AMERICA’S INFORMATION WARS AMERICA’S INFORMATION WARS The Untold Story of Information Systems in America’s Conflicts and Politics from World War II to the Internet Age Colin B. Burke ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham • Boulder • New York • London PublishedbyRowman&Littlefield AnimprintofTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc. 4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706 www.rowman.com UnitA,WhitacreMews,26-34StannaryStreet,LondonSE114AB Copyright©2018byTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorby anyelectronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretriev- alsystems,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewer whomayquotepassagesinareview. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDataAvailable ISBN9781538112458(hardback:alk.paper)|ISBN9781538112465(electronic) TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsof AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaper forPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Thanks to Joe Morello and Cal Tjader and to Jeffery Hartley, the librarians’ librarian. CONTENTS ListofFigures ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xv PARTI:INFORMATIONATWARWITHHITLER ANDTOJO,THENWITHSTALIN 1 1 TheOSS’sUnusualLibrarians 3 2 ForginganIntelligenceSystem 19 3 ANewInformationCulture 37 4 MicrofilmattheOSS,forWarandProfit 55 5 OneSystemforAllIntelligence 75 6 CIA’sClassificationandAutomationBattles 97 PARTII:COLDWARINFORMATIONPOLITICSAND LIVES 115 7 IdeologyandScienceInformationPolicy 117 8 TheCIA’sLibrariansunderFire 137 9 LibraryandClassificationRevolutions?:SAL,Semantic Factors,theLuhnScanner 153 10 AutomationDreams,Minicard 173 11 TheCIAversustheLibrarians 189 12 FromMicrofilmtoComputers 203 13 AutomaticTranslation’sWoes 217 vii viii CONTENTS 14 AColdWarInformationCareer 235 PARTIII:INFORMATION’STROUBLEDGOLDEN AGETOTHEERAOFOPENACCESS 255 15 Sputnik’sNewPoliticsofInformation 257 16 AnAmericanInformationCentury? 277 17 ThePluralInformationSystemSurvives,withDifficulty 295 18 ANewInformationEra:TheAmericanInformation Century’sChallengers 315 19 AnotherSerialsCrisis,OpenAccess,theReturnofIdeology 337 Bibliography 351 Index 363 AbouttheAuthor 373 LIST OF FIGURES Fig.2.1 COIAbstractCard 30 Fig.2.2 COI-OSSMapSystemCard 32 Fig.4.1 LanganApertureCard 57 ix