Yes, the Chronicle of Higher Education article on NARA is interesting. It quotes Steve Aftergood who compiles and puts out the Secrecy News newsletter: "'This whole episode has been a genuine scandal for the archives,' said Steven Aftergood, who directs a project at the Federation of American Scientists that tracks government secrecy. 'One expects a certain degree of mischief from the CIA and other agencies -- they mislead people all the time,' said Mr. Aftergood. 'That has been not been the normal experience at the archives.'" I agree with Mr. Aftergood that Dr. Weinstein has handled this well so far: "'He did not attempt to deny the existence of the problem, and he did not attempt to evade responsibility for it,' Mr. Aftergood said. 'Instead he moved to fix it, and that is something that we don't see very often these days.'" I noted in the CHE the comments by Susan Cooper, spokeswoman for NARA. "'We really are going to be much more transparent in our actions with agencies,' she added. 'Our mission is to make documents available, and we take that very seriously.'" A different woman who once held the position of NARA spokesperson before Cooper reassured the New York Times in 1991 that Nixon did not contest the release of Watergate Special Prosecutor Tapes. In fact, Nixon did submit a list of 70 requested deletions to those tapes. NARA originally did not reveal Nixon's involvement, even in court fillings, but belatedly had to admit later that it had occurred. Whether the spokeswoman knew in 1991 about Nixon's intervention, I cannot say. From what I can tell, neither the spokeswoman employed by NARA in 1991 or any successor to her ever put out a statement about the Nixon lawsuit that was reassuring to the archivists actually doing the work with his records. No surprise, I suppose -- as I keep saying, Washington is a tough town. That doesn't mean we shouldn't all strive for the highest standards. That's one reason the current controversy interests me so much. (You all KNEW I couldn't post something about NARA without mentioned Nixon. LOL.) Although the situation was different, archivists who are interested in issues of concealment also might consider the complaints made in 1969 by Professor Francis Loewenheim. To read more about that, as usual, I refer you to Professor Richard J. Cox's excellent overview, "America's Pyramids: Presidents and Their Libraries," available at www2.sis.pitt.edu/~rcox/AmericasPyramids.pdf Maarja A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>