During his Presidency, Jimmy Carter made a number of moves to nudge the federal government towards environmental friendly practices. One of these was a request that all executive agencies and departments begin recycling paper in accordance with EPA guidelines. For the CIA, and presumably other intelligence agencies, this posed some unexpected problems - as well as a valuable opportunity.

In the 1970s, various government agencies were asked to look into the feasibility of using recycled paper. When the request was received at the CIA, the Agency responded with a list of reasons why that wasn’t such a great idea.