I rarely jump in on these sorts of things because I don't always feel qualified to speak on behalf of the profession because I am still a newbie. I would, however, like to comment on Richard Cox's statement that "the deafening silence from the profession, or at least that portion subscribing to the Archives list, suggests that this is not a serious matter for it." I certainly cannot and will not speak on behalf of all of those subscribing to this list serve but I would like to add my personal point of view on the topic. I have been following this story through the listserv and had little luck finding any other information about the topic through other sources. From reading the information on the listserv and the comments from SAA, Mr. Cox, and Maarja I still don't feel like I know enough about the relationship between NARA, the Air Force, and the CIA to make any statements about the matter and its impact on our profession. I certainly feel that this is an important matter which is why I have been following it closely but not knowing the details and all of the relationships, not to mention that I don't work for NARA and don't understand all of their policies and operations I feel that I can't comment. Personally, I am worried that NARA may become a puppet of the current administration (which means it could continue to be manipulated by future administrations) and that if we don't act now the whole reason for NARA's existence will be lost on future generations. I also think Maarja makes a good point in her email that "the leaking of security classified records by government employees is wrong - period. But we should consider the fact that if the government misuses its classification authority, or overclassifies information, the likelihood of leaks likely will increase." I also agree that SAA's statement on this issue may have been hasty but I certainly hope that isn't the last word from either SAA or the archival community. I don't think I'm alone in saying that yes, this does matter and it is incredibly important to the profession but the "silence" on the listserv is not because archivists are not interested or concerned with the topic at hand but rather cannot form opinions or draw conclusions without further information or an understanding of the entities involved. Republican or Democrat doesn't matter in this case. What is most important is that our profession and our existence are not trampled by political bullies trying to change history. I certainly hope that members of this listserv are not silent or ignoring the topic because they feel that it doesn't affect their work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Christina J. Hostetter Archivist National Press Club Archives 529 14th Street, NW Suite 480 Washington, DC 20045 202-662-7598 www.press.org/library/archives ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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]>