges for food, the·
other tries to learn the lay of the land, that sort
of thing. We were out for two days with half a
parachute and a knife between us. Strangely enough,
we did manage to build a snare and catch-a rabbif.
We cooked it over a fire we built with some matches
we smuggled. It was awful. We'd also smuggled
five candy bars, though, and they were pretty good.
Then we got captured by some soldiers wearing black
pajamas. They put us in cells and tried to break
us. It was a game, but they played it serious even
though we didn't. It had its ludicrous moments.
They played Joan Baez peacenik songs over the loudspeaker. This was supposed to make us think that
the people back home didn't support us anymore and
we'd better defect. We dug the music, of course.
After this, I slipped out.
Q. How long were you in Vietnam?
A. Thirteen months, from 1968 to 1969.
Q. Where were you stationed?
A.
In Pleiku most of the time.
Q. Is that where the major intelligence work
is done?
A. No, there's a unit in Da Nang that does most
of the longer-range work, and the major unit is at
Phu Bai. It's the most secure base in Vietnam. An
old French base, just below Hue and completely surrounded by a mine field. It's under attack right
now. The people based there -- a couple thousand
of them -- will probably be the last ones out of
Vietnam. I don't know if you know of this or not,
but the first American killed in Vietnam was at Phu
Bai. He was in NSA, working on short-range direction finding out of an armored personnel carrier -you know, one of those vans with an antenna on top.
It was in 1954. We were told this to build up our
esprit de corps.
Q.
So what kinds of things did you do there?
A. Like I said, radio direction finding is the
big thing, the primary mission. There are several
collection techniques used there. Almost all of
them are involved with the airborne platforms I mentioned. They are C-47s, "gooney birds," with an E
in front of the C-47 because they're involved in
electronic warfare. The missions go by different
names. Our program was Combat Cougar. We had two
or three operators on board and an analyst, which
was me. The plane was filled with electronic gear,
radios and special DF-ing equipment, about $4 million worth of it, all computerized and very sophisticated. The technology seemed to turn over about
every five months. As a sideline, I might tell you
that an earlier version of this equipment was used
in Bolivia, along with infrared detectors, to help
track down Che Guevara.
Q.
So what would be your specific mission?
A. Combat Cougar planes would take off and fly
a particular orbit in a particular part of IndoCOMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
china. We were primarily tasked for low-level information. That is, we'd be looking for enemy ground
units fighting or about to be fighting. This was our
A-I priority. As soon as we located one of these
units through our direction finding, we'd fix it.
This fix would be triangulated with fixes made by
other airborne platforms, a medium-range direction
finding outfit on the ground, or even from ships.
Then we'd send the ·fix to the DSUs on the ground -that's direct support units ~ at Phu Bai or Pleiku.
They'd run it through their cbmputers and call in
B-52s or artillery strikes ..
Q.
How high did you fly?
A. It was supposed to be 8000 feet, but we
couldn't get close enough, so we went down to 3000.
Q. You hear a lot about seismic and acoustic
sensors and that sort of thing being used. How did
this fit into what you were doing?
A. Not at all. They aren't that effective. A
lot of them get damaged when they land; some of them
start sending signals and get stuck; others are
picked up by the Vietnamese and tampered with. Those
that come through intact can't tell civilian frommilitary movements. Whatever data is collected from
sensors on the trail and at the DMZ is never acted
on until correlated with our data.
Q. How did the NVA and NLF troops communicate
their battle orders? They seem to take us by surprise, while from what you said earlier the Soviet
Union can't.
A. That's because there are no grand battle orders except in a few cases. Almost everything is
decided at a low level in the field. That's why
most of our intelligence was directed toward these
low-level communications I've been talking about.
NSA operations in Vietnam are entirely tactical,
supporting military operations. Even the long-range
stuff, on North Vietnamese air defense and diplomacy, on shipping in and out of Haiphong -- the data
collected at Da Nang, Clark Air Force Base in the
Philippines and somewhat in Thailand -- is used in
a t~ctical sense only. It's for our bombers going
into North Vietnam. They aren't engaged in probing
or testing the defenses of a targeted entity like
in Europe. It's all geared around the location of
enemy forces.
Q. What would be the effect if the U.S. had to
vacate ground installations like the ones you've
mentioned?
A. Well, we wouldn't have that good intelligence
about the capabilities of the North Vietnamese to
shoot our planes down. We wouldn't know what their
radar was doing or could do, where their ground-toair missile sites were, when their MIGs were going
to scramble. We'd still be able to DF their troops
in the field of course. That won't change until
our air forces, including the airborne platforms I
flew on, go out too.
Q. NVA and NLF troops must have some sort of
counter-measures to use against operations like the
one you were in. Otherwise they wouldn't be as effective as they are.
A. Basically you're right, although you shouldn't
under-estimate the kind of damage done by the
strikes we called in as a result of our direction
finding. To a certain extent, though, the Vietnamese have developed a way to counteract our technigues. Their headquarters in the North is known
35
as MRTTH -- Military Region Tri Tin Hue. It is
located on the other side of the Valley, somewhere
just into Laos. MRTTH has a vast complex of antennas strung allover the jungle. When they're transmitting orders, they play with the switchboard, and
the signal goes out over a several-mile area from
these different antennas. When you're up in one of
these airborne platforms, the effect is like this:
you get a signal and fix it. First it will be nine
miles in one direction and then, say, twelve miles
in another, and fifteen in another. We never found
MRTTH. It's one of the high priorities.
A. There are forces we'd classify as VC and others
as NVA, yes. But it was for identification, like
the call signs on Soviet planes. The VC forces
tended to merge, break apart, then regroup, often
composed differently from what they were before. As
far as the NVA is concerned, we'd use the same names
they were called back home, like the 20th regiment.
Hanoi controls infiltration, some troops. and supplies coming down the Trail. But once they get to a
certain area, MRTTH takes over. And practically
speaking, MRTTH is controlled by the NLF-PRG.
Q. How did you know that?
Q. But you'd say that the sort of data you collected through DF-ing had some effect?
A. Right, generally. At least in locating field
units. It also leads to some large actions. For
instance, the first bombing that ever occurred from
ARDF data occurred in 1968. There was an area about
19 kilometers southwest of Hue that we'd been flying
over. Some of the. communications we collected and a
pattern analysis that was performed on it indicated
that there were quite a few NVA or VC units concentrated in a small area, about a mile in diameter.
General Abrams personally ordered the largest B-52
raid ~hat had ever taken place in Vietnam at the
time. There was one sortie an hour for thirty-six
hours, thirty tons dropped by each sortie on the
area. Afterwards it was just devastated. I mean
it was wasted. It was a long time before they
could even send helicopters into the area to evaluate the strike because of the stench of burning
flesh. On the perimeter of the area there were
Vietnamese that had died just from the concussion.
The thing of it was, though, there wasn't any way
to tell which of the dead were military and which
were civilian, It was pretty notorious. Afterwards, it was called Abrams Acres. It was one of
the things that began to turn me off to the war.
Q. You've said that your A-I priority was locating enemy units on the ground. What were the other
targets?
A. Mainly supplies, We tried, not too successfully, to pinpoint their supply capabilities. All
along the Trail the Vietnamese have these gigantic
underground warehouses known as "bantrams", where
either men or supplies are housed. The idea is
that in case of an offensive like the one that's
going on now, they don't have to go north for supplies. They've got them right there in these bantrams, enough to last for a long time at a fairly
high level of military activity. They had about
11 bantrams when I was there. We knew where they
were within twenty-five or thirty miles, but no
closer. I remember the first Dewey Canyon invasion of Laos. I flew support for it. It happened
because the 9th Marines went in there to locate a
couple of bantrams. Their general was convinced
he was going to end the war. It was a real macho
trip. He got called back by the White House pretty
quick, though, when his command got Slaughtered.
Q. What about the idea of an invasion from the
north.
How does thi s equate wi th what you collected?
A. It doesn't. There's no invasion. The entire
Vietnamese operation against Saigon and the U.S. is
one unified military command throughout Indochina.
Really, it's almost one country. They don't recognize borders: that's seen in their whole way of
looking at things, their whole way of fighting.
Q. But you made a distinction between VC and NVA
forces, didn't you?
36
A. We broke their messages all the time.
knew the political infrastructure.
We
Q. You mean that your intelligence would have in
its official report that this MRTTH base, which was
on the other side of the Ashau Valley, was controlled by the NLF?
A. Of course. Hanoi didn't control that area
operationally. MRTTH controls the whole DMZ area.
Everything above Da Nang to Vinh. The people in
control are in the NLF. MRTTH makes the decisions
for its area. Put it this way: it is an autonomous
political and military entity.
Q. What you're saying is that in order to gather
intelligence and operate militarily, you go on the
assumption that there is one enemy? That the NLF
is not subordinate to the North Vietnamese Command?
A. Right. That's the way it is. This is one
thing I wish we could bring out. Intelligence
operates in a totally different way from politics.
