CREST: CIA Records Search Tool

[Martin Becze]

> it looks like the files can't be downloaded or saved electronically, at
all, period. They have to be printed instead

This is such bullshit

On Sat, Jan 16, 2016 at 11:03 PM, Michael Best <themikebest at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I spoke to someone from the list privately and did a little digging - it
> looks like the files can't be downloaded or saved electronically, at all,
> period. They have to be printed instead, from one of four computers which
> are located in College Park, MD (transparency!). So now I'm working on a
> plan to print and scan files from CREST. Given the scale (11+ million
> pages)...
>
> I plan to be down there on Tuesday; I'll get more information and solid
> numbers (document counts, print speeds, etc.) and see where things are from
> there. Keep your fingers crossed, I may actually be able to get something.
>
> --Mike
>
> On Sat, Jan 16, 2016 at 7:18 PM, Michael Best <themikebest at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I'll take notes on the access and interface when I'm there next,
>> hopefully next week.
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 16, 2016 at 7:16 PM, Martin Becze <mjbecze at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> How exactly is the accesses setup? Can we arbitrary software that
>>> accesses DB?
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jan 16, 2016 at 7:07 PM, Michael Best <themikebest at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Anyone can access it, but only from NARA II at College Park, MD. I'm
>>>> there on a semi-regular basis and want to figure out a way to efficiently
>>>> liberate the docs that are only accessible from there....because that's
>>>> some weird-ass censorship.
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Jan 16, 2016 at 7:05 PM, Martin Becze <mjbecze at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Can anyone access the CREST db? Do I need any specail permission?
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, Jan 16, 2016 at 2:55 PM, Michael Best <themikebest at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm spending a fair amount of time at NARA II. Any thoughts on how I
>>>>>> might be able to automate retrieval of documents from the CREST database?
>>>>>> There are about 10 million pages of CIA docs that haven't even been
>>>>>> accessed, much less made their way online.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Since 2000, CIA has installed and maintained an electronic full-text
>>>>>> searchable system, which it has named CREST (the CIA Records Search Tool),
>>>>>> at NARA II in College Park, Maryland. *Over 11 million pages have
>>>>>> been released in electronic format and reside on the CREST database, from
>>>>>> which researchers have printed about 1.1 million pages. **In order
>>>>>> to directly access CREST, a researcher must visit the National Archives at
>>>>>> College Park, Maryland.*
>>>>>> http://www.foia.cia.gov/collection/crest-25-year-program-archive
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
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