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NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 12, #13; 24 March 2006)
by Bruce Craig (editor)
NATIONAL COALITION FOR HISTORY (NCH)
Website at: http://www.h-net.org/~nch/
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1. HISTORY COALITION SUBMITS TESTIMONY ON FY 2007 NEH FUNDING
2. SENATE APPROVES BUDGET RESOLUTION
3. OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM DOCUMENTS RELEASED
4. FINALLY! -- NARA RELEASES STATE DEPARTMENT DIGITAL RECORDS
5. BITS AND BYTES: Fulbright Scholarships; FOIA-related website
redesign
7. ARTICLES OF INTEREST: OpentheGovernment.org cartoon
1. HISTORY COALITION SUBMITS TESTIMONY ON FY 2007 NEH FUNDING
The National Coalition for History (NCH) has officially submitted
testimony to the House Interior,
Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee
recommending a funding level of $156
million for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to carry
out its various programs in FY 2007.
The submission states that while the history coalition is cognizant
"that Congress faces unusually difficult
fiscal choices this year" the proposed increase represents only "a
modest increase" above the FY 2006
level that was appropriated by Congress last year and which is the
figure reflected in the President's
proposed budget for FY 2007. The testimony is consistent with that of
other national NEH advocacy
and support organizations, though the coalition version does provide
Congress with some specific
recommendations for prioritization of programmatic funds.
In his budget proposal for the NEH, President Bush recommended "flat
funding" for the agency. In actuality
though, level funding amounts to a cut in funds available to the NEH to
carry out programs. For example,
factors such as inflation and mandated administrative costs will cost
program activity centers some $1.32
million this year. The testimony also notes how the White House has
failed to live up to its promise to
support the "We the People" American history initiative to the tune of
$100 million over three years. The
testimony also urges Congress to "restore and broaden the reach of NEH
core programs" so that "not just
American history receives emphasis but world and comparative history as
well."
The testimony makes specific supportive references to the federal-state
partnership where "the 56 state
humanities councils have been doing such good work with very limited
funding from the NEH." The
testimony also expresses support for several specific NEH programmatic
initiatives within the "We the
People" initiative, including the National Digital Newspaper Program
which seeks to digitize historically
important newspapers into fully searchable files and make these files
available on the Internet.
The testimony raises concerns about the President's call for funding a
new initiative to transcribe, digitize,
and mount on the Internet the collected editions of the papers and
writings of the first four American
presidents: Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison. The testimony
states that "there are other
documentary edition projects of equal or more importance that also
deserve funding." Consequently, the
coalition recommends "a significant portion of the $15 million proposed
increase be directed to the
Research Division for support of the preparation and posting of
historical and scholarly editions (a
programmatic activity center that the National Archives' National
Historical Publications and Records
Commission currently does not fund to any significant degree). The
coalition envisions that the NEH should
play a much more important role in making documentary editions
accessible via the Internet to the general
public for study and research.
For a copy of the testimony visit the NCH website at
http://www.h-net.org/~nch/ .
2. SENATE APPROVES BUDGET RESOLUTION
By a largely partisan vote of 52 - 48, late last week the Senate
approved its version of a FY 2007 budget
resolution. The Senate-endorsed resolution is considered by many to be
a "significant departure" from the
President's proposed budget that was submitted to Congress for its
consideration earlier this year. After
some 50 hours of debate and consideration of over 33 amendments, the
Senate gave its blessing to only
nine of them and added over $16 billion in discretionary spending above
Bush's request. The increases in
discretionary spending would benefit a variety of programs including
energy, education, veteran health
benefits and national security.
Of particular concern to the environmental community was a resolution
designed to authorize drilling for oil
in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) which is viewed by many
as one of the last untouched
natural areas in the United States. Several senators noted during
debates that the ANWR provision has
absolutely nothing to do with the federal budget process but
nevertheless, it passed. Senate Republicans
attempted to open ANWR last year but the effort was foiled when the
amendment language was struck from
the conference bill by Congressional managers.
The House of Representatives has yet to approve its budget blueprint
but Hill insiders expect it will differ
sharply from the Senate version. The House version is expected to
reflect deep cuts to domestic programs
and will seek to extend tax cuts; it may even include a provision
granting the President a form of a line-item
veto.
It should be remembered that the budget resolution is a non-binding
resolution and that appropriations
committees can develop their own spending levels, provided negotiations
on a a budget resolution carries
on beyond 15 May, or if Congress fails to agree to a compromise which,
at this writing, appears to be a
likely prognostication.
3. OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM DOCUMENTS RELEASED
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has
processed and released the initial batch of
documents and media captured in Iraq and Afghanistan during Operation
Iraqi Freedom. The materials have
been posted to the U.S. Army Foreign Studies Office website where they
can be viewed at:
http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm . Additional
materials will be regularly uploaded as
they are cleared for public release.
According to the ODNI press release, the files have been reviewed based
on "limiting criteria to minimize
the chance of releasing information which may damage U.S. national
security, the privacy of Americans, or
innocent foreign nationals." The statement also asserts that "the U.S.
government has made no
determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity or
factual accuracy of the information
contained therein, or the quality of any translations, when available."
4. FINALLY! -- NARA RELEASES STATE DEPARTMENT DIGITAL RECORDS
On 22 March 2006, the National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA) released for online access
an unusual and significant collection of diplomatic records: more than
400,000 State Department telegrams
and other records from a collection titled "Central Foreign Policy
Files, 1973-1974."
The Central Foreign Policy files consist of State Department telegrams
determined to have permanent
historical value from 1973-74, index references to paper documents
created in 1974, and withdrawal notices
for permanently valuable telegrams and index references which could not
be released for national security
or other reasons. Items released include a report of a TV interview
with former Israeli Defense Minister
Moshe Dayan concerning the West Bank, a report of an interview with the
Syrian Defense Minister
discussing Israeli nuclear weapons, and a summary of possible French
reactions to Indian nuclear testing.
As the State Department continues its declassification review, files
for later years will be added to the on-
line collection.
Beginning in mid-1973, the State Department replaced its paper-based
Central Foreign Policy Files, begun
in 1906, with digitally based files. The department began with recorded
telegram traffic from the various
Foreign Service Posts and then, in 1974, added to the telegram database
indexing information on paper
documents which were then microfilmed.
State and NARA signed an agreement to agree to the transfer these
important records in an electronic
format on 7 June 2004 but it took years to make the State Department
records compatible to NARA's
systems. Once technical bugs were worked out additional delays resulted
-- in part caused by an
unseemly complex and duplicative process of reviewing, re-reviewing,
and re-re-reviewing documents by
high-level State Department officials -- a cumbersome process that,
because of national security concerns,
was believed necessary by both State and NARA officials in order for
officials to be comfortable in making these
records public. The scholarly community owes a debt of gratitude to the
persistent efforts of the
Department of State Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic
Documentation for its key role in
monitoring developments and urging the two agencies to execute the
transfer. Although these microfilmed
documents are not now available online, paper copies can be obtained
from the National Archives (for
documents filmed in 1974 and 1975).
NARA reports that access to these newly released electronic records is
enhanced by the recent redesign of
the National Archives Access to Archival Databases (AAD) system, a
research tool that makes a selection
of the Archives' most popular electronic records available to the
public over the Internet. AAD currently
includes over 86 million electronic records from 48 series in some 29
record groups and three collections of
donated historical materials. These long-awaited digital records are
publicly accessible at the National
Archives website at www.archives.gov/aad.
5. BITS AND BYTES
Item #1 -- Fulbright Scholarships: The Fulbright Distinguished Chairs
Program is offering several awards
open to senior faculty in American Studies for the 2007-2008 academic
year in Australia, Brazil, France,
Finland, and Denmark. U.S.citizenship is required. Complete award
descriptions, other eligibility
requirements, and application materials are available at
http://www.cies.org/ab_dc/ab_dc2007/area2.htm.
The deadline for applying for a Fulbright Distinguished Chair award is
1 May 2006. Numerous additional
opportunities to lecture, conduct research, or do both in 150 countries
around the world during the 2007-
2008 academic year are available through the traditional Fulbright
Scholar Program. Register to receive
information and application materials on the website at
http://www.cies.org .
Item #2 -- Freedominfo.org Website Redesigned: Four years after its
initial launch and more than a million
hits later the website Freedominfo.org has a whole new look! The site
now includes a comprehensive
country-by-country section that gives users access to resources about
Freedom of Information laws in more
than 60 countries. The site also continues to give researchers,
advocates, journalists, government officials,
and the public vital tools necessary to stay informed about the
progress of the right to information around
the world and in their own backyards. For the updated site visit
http://www.freedominfo.org.
6. ARTICLES OF INTEREST:
One posting this week: If you missed Sunshine Week, you haven't totally
lost out!
OpenTheGovernment.org has released a short animation piece that takes,
as the group claims is "a fun look
at government secrecy." According to a press announcement, the cartoon
"reminds us of the need to
demand more openness in our government to protect ourselves and make
our communities safer." To view
"Are We Safer in the Dark?" go to
http://inthedark.openthegovernment.org .
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