The intelligence community generally states things
like they are. The political community interprets
this information, changes it, deletes some facts
and adds others. Take the CIA report that bombing
in Vietnam never really worked. That was common
knowledge over there. Our reports indicated it.
Infiltration always continued at a steady rate. But
of course nobody back at the military command or in
Washington ever paid any attention.
Q. What were some of the other high intelligence
priorities besides locating ground units, MRTTH,
and the bantrams?
A. One of the strange ones came from intelligence
reports we got from the field and copies from North
Vietnam. These reports indicated that the NLF had
two Americans fighting for them in the South. We did
special tasking on that. We were on the lookout for
ground messages containing any reference to these
Americans. Never found them, though.
Q. When you were there in Vietnam did you get an
idea of the scope of U.S. operations in Southeast
Asia, or were you just involved with these airborne
platforms exclusively?
A. I was pretty busy. But I took leaves, of
course, and I saw a lot of things. One thing that
never came out, for example, was that there was a
small war in Thailand in 1969. Some of the Meo
tribesmen were organized and attacked the Royal
Thai troops for control of their own area.
Q. What happened to them?
A. Well as you know, Thailand is pretty important
to us. A stable Thailand, I mean. CAS-Vientiane
and CAS-Bangkok were assigned to put down the uprisings.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
Q. What does CAS mean?
A. That's the CIA's designation. Three of our
NSA planes were taken to Udorn, where the CIA is
based in Thailand, and flew direct support for CIA
operations against the Meos. We located where they
were through direction finding so the CIA planes
could go in and bomb them.
Q. You mean CIA advisors in Thai Air
planes?
Force
A. No. The CIA's own planes. They had their own
attack bombers, flown by their own spookies.
Q. Pilots?
A. Yes. The CIA has its own planes. Not Air
America -- those are commercial-type planes used
just for logistics support. I'm talking about CIA
military planes. They were unmarked attack bombers.
Q. What other covert CIA operations in the area
did you run into?
A. From the reports I saw, I knew there were CIA
people in Southern China, for instance, operating
as advisors and commanders of Nationalist Chinese
commando forces. It wasn't anything real big.
They'd go in and burn some villages, and generally
raise hell. The Chinese always called these "bandit
raids".
Q. What would be the objectives of these raids
besides harassment?
A. There's some intelligence probing. And quite
a bit if it is for control of the opium trade over
there. Nationalist Chinese regular officers are
occasionally called in to lead these maneuvers. For
that matter, there are also CIA-run Nationalist
Chinese forces that operate in Laos and even in
North Vietnam.
Q, Did you ever meet any of these CIA people?
A. Sure. Like I've said, I flew support for
their little war in Thailand. I remember one of
the guys there in Vientiane that we were doing communications for, said he'd been into Southern China
a couple of times.
Q. You got disillusioned with the whole Vietnam
business?
A. Yes.
Q.
Why?
A. Well, practically everybody hated it. Everybody except the lifers who were in the military before Vietnam. Even after that wasting of the area
called Abrams Acres that I told you about before,
everybody else was really sick about it, but these
lifers kept talking about all the commies we had
killed.
,For me, part of it was when we crashed in our
We'd just taken off and were at about 300
feet and it just came down. We crash-landed in a
river. We walked out of it, but I decided that
there was no easy way to get me into an airplane
after that. We got drunk that night, and afterwards I spent two weeks on leave in Bangkok. When
I got back to Saigon I got another three days vacation in Na Trang. The whole thing was getting under
my skin. I told them that I wasn't going to fly
anymore.
And mainly they left me alone. They
EC~47.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
figured that I'd snap out of it. But finally they
asked me what my reasons for refusing to fly were.
I told them that it was crazy. I wasn't going to
crash anymore. I wasn't going to get shot at anymore, I was afraid. I told the flight operations
director that I wasn't going to do it anymore, I
don't care what was done to me. Strangely enough,
they let me alone. They decided after a few days
to make me Air Force liaison man up at Phu Bai. So
I spent the last three months up there correlating
data coming in from airborne platforms like the one
I'd flown in and sending DSU reports to the B-52s.
It happened all of a sudden, my feeling that the
whole war was rotten. I remember that up at Phu Bai
there were a couple of other analysts working with
me. We never talked about it, but we all wound up
sending the bombers to strange places -- mountain
tops, you know, where there weren't any people. We
were just biding our time till we got out. We were
ignoring priorities on our reports, that sert of
thing.
It's strange. When I first got to Nam, everybody
was still high about the war. But by the time I
left at the end of 1969, morale had broken down all
over the place. Pot had become a very big thing. We
were even smoking it on board the EC-47s when we
were supposed to be doing direction finding. And we
were the cream of the military, remember.
I loved my work at first. It was very exciting
travelling in Europe, the Middle East, Africa;
knowing all the secrets. It was my whole life, which
probably explains why I was better than others at
my job. But then I went to Nam, and it wasn't a
big game we were playing with the Soviets anymore.
It was killing people. My last three months in Nam
were very traumatic. I couldn't go on, but I wasn't
able to just quit. Not then. So I faked it. It was
all I could do. Now I wish I had just quit. If I
had stayed in Europe, I ~ight still be in NSA, I
might have re-enlisted. In a way, the war destroyed
me.
Q. What happened when you mustered
ou~?
A. Well, having the sort of credentials I had, I
had my pick of a lot of jobs. Some ex-NSA people
get jobs with private corporations. A lot of them
run their own SIGINT operations. For instance, oil
companies will have SIGINT against Middle East
sheikdoms that have pretty primitive intelligence
operations. But I didn't want to do this sort of
thing. NSA offered me a nice civilian job. The CIA
said they'd pay me a $10,000 bonus in two installments if I'd come to work with them -- $5000 on
signing up, and $5000 at the end of two years. They
said they'd give me a GS-9 rating -- that's about
$10,000 a year -- and promote me to GS-ll in a yearo
But I didn't want any of it.
Q. Why is it you wanted to tell all this?
A. It's hard for me to say. I haven't digested
it all; even though I've been out almost two years
now, I still feel as though I'm two people -- the
one who did all the things I've laid out and another,
different person who can't quite understand why. But
even being against the war, it's taken a long time
for me to want to say these things. I COUldn't have
done it nine months ago, not even three months ago.
Daniel Ellsberg's releasing the Pentagon Papers made
me want to talk. It's a burden; in a way I just
want to get rid of it. I don't want to get sentimental or corny about it, but I've made some friends
who love the Indochinese people. This is my own way
of loving them too.
[]
37
CALENDAR OF C'OMING EVENTS
Mar. 7-8, 1973: 1973 Annual Spring Conference of the Association
for Systems Management, Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Ontario /
contact: . Mr. R. H. Crawford, Comptroller's Department,
I mperial Oil Limited, 825 Don Mills Rd., Don Mills, Ontario,
Canada
Mar. 7-9, 1973: 6th Annual Simulation Symposium, Tampa, Fla. /
contact:
Annual Simulation Symposium, P.O. Box 22573,
Tampa, FL 33622
Mar. 9, 1973: 4th Annual AEDS Conference on the Development
and Evaluation of Educational Programs in Computer Science
and Data Processing, St. Louis, Mo. / contact: Ralph E. Lee,
P.O. Box 951, Rolla, MO 65401
Mar. 12-14, 1973:
A Programming language (APL), Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. / contact:
Cyrus J.
Creveling, Code 560, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,
MD 20771
Mar. 26-28, 1973: Data Processing Institute's Conference and Trade
Show, Skyline and Holiday I nn Hotels, Ottawa, Canada / contact: Derek Hasler, Conference173, Box 2458, Ottawa, Canada
K1 P 5W6
Mar. 26-29, 1973: IEEE International Convention (lNTERCON),
Coliseum & New York Hilton Hotel, New York, N.Y. / contact:
J. H. Schumacher, IEEE, 345 E. 47th St., New York, NY 10017
Mar. 27-29, 1973: 1st Conference on Industrial Robot Technology,
University of Nottingham, England / contact: Organising Secretary, CI RT, Dept. of Production Engineering and Production
Management, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD,
England
Mar. 29-31, 1973: 10th Symposium on Biomathematics and Computer Science in the Life Sciences, Houston, Texas / contact:
Office of the Dean, The University of Texas Graduate School of
Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Division of Continuing Education, P.O. Box 20367, Houston, TX 77025
April 1-3, 1973: 10th Annual ASM Atlantic Systems Conference,
Ms.
Kutscher's Country Club, Monticello, N.Y. / contact:
Bertha Kitover, Group Health Inc., 227 W. 40th St., New York,
NY 10018
April 2-5, 1973: SOFTWARE ENGINEERING FOR TELECOMMUNICATION SWITCHING SYSTEMS, University of Essex,
Essex, England / contact: Mrs. Penelope Paterson, Institution
of Electrical Engineers Press Office, Savoy Place, London WC2R
OBl, England
April 30·May 2, 1973: .1st Symposium on Computer Software Reliability, Americana Hotel, New York, N.Y. / contact: David
Goldman, IEEE Hdqs., 345 E. 47th St., New York, NY 10017
May 2-3, 1973: 18th· Annual Data Processing Conference, Tuscaloosa, Ala. / contact: C. E. Adams, Director, Conference Activities, University of Alabama, Box 2987, University, A L 35486
May 2·5,1973: DECUS Spring Symposium, Holiday I nn, Penn Center, Philadelphia, Pa. / contact: DECUS, 146 Main St., Maynard,
MA 01754
May 3-4, 1973:
10th Annual National I nformation Retrieval
Colloquium, I ndependence Mall Holiday Inn, 400 Arch St.,
Philadelphia, Pa. / contact: Martin Nussbaum, Computamation,
2955 Kensington Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19134
May 13-16, 1973: 1973 International Systems Meeting, Hilton
Hotel, Denver, Colo. / contact: R. B. McCaffrey, Association
for Systems Management, 24587 Bagley Rd., Cleveland, OH
44138
May 14-16, 1973: DPSA International Meeting, Aperghi Hotel,
Athens, Greece / contact: C. A. Greathouse, DPSA, P.O. Box
1333, Stamford, CT 06904
June 4-6, 1973:
1973 8th PICA Conference, Radisson Hotel,
Minneapolis, Minn. / contact: IEEE Hdqs., Tech. SVC5., 345 E.
47th St., New York, NY 10017
June 4-8, 1973: National Computer Conference and Exposition,
Coliseum, New York, N.Y. / contact: AFIPS Hdqs., 210 Summit Ave., Montvale, NJ 07645
June 18-21, 1973: SIAM 1973 National Meet!ng, Sheraton Conference Center, Hampton, Va. / contact: SIAM, 33 S. 17th St.,
Philadelphia, PA 19103
June 20-22, 1973: Canadian Computer Conference, Hotel Macdonald, Edmonton, Alberta / contact: Mr. Jim Wilcox, P.O. Box
1881, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5J ZP3
June 22-23, 1973: 11 th Annual Computer Personnel Conference,
Univ. of Maryland Conference Center, College Park, Md. / contact: Prof. A. W. Stalnaker, College of I ndustrial Management,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332
June 26-28, 1973: Workshop of Computer Architecture, Universit~ de Grenoble, Grenoble, France / contact: Grenoble AccueiJ, 9, Boulevard Jean-Pain, 38000, Grenoble, France
April 10-12, 1973: Datafair 73, Nottingham University, Nottingham, England / contact: John Fowler & Partners Ltd., 6-8
Emeral St., London WC1 N 3QA, England
June 26-29, 1973: DPMA 1973 International Data Processing Conference & Business Exposition, Conrad Hilton Hotel, Chicago,
III. / contact: Richard H. Torp, DPMA International Hdqs., 505
Busse Highway, Park Ridge, I L 60068
April 10-13, 1973: PROLAMAT 73, Second International Conference on Programming languages for Numerically Controlled
Machine Tools, Budapest, Hungary / contact: I F I P Prolamat,
'73, Budapest 112, P.O. Box 63, Hungary
July 17-19, 1973: Summer Computer Simulation Conference,
Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, Canada / contact: Stuart
Trask, Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada, P.O. Box 6075,
Montreal 101, P.Q., Canada
April 16-19, 1973: 11th Annual Association for Educational Data
Systems Convention, The New Orleans Marriott, New Orleans,
La. / contact: AEDS, 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC
20036
July 20-22, 1973: 1973 International Conference of Computers in
the Humanities, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. /
contact: Prof. Jay Leavitt, 114 Main Engineering Bldg., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
April 24-26, 1973:
I.S.A. Joint Spring Conference, Stouffer's
Riverfront Inn, St. Louis, Mo. / contact: William P. lynes,
c/o Durkin Equipment, 2384 Centerline Ind. Dr., St. Louis, MO
63122
July 23-27, 1973: 3rd Annual International Computer Exposition
for Latin America, Maria Isabel-5heraton Hotel, Mexico City,
Mexico / contact: Seymour A. Robbins and Associates, 273
Merrison St., Box 566, Teaneck, NJ 07666
38
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
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COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
39
ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK
Computing and Data Processing Newsletter
Table of Contents
APPLICATIONS
Hempstead Bank's Chairman Calls "IT"
a Success
Psychiatric Interviews Conducted by Computer
MISCELLANEOUS
40
40
EDUCATION NEWS
First 12 Students Graduate from Computer
Hardware Education Center
Psychology Instructor Develops CAl Program
in Advanced Statistics
41
41
APPLICATIONS
HEMPSTEAD BANK'S CHAIRMAN
CALLS "IT" A SUCCESS
Arthur M. Farbizio
Assistant Vice President
Hempstead Bank
40 Main St.
Hempstead, N. Y. 11551
Bruce Wood Hall, Chairman of Hempstead Bank, Long
Island, New York, has labeled the bank's experiment
with the world's first checkless/cashless society
system as "very successful". The test ended on December 31, 1972. The system, known as Instant
Transaction ("IT"), was first introduced in Syosset,
Long Island on November 1, 1971. During the experiment, checking account customers of Hempstead Bank's
Syosset Office used plastic "IT" cards, instead of
checks or cash, to make purchases at thirty-two
stores. The participating merchants included local
branches of A & P, three other supermarkets, and a
variety of other neighborhood retailers.
Mr. Hall, who is the creator of the system, commented about the experiment by saying, "Our customers used the "IT" card to purchase everything from
groceries and prescriptions to clothing, appliances
and hardware. Even the local 5¢ & lOt store participated. It proves that the age of electronic
payments is attainable today. The customers and
merchants embraced this system more enthusiastically
than we ever imagined. Many of them, I'm sure, are
unhappy to see the end of the test period." Mr.
Hall added, "Our success refutes the conclusions of
some research studies which seemed to indicate that
consumers were not ready for an automated payment
system." He said, "The disparity between those assumptions and our experience is understandable since
we are the first organization to evaluate consumer
attitudes after they have had an opportunity to try
an automated payment system."
Instant Transaction involves a plastic "IT" card
and a terminal which connects the merchant's store
(via telephone lines) with the bank's central computer. Funds are instantly transferred from the
customer's bank account to the merchant's account
at the moment of purchase. No corresponding paper
documents are processed. A security code number,
known only to the customer, authorizes each sale by
entering this number on a component of the terminal.
40
lS-Year-Old Math Whiz Develops Time-Sharing
Monitor for IBM 1130
Computer X-Ray Device Wins Top Award
ADAPSO Expands Program to Fight Illegal
Marketing Practice
Taxation of Computer Programs Seen As Threat
to DP Industry
42
42
43
43
The objectives of Instant Transaction from the
banking industry's point of view are twofoldo First,
the system will eliminate fraud losses by verifying
the cardholder's identity and by the computer determining whether the customer has sufficient checking
account funds, or available credit, for the sale.
In June of 1971, the Federal Reserve Board announced that it had adopted, as "a matter of urgency," policies aimed at reforming the check system to keep the economy from strangling on its own
paper. Board member George W. Mitchell, in a
statement issued for public release, said of Hempstead Bank's Instant Transaction System, "The Hempstead "IT" service represents a final link in payment systems development ... It is transacting
funds at point of sale. It is eliminating paper
processing and is introducing immediate, convenient
consumer credit. Hempstead has in fact been faithful in setting up a paper-free system."
Hempstead Bank plans to expand Instant Transaction to other regions so that the card will have
widespread appeal. Mr. Hall commented, "We have
had conversations with bankers in several areas of
the country. Some of them are close to a decision
about implementing the system."
PSYCHIATRIC INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY COMPUTER
Susan Rodewald
University News and Publications Service
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Bascom Hall
Madison, Wisc. 53706
The compact high-speed digital computer in University of Wisconsin-Madison Hospitals east wing
bears little resemblance to a psychiatrist. It
wears neither white coat, beard, nor spectacles; in
looks, its closest kin is a four-track tape recorder.
Yet the LINC (Laboratory Instrument Computer) has
"talked" to over 90 psychiatric patients in University Hospitals since June. Through three console
terminals, LINC has collected case histories which
would otherwise have cost about 200 doctor hours.
"Computer interviews are superior to doctor interviews in many respects", Dr. John H. Greist said.
"The machine never forgets to ask a question, and it
stores all answers in clear, standardized form. It
matches the patient's pace. A computer is never
bored or pressured by other duties. If the patient
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
doesn't understand a question, the computer is programmed to explain its meaning."
Computer interviews have an eight-year history at
Uni versi ty Hospi tal s. The fi rst experimental model s,
developed by Dr. Warner V. Slack and Lawrence J. Van
Cura, collected allergy, gynecologic, and general
medical histories directly from patients. Favorable
reaction from patients and physicians led to design
of other interview types and in 1968, an initial
psychiatric history was developed by Dr. MaxMaultsby
and tested with 60 patients.
EDUCATION NEWS
FIRST 12 STUDENTS GRADUATE FROM
COMPUTER HARDWARE EDUCATION CENTER
James E. Talbot
Lewis & Gilman, Inc.
1700 Market St.
Philadelphia, Pa. 19103
Dr. Greist and his colleague Dr. Marjorie H.
Klein have encountered resistance to using computer
interviews in psychiatry. "Many question the intrusion of machines into human interactions," the doctors explai ned. "Certai nly, the present level of
computer interviewing does not match the potential
interviewing sophistication of a talented and highly
motivated human interviewer. However, few patients
can spend two or three hours wi th the likes of Freud,
and patients have made it quite clear they can effectively communicate about their personal problems
with a computer. Machines are clearly non-human,
but their use is not necessarily inhumane."
While software training institutes fill the newspaper classified sections, independent schools that
give detailed courses in computer hardware, especially IBM hardware, are relatively rare. One such
school, the Education Center of Computer Hardware
Maintenance Co. in Newton, Pa., recently graduated
its fi rst 12 students. They recei ved completi on certificates for a course that is the initial building
block in a training program to produce senior customer engineers (CEs) for the company's fast-growing
field maintenance force. Currently CEs are drawn
from the parent company, Computer Hardware Consultants & Services, Inc.
Drs. Klein and Greist hnve developed two types of
interviews for psychiatric patients. The first, an
interview for patient symptomatic change, isdesigned
to accompany therapy. In the initial interview, the
patient defines his major problems and describes
their effect upon his life. Selection of "target
symptoms" helps him to clarify personal goals for
therapy. The patient types his narrative response
to these questions directly into the computer. The
computer then presents a list of standardized symptoms and asks the patient to rate each in terms of
its frequency and intensity. Symptoms are grouped
into seven problem areas, such as anxiety, depression, or relationship problems. Each symptom cluster is introduced by a general screening question.
If the computer receives a positive response to the
screening question, it branches into assessment of
related symptoms. If the patient selects "Don't
Know" or "Don't Understand", the interview branches
to further definition and explanation of the problem
category. A flat "No" leads directly to the next
screening question.
The 12 students, who came from CHCS plants, received intensive, fast-paced instruction in Common
I/O and System I/O. Instructi on consi sts of four hours
of lecture and four hours of lab, fi ve days a week.
In the laborator~which typifies a clienes computer
room, the students reinforce theory learned earlier
by taking equipment apart and putting it back together again under the guidance of instructors. They
also troubleshoot bugs planted in the equipment by
instructors to simulate common equipment failures.
The symptom change interview is repeated four
times, in order to evaluate change in initial complaints and symptom levels. The computer stores
each conversation, and can prepare a cumulative summary for comparison of subsequent interviews. Both
patient and therapist can trace patterns of progress
during treatment. Dr. Greist believes that the symptom change interview has many implications for future research. The computer's capacity to collect
and store information could provide the basis for
comparative study of psychiatric case histories.
The second psychiatric interview developed by
Drs. Greist and Klein in conjunction with Prof.
David Gustafson of Industrial Engineering deals
with suicide risk and therapy. Its format resembles
the symptom change interview in problem definition
and assessment. In addition, the interview probes
factors which have proved statistically significant
in predicting risk of suicide. Given data on the
patient's social, medical, and psychiatric history,
LINC can generate an estimate of actual suicide
risk. With further adaptation, it also may be able
to furnish therapy recommendations. Both suicide
risk and symptom change interviews have been developed and tested under grants from the National Institutes of Mental Health.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
Richard Cockley, Di rector of Education and formerly
an IBM Education Manager, says that this seven-week
course gi ves students a basic grounding in the common
peripheral equipment for IBM 360 systems, including
tie-in with Model 30~ The course exactly parallels
that gi ven by IBM to its trai nees, usi ng the same books
and materi al s. Wi th thi s background and a month's experience at a. CHCS plant, the men will be effective
field maintenace backup men, able to handle over 75%
of computer maintenance calls for clients.
Future training will not be limi ted to CHSC employees. State licensing and accredi tation procedures are
underway tomake the material available to outsiders
as well. Prospective students are expected to come
from computer companies, electronic vocational schools,
and the military service.
PSYCHOLOGY INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPS
CAl PROGRAM IN ADVANCED STATISTICS
Martha Larson
Office of University Relations
Lawrence University
P.O. Box 1847
Appleton, Wisc. 54911.
Computer-power is expanding at Lawrence University through a research and instructional project
fotmulated by Francis T. Campos, instructor in psychology. With $27,000 in funds from the National
Science Foundation (NSF) and Lawrence University,
Campos has developed a computer-assisted instructional program in advanced statistics. The money
made possible the purchase of four computer terminals and a disk storage unit which increases the memory capacity of the university's PDP-II computer by
41
1.2 million words.
terminals.
The year-old computer now has 12
The course plan which Campos has developed went
into use the second term beginning Jan. 3. It uses
the computer as a resource for basic information,
previously supplied by the course instrQctor in
class lectures, and also serves as a student's personal homework aide. The computer is available
around the clock, seven days a week.
"We know pretty much what we want everybody to
know," Campos said in regard to the statistics
course. "It doesn't change much from year to year
because it's only a tool, a solid base of information, which is necessary to interpret and design experiments." The computer program provides that
solid base of information which can be revised when
necessary.
The goal of the project is to help students
achieve at least a minimum level of competence in
statistics more efficiently. With this 'method
Campos sees no reason why students should get a
grade of 0 or below. The program is designed so
that a student can approach the material at his own
pace. With a computer doing the basic teaching, the
instructor and student are freed from the classroom
lecture to resolve individual problems on a one-toone basis. The result is more individualized instruction.
Statistics was chosen for the pilot program because it was most easily adapted to the computer
system. Two more statistics-oriented courses -elementary and multivariate statistics -- are
planned for development. It will take a few years
to organize the additional courses because there
are no devised programs of this sort. Other eventual goals for the computer-assisted instructional
program are to include more areas of mathematics
and encompass a short introductory psychology
course.
MISCELLANEOUS
18-YEAR-OLD MATH WHIZ DEVELOPS
TIME-SHARING MONITOR FOR IBM 1130
Steve Goodrich
News Office
Drew University
Madison, N.J. 07940
An electronics firm eager to convert from military to peacetime production, an 18-year-old math
whiz, and a community goodwill gesture by a private
university have sparked a breakthrough boost in the
capabilities of a modest computer used by thousands
of institutions and small businesses across the nation. The advance gives the computer, the IBM 1130,
sophisticated talents previously possessed only by
much larger and enormously more expensive equipment.
For several years, Drew University has offered
classes on a tuition-free or reduced tuition basis
to extra-bright students in 'Madison High School. In
1969, 15-year-old sophomore Steve Adamczyk took advantage of the offer that has led to a computer science "first"
0
Representing Drew at a 1971 national convention
of 1130 users, Adamczyk took up a challenge from
42
Les Burston, national sales manager for the Logicon
Corp. of Torrance, California. The firm, said Burston, had developed, as spinoff from a military contract, a device capable of converting the 1130 from
one-proj ect-at-a-time "batch mode" operation to
time-sharing use by up to 16 users working on as
many different problems. However, Logicon lacked the
software (programming) capability to make the hardware operative, he explained, and would team with
the first user to complete the package, which would
then be marketed by Logicon.
Adamczyk rose to the bait. Entering Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a second semester
freshman with almost unlimited curricular freedom,
and working on the Logicon challenge both in his
spare time and as part of a project at MIT, he developed a time-sharing "monitor" within the semester. "A monitor," explai ns Dr. Charles Lytle, director of Drew's Computer Center, "is a housekeeping program that prevents the computer from tripping over its own transistors while 'talking' simultaneously with a number of users." Dr. Lytle is
the professor of math at Drew whom Adamczyk credits
with challenging and backing his interest in computers from the beginning "even when others thought I
was too young".
Last June, together with hardware known as LI/ON
(Logical Input/Output Network), Adamczyk's timesharing monitor debuted at a computer conference at
Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Last month, Burston announced the availability of the complete package at
users conventions in Chicago and Miami.
Adamczyk is far from through with Drew's 1130.
Continuing to work at the Center on vacations and
some weekends, he is trying for yet another major
data processing coup. The batch and time-sharing
modes in Drew's computer are mutually exclusive, the
daily schedule being divided between two modes. Very
large and advanced third generation computers, however, have a capability known as "background batch,"
which allows work on batch and time-sharing problems
simultaneously. Dr. Lytle is confident Adamczyk can
give Drew's modest third generation 1130 the same
capability. If so, even with simultaneous servicing
of many time-sharing users, together with a batch
mode project, the response of the computer would
never be delayed by more than a few seconds
hardly enough time to take up knitting.
Outside of his extraordinary gifts in the areas
of math and computer science, Steve Adamczy~ looks,
sounds, and behaves very much like any other longhaired college sophomore. It's just that he continues to hang around computer centers the way some
youths his age hang around record stores or gyms or
automotive speed shops.
COMPUTER X-RAY DEVICE
WINS TOP AWARD
The Montreal Star
241 St. James St.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
A new, computerized device reported to have revolutionized the technique of head x-rays, has won a
major award for its inventor, Godfrey Hounsfield.
The machine, called Emi-scanner, produces 100
times more information from the same amount of x-ray
photons used in conventional techniques. In many
cases it also eliminates the need to inject fluids,
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
radioactive material or air into the head to obtain
better contrast x-ray pictures of the brain. Some
of these techniques required general anaesthesia
and a stay in the hospital.
The top prize in British engineering, the $65,000
Macrobert award, was given to Mr. Hounsfield and the
Emi Electronics group for which he works, and was
presented by Prince Philip. Judges called the scanner the greatest discovery in its field since German
physicist Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen accidentally discovered x-rays in 1895.
The scanner looks like a large washing machine.
The patient's head is inserted in it while he lies
prone, and the machine rotates about his head in
180 one-degree steps. The scanner x-rays the brain
in a series of thin layers. At each of the 180
stops, 160 readings are taken of the amount of radiation absorbed by the tissue from a pencil-slim
beam of x-rays.
The information is fed to a small computer, which
calculates the 28,800 readings taken from each layer.
These are converted into cathode ray tube pictures
within about six minutes. The picture can be photographed, or a numerical absorption chart can be
printed.
ADAPSO EXPANDS PROGRAM TO FIGHT
ILLEGAL MARKETING PRACTICE
J. L. Dreyer
ADAPSO, Inc.
551 Fifth Avenue
New York, N. Y. 10017
Thomas J. O'Rourke, President of the Association
of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc.
("ADAPSO") announced, in mid-January, an expansion
of the Association's program to deal with the problems created by unfair or illegal practices in the
sale of data processing services.
"All of t:1e responses we have received from our
Members and others," stated O'Rourke, "have indicated that this problem is one of the key economic
issues in the computer services industry. Our membership welcomes and encourages fair competition.
However, it will fight tooth and nail competition
from organizations who use monopoly positions and
power developed in other lines of commerce, to restrain free trade and competition in our industry."
O'Rourke stated that the enlarged program would
be a several pronged one. "First, ADAPSO will act
as a communications center or clearing house, accumulate evidence of unfair or illegal marketing
problems, whether furnished us by our members or.
third parties. Second, ADAPSO will do whatever It
lawfully can to assist members who are actively
fighting this problem, whether before administrative agencies, in the Congress, in the courts.or
otherwise. This would include, under approprIate
circumstances, participation by ADAPSO as a plaintiff in litigation. Third, to the extent we are
able to do so, we will also financially assist members who are under unlawful attack from incremental
marketers."
ADAPSO issued its position paper on the incremental marketing issue on October 27, 1972. The
statement of position indicated that coercion should
be presumed and an unlawful tie-in held to exist,
whenever a seller marketing a product in a separate
COMPUTERS and AUTOMAnON far March, 1973
line of commerce also markets a not insubstantial
volume of computer services, and where the following circumstances are present:
1. The first (tying) product is patented or
copyrighted, or otherwise a lawful monopoly of
the seller.
2. There exists some special relationship between the seller and the purchaser which is independent of the particular purchase-sale relationship giving rise to the questioned transaction, such as by way of dealership, franchise
or license.
3. The seller offers its computer services
only to those purchasing the tying product and
not generally.
4. The tying product is important to the
business of the computer services organizations
in the pertinent market.
5. The seller is of large size relative to
the compu~eL .services organizations in the pertinent market.
6. The seller operates in an oligopolistic
or monopolistic line of commerce.
The number of these circumstances necessary to
justify the presumption will vary, depending on the
facts of each case. Thus, where 4, 5, and 6 are
present, as in the case of communications carri~rs
and banks, 1, 2 and 3 are not required. The eXIstence of all six should never be necessary.
TAXATION OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS
SEEN AS THREAT TO DP INDUSTRY
John Heston
Bozell, Jacobs & Wallrapp, Inc.
655 Madison Ave.
New York, N. Y. 10021
The winter conference of the Association of Data
Processing Service Organizations (ADAPSO) was warned
that states may turn to taxation of computer "software" in their search for new tax bases.
Paul Rosenthal, chairman of ADAPSO's California
Software Tax Committee, said that the whole problem
hinged on the definition of software as tangible or
intangible property. Rosenthal pointed out in a
joint paper written with Joseph D. Frascella. legal
counsel for System Development Corporation, that
California had ruled that any basic operational
software program -- the program without which the
computer could not carry out its basic functions -is subject to ad valorem tax. He told the conference that the California experience could foreshadow
a~tions of the taxation authorities in other states,
and suggested that the data processing industry must
be prepared to testify in its own behalf on short.
notice at statewide taxation hearings or face serIous financial consequences.
Rosenthal noted that basic operational software
programs can be "bundled" -- that is, sold as an
integral part of the computer and peripheral equipment -- or they can be priced and delivered separately: in either case they fall under the California
ad valorem tax. The California ruling will probably
be appealed by major companies in the industry as
(please turn to page 45)
43
NEW CONTRACTS
System Development Corp.,
Santa Monica, Calif.
U.S. Air Force Systems Command, Electronic Systems Div.
(ESD), L.G. Hanscom Field,
Mass.
Fabri-Tek Inc., Minneapolis,
Minn.
Control Data Corp., Minneapolis, Minn.
Sperry Univac, Div. of Sperry
Rand Corp., Blue Bell, Pa.
University of Rome,
Italy
Teledyne Inet Div. of Teledyne
Inc., Gardena, Calif.
Litton Industries, Beverly
Hills, Calif.
Computer Sciences Corp., Los
Angeles, Calif.
U.S. Navy
Memorex Corp., Santa Clara,
Calif .
TESLA of Czechoslovakia
COMTEN, Inc., St. Paul,
Minn.
Data Processing Dept., City
and County of San Francisco,
Calif .
Ampex Corp., Marina del
Rey, Calif.
IBM Corp., White Plains,
N.Y.
National Cash Register Co.,
Dayton, Ohio
Flah's, Albany, N.Y.
Varian Data Machines, Irvine,
Calif .
New South Wales Department
of Public Works, South Wales,
Australia
Computer Products, Inc.,
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Data Technology, Pty. Ltd.,
Sydney, Australia
General Electric Research
and Development Center,
Schenectady, N.Y.
Transportation Systems Center,
U.S. Dept. of Transportation
International Communications
Corp., Miami, Fla.
Western Union Telegraph Co.
Jay-El Products Inc.,
Gardena, Calif.
Texas Instruments Inc.,
Dallas, Texas
Shared Medical Systems Corp.,
King of Prussia, Pa.
Medical College of Virginia
Hospitals, Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, Va.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune,
West Covina, Calif.
System Development Corp.,
Santa Monica, Calif.
System Development Corp.t
Santa Monica, Calif.
SYSTEMS Engineering Labs.,
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Cadence Industries Corp.,
Hackensack, N.J.
Combustion Div., Combustion
Engineering, Inc., Windsor,
Conn.
~erox Corp., El Segundo,
Philip Morris Inc.
Richmond, Va.
Cfllif.
44
Developing, installing and testing Space
Computational Center System Segment (a
satellite data processing system) of the
North American Air Defense Command's
(NORAD's) Cheyenne Mountain Complex Improvement Program (427m)
Delivery of extension memories for IBM
System 360 Models 30, 40, 50 and 65 over
a 2-year period
A UNIVAC 1110 lxl computer system for exclusive use in scientific and technical
applications in engineering, physics, chemistry and mathematics; system will be connected to remote data communications terminals in each of University's 11 faculties,
and be available on a time-sharing basis to
other scientific, research and educational
organizations in the Rome area
Solid state power conversion systems in
the U.S. Navy Spruance-class (00-963) destroyers
Upgrading computer programs used for antisubmarine warfare by the P-3C, a landbased Navy aircraft
Disc storage systems from Memorex's Santa
Clara, Calif. and Liege, Belgium facilities; also training of TESLA personnel in
Czechoslovakia. Belgium and England
A dual COMTEN 45 computer communications
message switching system, for Computer Assisted Bay Area Law Enforcement (CABLE)
System; 5-year contract covers hardware,
software and maintenance services
Modified Model ATM-l3 airborne digital
tape drives for the U.S. Air Force Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS)
NCR 280 electronic retail data terminals
in all 13 stores; equipment includes 150
terminals and an NCR 725 "in-store" computer
An interactive graphics system calling for
2 Varian 620 computers, special systems
software under Varian's VORTEX operating
system, and a wide range of display and
peripheral equipment; system is designed
to produce complete contract documents,
specifications and plan drawings required
in large-scale building projects
RTP line of analog and digi tal input/output
equipment to be used in a large industrial
acquisition and control computer system
for the Gladstone Power Station
Building a unique multi-purpose data collection device to be used in design of a
world-wide satellite navigation and communication system for ships and aircraft
Data communication equipment, including
2,000 modems (based on ICC's new Modem 24
LSI design for delivery this year
New swi tching systems for Lockheed P3C antisubmarine aircraft replacing former toggle
switch boxes to expand capability of the
switching function without expanding size
Provide total computerized hospital financial management service
$15.8+ million
$6 million
$3 million
(approximate)
$2 million
(approximate)
$1.5 million
$1 million
$880,000
(approximate)
$600,000+
$550,000
$263,000
$170,000
$100,000
Producing and installing TEXT II, a computer based typographic composition system supporting news, classified, production
and accounting departments
Multi-year facility management; will supply personnel on a 24 hour, 7 day week basis
Supplying nuclear plant monitoring and supervisory computer systems built around
SYSTEMS 85 computer; systems are for several
electric utilities for whom Combustion Engineering designs and fabricates pressurized water reactor nuclear steam supply
systems
A Xerox Sigma 8 computer system to serve
needs of up to 30 of PM's scientific labs;
replaces a smaller Sigma 5 computer
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
NEW INSTALLATIONS
AT
Honeywell 6060 system
Imperial Iranian Air Force,
Tehran, Iran
IBM System/370 Model 135
Kable News Co., Inc.,
Mount Morris, Ill.
IBM System/370 Model 165
Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.,
Oakbrook, Ill.
NCR Century 50 system
Midwest City Memorial Hospital,
Midwest City, Okla.
Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund Hospital, Woodland Hills,
Cal if.
Oneida City Hospital, Oneida, N.Y.
Serra Memorial Hospital, Sun
Valley, Calif.
NCR Century 101 system
Burnham City Hospital, Champaign, Ill.
Clinton County Bank and Trust
Co., Frankfort, Ind.
Norwegian Caribbean Lines,
Miami, Fla.
Pioneer Hi-Bred, Inc., Tipton,
Ind.
NCR CENTURY 200 system
Grossman Paper and Bag Co.,
Irvington, N.J.
Harrisburg School District,
Harri sburg, Pa.
Lenox Candles, Inc., Oshkosh,
Wisc.
Loctite Corp., Newington, Conn.
Edward Malley Co., New Haven,
Conn.
Norwood Mills, Janesville, Wisc.
Univac 1106 system
Xerox Sigma 6 system
Sackner Products,
Mich.
Sunnyland Packing
ville, Ga.
Treasury Dept. of
of Mexico, Mexico
Grand Rapids,
Co., Thomasthe Government
City, Mexico
Advanced System Labs., New York
Institute of Technology, Westbury, L.I., N.Y.
Across the Editor's Desk - Continued from page 43
well as industry organizations, on the grounds that
unbundled basic software is intangible.
According to Rosenthal, the industry has generargued that:
al~y
a. Tangible objects are manufactured and
thereby have easily identifiable costs
and therefore value;
b. Intangible objects are created by intellectual activities and reproducible by
communication or copying;
c. Since software is so difficult to value,
it must be because it has the proportion
of intangible objects;
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
Controlling spare-parts inventory for all military aircraft
(system valued at $3.1 million)
Keeping 25 million copies of magazines and paperback books headed for right newsstands eachmonth,
some warehousing and inventory, and providing
sales analysi s data for publi shers and KNC salesmen
Helping engineers design structures ranging from
elevated water tanks to nuclear reactors and offshore drilling platforms
Payroll and in-patient accounting; system uses
punched-tape input
In-patient and out-patient billing, payroll and
accounts receivable; equipment includes punchedcard peripherals
In-patient accounting, post-discharge accounts receivable and payroll; system uses punched-tape input
In-patient and out-patient billing, payroll and
accounts receivable; equipment includes punchedcard peri phera 1 s
In-patient and post-discharge accounts receivable
and payroll; also processes City's payroll and
parking tickets for the local police department
Establishing a Central Information File (CIF)
monitor'ing all bank activities including a check
sorter and 1200-line-a-minute printer
Booking reservations and assigning personal
choice of stateroom up to nine months in advance
Payroll. order entry, sales reporting, inventory
control, accounts receivable and general ledger
accounting
Order billing, payroll preparation and receivables monitoring
Fiscal and financial accounting, personnel accounting, payroll, and earned-income tax accounting for 54 tax districts in 3 surrounding counties
Order entry and invoicing
Order entry, sales analysis and payables and receivables
Computerizing accounts receivable, and handling
accounts payable and sales ordering
Controlling a 40,000 inventory, production scheduling, accounts receivable and payable, cost and
general ledger accounting, payroll and sales
analysis
Inventory control, production scheduling and production requirements planning
Inventory control, invoicing and payroll
Preparing and controlling all payments to federal
employees
(system valued at approximately $2.4 million)
Serving two university campuses, eight high
schools and junior high schools in two Long Island school districts, and a private secondary
school
(system valued at over $1 million)
d. Since only bundled software is easy to
value, it is probably the only type of
tangible software property, and therefore the only type taxable.
In his view, Rosenthal told the meeting, "software is clearly intangible in nature and is therefore subject to sales and ad valorem taxation only
under very specific and limited conditions". He
said that the conditions would probably cover control programs which are fundamental and necessary
to any use of a computer and are an integral part
of it in commerce (Le., bundled pricing). "If this
approach is ::Jdopted," Rosenthal said, "valuation
would be a simple task since the purchase or lease
cost of the hardware system would determine taxation
valuations. However, if taxation authorities attempt to tax unbundled software, an extremely difficult problem in valuation occurs."
0
45
MONTHLY COMPUTER CENSUS
Neil Macdonald
Survey Editor
COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION
The following is a summary made by COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION of reports and estimates of the number of general purpose electronic digital computers manufactured and installed, or to be manufactured and on
order. These figures are mailed to individual computer manufacturers
from time to time for their information and review, and for any updating or comments they may care to provide. Please note the variation
in dates and reliability of the information. Several important manufacturers refuse to give out, confirm, or comment on any figures.
Our census seeks to include all digital computers manufactured anywhere. We invite all manufacturers located anywhere to submit information for this census. We invite all our readers to submit information that would help make these figures as accurate and complete as
possible.
The following abbreviations apply:
(A) -- authoritative figures, derived essentially from information
sent by the manufacturer directly to COMPUTERS AND
AUTOMATION
C
figure is combined in a total
(D)
acknowledgment is given to DP Focus, Marlboro, Mass., for
their help in estimating many of these figures
E
figure estimated by COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION
(N)
manufacturer refuses to give any figures on number of installations or of orders, and refuses to comment in any
way on those numbers stated here
(R) -- figures derived all or in part from information released
indirectly by the manufacturer, or from reports by other
sources likely to be informed
(S)
sale only, and sale (not rental) price is stated
X
no longer in production
information not obtained at press time
Part I of the Monthly Computer Census contains reports for United
States manufacturers. Part II contains reports for manufacturers
outside of the United States. The two parts are published in a1 ternate months.
SUMMARY AS OF FEBRUARY 15, 1973
NAME OF
MANUFACTURER
Part 1. United States Manufacturers
Adage, Inc.
Brighton, Mass.
(A) (Jan. 1973)
Autonetics
Anaheim, Calif.
(R) (Jan. 1969)
Bailey Meter Co.
Wickliffe, Ohio
(A) (June 1972)
Bunker-Ramo Corp.
Wes t lake Village, Calif.
~A) (Jan. 1973)
Burroughs
Detroit, Mich.
(N) (R) (Feb. 1973)
Computer Automation, Inc.
Newport, Calif.
(A) (April 1971)
Consu1tronics, Inc.
Garland. Texas
(A) (Dec. 1972)
Control Data Corp.
Hinneapo1is. Minn.
(R) (Feb. 1973)
46
NAHE OF
COMPUTER
AGT 10 Series
AGT 100 Series
DATE OF
FIRST
INSTALLATION
AVERAGE OR RANGE
OF MONTHLY RENTAL
$(000)
4/68
1/72
(5)
RECOHP II
RECOMP III
11/58
6/61
X
X
Metrotype
Bailey 750
Bailey 755
Bailey 756
Bailey 855/15
Bailey 855/25
Bailey 855/50
BR-130
BR-133
BR-230
BR-300
BR-330
BR-340
BR-1018
BR-1018C
B100/500
B200
B205
B220
B300
B1700
B2500
B2700
B3500
B3700
B4700
B5500
B5700
B6500
B6700
B7500
B7700
B8500
108/208/808
116/216/816
10/57
6/60
11/61
2/65
12/72
4/68
3/72
10/61
5/64
8/63
3/59
12/60
12/63
6/71
9/72
7/65
11/61
1/54
10/58
7/65
8/72
2/67
8/72
5/67
11/72
10/71
3/63
12/70
2/68
8/72
4/69
2/72
8/67
6/68
3/69
40-200
40-250
200-600
60-400
50-400
100-1000
100-1000
5/69
0.7
7/55
4/61
12/62
9/56
X
1/61
X
5/60
8/61
1/60
5/66
5/64
5/64
9/65
11/64
8/68
6/63
2/66
8/64
8/64
X
DCT-132
G15
G20
LGP-21
LGP-30
M1000
RPC4000
636/136/046 Series
160/8090 Series
921/924-A
1604/ A/B
1700/SC
3100/3150/3170
3200
3300
3400
3500
3600
3800
6200/6400/6500
6600
NUHBER OF INSTALLATIONS
In
Outside
In
U.S.A.
U.S.A.
World
(5)
(5)
(5)
(S)
(S)
(5)
(5)
X
X
X
X
X
X
23.0
NUMBER OF
UNFILLED
ORDERS
32
10
3
4
35
14
X
30
6
0
0
30
6
x
0
15
0
12
0
0
0
8
52
7
27
0
16
0
o
o
o
37
7
15
0
16
0
160
79
15
18
19
19
2
X
2
2
o
12
X
X
X
X
X
X
(S)
1141
677
19
23
2
2
4.0
2
277
123
400
30
12-14
572
285
857
110
4
153
27
47
8
4
200
35
60
9
165
215
10
20
175
235
35
65
100
2.8-10.0
5.0
X
X
7.0
23.5
32.0
33.0
30.0
44.0
85.0
200.0
5.0
8.0
X
X
X
X
X
3.8
10-16
13.0
20-38
18.0
25.0
52.0
53.0
58.0
115.0
1818
500
21
25
600
25
X
X
22
2
60
13
4
1
(5)
(5)
295
20
165
322
75
29
610
29
59
428-478
93-120
55-60
205
17
15
40
20
117
88
110
225
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
o
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
NAME OF
MANUFACTURER
Control Data (cont'd)
NAME OF
COMPUTER
6700
7600
Cyber 70/72
Cyber 70/73
Data General Corp.
Southboro, Mass.
(A) (Dec. 1972)
Nova
Supernova
Nova 1200
Nova 800
Nova 820
Nova 1210/1220
6024/1
6024/3
6024/5
Digiac 3060
Digiac CT-10
DATE OF
FIRST
INSTALLATION
6/67
12/68
NUMBER OF INSTALLATIONS
In
Outside
In
U.S.A.
U.S.A.
World
5
12
2
6
8
1
3
4
AVERAGE OR RANGE
OF MONTHLY RENTAL
$(000)
130.9
235.0
NUMBER OF
UNFILLED
ORDERS
C
C
Total:
160 E
Datacraft Corp.
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
(A) (Nov. 1972)
Digiac Corp.
Plainview, N.Y.
(A) (May 1972)
Digital Computer Controls, Inc.
Fairfield, N.J.
(A) (Nov. 1972)
Digital Equipment Corp.
Maynard, Mass.
(A) (May 1972)
Electronic Associates Inc.
West Long Branch, N.J.
(A) (Feb. 1973)
EMR Computer
Minneapolis, Minn.
(A) (Nov. 1972)
General Automation, Inc.
Anaheim, Calif.
(A) (Jan. 1973)
General. Electric
West Lynn, Mass.
(Process Control Computers)
(A) (Oct. 1972)
Hewlett Packard
Cupertino, Calif.
(A) (July 1972)
Honeywell Information Systems
Wellesley Hills, Mass.
(R) (Feb. 1973)
D-112
D-l16
2/69
5/70
12/71
3/71
4/72
2/72
5/69
2/70
12/71
1/70
8/70
1/72
PDP-1
PDP-4
PDP-5
PDP-6
PDP-7
PDP-8
PDP-8/1
PDP-8/S
PDP-8/L
PDP-8/E
PDP-8/M
PDP-8/F
PDP-9
PDP-9L
DECSystem-10
PDP-ll/20
PDP-llR20
PDP-ll/05
PDP-11/45
PDP-12
PDP-15
LINC-8
11/60
8/62
9/63
10/64
11/64
4/65
3/68
9/66
11/68
640
8400
PACER 100
EMR 6020
EMR 6040
EMR 6050
EMR 6070
EMR 6130
EMR 6135
EMR 6145
EMR 6140
SPC-12
SPC-16
System 18/30
GE-PAC 3010
GE-PAC 4010
GE-PAC 4020
GE-PAC 4040
GE-PAC 4050
GE-PAC 4060
2114A, 2114B
2115A
2116A, 2116B, 2116C
2100A
G58
G105A
G105B
G105RTS
G115
G120
G130
G205
G210
G215
G225
G235
G245
G255 T/S
G265 T/S
G275 T/S
G405
G410 T/S
G415
G420 T/S
G425
G430 T/S
G435
G440 T/S
G615
G625
4/67
7/67
7/72
4/65
7/65
2/66
10/66
8/67
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
5/72
12/66
11/68
12/67
9/69
2/61
9/66
1/68
5/70
7/69
5/70
10/70
2/67
8/64
12/66
6/65
10/68
11/67
11/66
3/71
5/70
6/69
6/69
7/69
4/66
3/69
12/68
6/64
7/60
9/63
4/61
4/64
11/68
10/67
10/65
11/68
2/68
11/69
5/64
6/67
6/64
6/69
9/65
7/69
3/68
4/65
9.2
9.6
5.4
6.9
6.4
4.2;5.2
52-300
33-200
11-80
9.0
9.0
10.0
10.0
(S)
(S)
(S)
(S)
(S)
(S)
(S)
(S)
(S)
(S)
(5)
(S)
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
4.9
3.9
3.9
17
108
28
78
20
0
13
0
925
210
2430
385
140
1025
17
121
28
667
553
103
38
770
591
48
40
90
2
5
10
50
45
100
23
100
1402
3127
918
3699
3787
365
2
436
40
243
2740
14
0
0
620
545
200
Total:
18456
170
29
50
16
6
17
15
47
41
(S)
(S)
(S)
X
X
700-3000
10.8
13.8
10.8
17.0
(S)
(S)
(S)
(S)
0
0
0
0
(S)
X
1.2
12.0
1.0
5.4
6.6
9.0
15.0
5.0
2.6
7.2
2.0
6.0
6.0
X
7.0
X
0.25
0.41
0.6
0.5
1.0
1.3
1.4
1.2
2.2
2.9
4.5
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
6.8
1.0
7.3
23.0
9.6
17.0
14.0
25.0
32.0
X
109
21
20
15
6
15
7
34
36
25
30
200
45
23
18
200-400
11
35
15
145
40-60
3
15-20
45-60
61
8
30
1
0
2
8
13
5
1
4
60
20
2
2
420-680
1500
900
225
26
34
260
65
25
20
1182
333
1171
2080
4
6
11
35
16
160
57-77
15-30
60-90
10
15-45
70-100
240-400
310-500
50-100
20-30
70-130
20
23
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
4
8
0
35
32
32
X
1
1
620-1080
0
0
1
15
17
10-40
2
55
65
8
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
26
3
26
X
47
NAME OF
MANUFACTURER
Honeywell (cont'd)
IBM
White Plains, N.Y.
(N) (D) (Jan. 1973)
Interdata
Oceanport, N.J.
(A) (Jan. 1973)
48
NAME OF
COMPUTER
G635
H-110
H-1l5
H-120
H-125
H-200
H-400
H-BOO
H-1200
H-1250
H-1400
H-1800
H-2015
H-2040
H-2200
H-3200
H-4200
H-6030
H-6040
H-6060
H-8200
DDP-24
DDP-1l6
DDP-124
DDP-224
DDP-316
DDP-416
DDP-516
H112
H632
H1602
H1642
H1644
H1646
H1648
H1648A
305
650
1130
1401
1401-G
1401-H
1410
1440
1460
1620 I, II
1800
7010
7030
704
7040
7044
705
7020,
7074
7080
7090
7094-1
7094-II
System/3 Model 6
System/3 Model 10
System/7
360/20
360/25
360/30
360/40
360/44
360/50
360/65
360/67
360/75
360/85
360/90
360/190
360/195
370/125
370/135
370/145
370/155
370/158
370/165
370/168
370/195
Model 1
Model 3
Model 4
Model 5
Model 15
Model 16
Model 18
Model 50/55
Model 70
Model 74
Model 80
DATE OF
FIRST
INS TALLATION
5/65
8/68
6/70
1/66
12/67
3/64
12/61
12/60
2/66
7/68
1/64
1/64
AVERAGE OR RANGE
OF MONTHLY RENTAL
$(000)
47.0
2.7
3.5
4.8
7.0
7.5
10.5
30.0
9.8
12.0
14.0
50.0
1/66
2/70
8/68
18.0
24.0
32.5
12/68
5/63
4/65
3/66
3/65
6/69
50.0
2.65
X
9/66
10/69
12/68
11/68
12/57
10/67
2/66
9/60
5/64
6/67
11/61
4/63
10/63
9/60
1/66
10/63
5/61
12/55
6/63
6/63
ll/55
3/60
3/60
8/61
ll/59
9/62
4/64
3/71
1/70
ll/71
12/65
1/68
5/65
4/65
7/66
8/65
ll/65
10/65
2/66
12/69
11/67
4/71
4/73
5/72
9/71
2/71
-/73
5/71
-/73
6/73
12/70
5/67
8/68
ll/70
1/69
5/71
6/71
5/72
10/71
2/73
10/72
X
X
0.6
X
1.2
3.2
NUMBER OF INSTALLATIONS
In
Outside
In
U.S.A.
World
U.S.A.
20-40
3
23-43
180
7
187
30
160
800
960
220
150
370
800
275
1075
46
40
86
58
15
73
230
90
320
130
55
185
4
6
10
15
20
5
2
3
60
125
185
20
2
22
18
2
20
2
2
3
10
13
3
90
250
250
60
452
350
900
75
12
12.0
3.6
4.8
1.5
5.4
2.3
1.3
17.0
4.1
10.0
4.1
5.1
26.0
160.0
32.0
25.0
36.5
38.0
27.0
35.0
60.0
63.5
75.0
83.0
1.0
1.1
0.35 and up
2.7
5.1
10.3
19.3
ll.8
29.1
57.2
133.8
66.9
150.3
232.0
8.2-13.8
14.4
23.3
48.0
49.5-85.0
98.7
93.0-170.0
190.0-270.0
3,7
8.5
X
20.0
X
X
6.8
6.8
14.9
NUMBER OF
UNFILLED
ORDERS
0
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
20
40
50
2580
2210
420
180
156
1690
194
285
415
67
4
12
35
28
18
10
44
13
4
10
6
5
2
9
7161
ll12
5487
2454
109
1135
604
57
50
II
5
13
15
18
1227
1836
450
140
116
1174
63
186
148
17
1
1
27
13
3
3
26
2
2
4
4
55
68
3807
4046
870
320
272
2864
257
471
563
84
5
6075
759
2535
1524
57
445
144
6
17
1
13236
1871
8022
3978
166
1580
748
63
67
12
13
62
41
21
13
70
15
6
14
10
1780
1287
1363
39
662
562
99
12
55
15
9
48
319
200
389
90
64
7
9
25
323
2
6
32
X
X
X
X
3
75
50
15
11
1
1
3
244
75
274
70
40
1
2
22
268
2
6
ll5
20
24
6
7
3
55
0
0
X
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March. 1973
-
NAME OF
MANUFACTURER
Microdata Corp.
Santa Ana, Calif.
(A) (Jan. 1973)
NCR
Dayton, Ohio
(A) (Dec. 1972)
Philco
Willow Grove, Pa.
(N) (Jan. 1969)
Raytheon Data Systems Co.
Norwood, Mass.
(A) (Jan. 1973)
Standard Computer Corp.
Los Angeles, Calif.
(A) (June 1972)
Systems Engineering Laboratories
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
(A) (Dec. 1972)
UNIVAC Div. of Sperry Rand
New York, N.Y.
(A) (April 1972)
UNIVAC - Series 70
Blue Bell, Pa.
(A) (Feb. 1973)
Varian Data Machines
Newport Beach, Calif.
(A) (Aug. 1972)
Xerox Data Systems
E1 Segundo, Calif.
(N) (R) (Dec. 1972)
DATE OF
AVERAGE OR RANGE
NAME OF
FIRST
OF MONTHLY RENTAL
COMPUTER
INSTALLATION
$(000)
0.1-0.5
Micro 400/10
12/70
0.2-3.0
Micro 800
12/68
0.2-3.0
Micro 1600
12/71
X
304
1/60
310
X
5/61
315
7.0
5/62
315 RMC
9/65
9.0
390
0.7
5/61
500
1.0
10/65
Century 50
2/71
1.6
Century 100
2.6
9/68
Century 101
3.7
12/72
Century 200
7.0
6/69
Century 300
21.0
2/72
1000
X
6/63
200- 210,211
X
10/58
2000-212
X
1/63
250
12/60
X
440
X
3/64
520
X
10/65
703
10/67
12.5
704
7.2
3/70
706
19.0
5/69
IC 4000
9.0
12/68
IC 6000-6000/E
16.0
5/67
17.0
IC 7000
8/70
IC-9000
400.0
5/71
SYSTEMS 810B
2.6
9/68
SYSTEMS 71
8/72
0.9
SYSTEMS 72
1.0
9/71
SYSTEMS 85
6.0
7/72
10.0
SYSTEMS 86
6/70
I & II
X
3/51 & 11/57
III
X
8/62
File Computers
X
8/56
Solid-State 80 I,ll,
90, I, II, & Step
X
8/58
418
6/63
11.0
490 Series
12/61
30.0
1004
2/63
1.9
1005
2.4
4/66
1050
8.5
9/63
1100 Series (except
1107, 1108)
X
12/50
1107
X
10/62
1108
68.0
9/65
9200
6/67
1.5
9300
9/67
3.4
9400
7.0
5/69
LARC
135.0
5/60
301
7.0
2/61
501
14.0-18.0
6/59
601
14.0-35.0
11/62
3301
17.0-35.0
7/64
Spectra 70/15, 25
4.3
9/65
Spectra 70/35
1/67
9.2
Spectra 70/45
22.5
11/65
Spectra 70/46
11/68
33.5
Spectra 70/55
34.0
11/66
Spectra 70/60
32.0
11/70
Spectra 70/61
4/70
42.0
70/2
16.0
5/71
70/3
25.0
9/71
70/6
25.0
9/71
70/7
35.0
12/71
620
X
11/65
620i
X
6/67
R-620i
4/69
520/DC, 520i
12/69;10/68
620/f
11/70
620/L
4/71
620/f-100
6/72
620/L-100
5/72
Varian 73
XDS-92
4/65
1.5
XDS-910
8/62
2.0
XDS-920
2.9
9/62
XDS-930
3.4
6/64
XDS-940
14.0
4/66
XDS-9300
11/64
8.5
Sigma 2
1.8
12/66
Sigma 3
12/69
2.0
Sigma 5
6.0
8/67
Sigma 6
6/70
12.0
Sigma 7
12.0
12/66
Sigma 8
2/72
Sigma 9
35.0
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for March, 1973
(S)
(S)
(S)
(S)
NUMBER OF INSTALLATIONS
In
Outside
In
U.S.A.
U.S.A.
World
129
0
129
1925
770
2695
88
295
383
2
7
5
0
8
8
200
455
255
55
35
90
325
485
160
1750
2850
1100
0
580
580
780
1175
1955
50
330
905
575
5
10
5
16
16
12
20
135
115
20
1
27
26
177
33
210
70
330
260
17
92
75
0
9
9
0
3
3
4
0
4
0
1
1
10
178
168
14
3
31
23
25
13
210
80
76
1522
617
136
9
8
103
1106
412
82
2
143
17
0
74
18
95
265
30
10
18
7
63
7
25
7
3
1
1
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
2
40
0
2
17
4
32
31
X
X
X
X
39
14
610
248
59
119
90
2132
865
195
0
3
129
835
62
41
0
9
11
232
1941
474
123
2
75
1300
80
350
201
474
13
22
43
170
120
159
32
25-30
163
13
29
2
30
3
2
NUMBER OF
UNFILLED
ORDERS
10
12
14
3
4
36
0
14
23 E
15
72
X
X
58 E
725
510 E
83 E
X
X
3
114
16
19
12
47
180
132
173
35
29-34
199
13
43
37
49
edi tion of the
coma.u~
COMPUTER
DIRECTORY
AND
BUYER'S GUIDE
COMPUTER
DIRECTORY AND
BUYERS' GUIDE
1972
Computers and Data Processing: Organizations and Products
4
63
51
149
168
177
Roster of Organizations in Computers and Data Processing
Buyers' Guide to Products and Services in Computers and
Data Processing
Geographic Roster of Organizations in Computers and
Data Processing
Roster of College and University Computer Facilities
Roster of Computer Associations
Roster of Computer Users Groups
The Computer Industry
92 Characteristics of Digital Computers
by GM L Corp., Lexington, Mass.
137 Over 2300 Applications of Computers and Data Processing
by Linda Ladd Lovett
3
Counting the Number of Applications of Computers
by Edmund C. Berkeley
133 World Computer Census
by Neil Macdonald
176 The Computer Directory and Buyers' Guide, 1973 - Notice
178 Entry Forms for the 1973 Computer Directory and Buyers'
Guide - Notice
Computer Programming
123 Roster of Programming Languages, 1972
by Jean E. Sammet, IBM Corp., Cambridge, Mass.
The COMPUTER DIRECTORY is:
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Science and the Advanced Society, by C. P. Snow, Ministry
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The Information Revolution and the Bill of Rights, by
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Computers and the Consumer, by Ralph Nader,
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