Maarja's note: Jay Bosanko, the NARA employee mentioned below, is
another of my sister Eva's former colleagues. Eva once was Jay's boss
and one of his mentors in NARA's records declassification division.
(Another former colleague, A. J. Daverede, who also has risen in the
ranks at NARA, said at Eva's memorial service, "She took pleasure in
the accomplishments of others as if they were her own.")
***********************************************************************
NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 12, #22; 11 May 2006)
by Bruce Craig (editor)
NATIONAL COALITION FOR HISTORY (NCH)
Website at http://www.h-net.org/~nch/
***********************************************************************
1. HOUSE COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES FY 2007 BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES
2. PUBLIC INTEREST DECLASSIFICATION BOARD CONDUCTS ITS FIRST PUBLIC
MEETING
3. TOM WOLFE DELIVERS JEFFERSON LECTURE
4. BITS AND BYTES: Bush Library P-2/P-5 Release; Wilson Fellowship
Competition Announced; Seminar for Historical Administration
5. ARTICLES OF INTEREST: "The Case of Roberts's Missing Papers"
(Washington Post)
1. HOUSE COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES FY 2007 BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES
On 4 May 2006, the House Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations
Subcommittee announced its recommendations for the Department of the
Interior as well as the related agencies under its jurisdiction,
including the Smithsonian Institution, the National Endowments for the
Arts and the Humanities, and the Woodrow Wilson Center International
Center for Scholars. On 10 May the full Appropriations Committee
endorsed most of the subcommittee recommendations. Given this year's
austere budget environment, history faired about as well as most Hill
watchers expected.
The National Endowment for the Humanities received "level funding" from
the subcommittee and full committee -- $141 million, though there are
some Hill rumors that an amendment may be offered to raise the NEH by
$5 million when the bill reaches the House floor. The Wilson Center for
Scholars also received what was recommended in the president's budget
-- $9.438 million.
For the National Park Service, the subcommittee tagged the bureau's
budget at $2.2 billion -- some $19 million over the president's request
but a whopping $100 million under the FY 2006 enacted level. This
translates into a massive reduction to the stateside component of the
Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) which traditionally has
provided assistance to the states for operations and park and
recreational land acquisition. In its press release, the committee
noted that the reductions, "will have no direct impact on the
[national] parks" either in terms of construction or land acquisition
and that in fact, the committee is allotting an additional $41 million
for park operations.
In light of the recent controversy over the semi-exclusive "Showtime"
contract, both the subcommittee as well as members of the full
committee clearly registered their dissatisfaction with the Smithsonian
Institution. Several members, including Subcommittee Chair
Representative Charles Taylor (R-NC ) and the full committee's powerful
Ranking Minority member, Representative David Obey (D-WI) took SI
Secretary Lawrence Small to task for the decision to enter into the
Showtime deal. "This exclusive language is inconsistent with a public
institution that is largely financed by the American taxpayer, and it
was done without any consultation with this committee" stated Taylor.
Noting the recent press reports of the high salaries being paid Small
($813,000 a year) and some of his key lieutenants, the full committee
ripped into the pay rates of SI officials, especially for Secretary
Small. Obey stated, "I found him through the years to be as crassly
commercial as anybody in town. No matter what Mr. Small is paid, and he
is paid an exorbitant rate for somebody running a public institution,
he does not have the right to virtually sell the Smithsonian
collections." Obey indicated in the subcommittee that he was
considering an amendment that would cap salaries at the SI to below
that paid to the President of the United States.
In full committee the SI's budget was cut not just by the
subcommittee's recommendation of $5 million but by an additional $10
million -- a total reduction of $15 million less than what SI officials
had hoped for from the House. In essence, the House Appropriations
Committee amended bill gives the SI a budget essentially equal only to
the current year's appropriation of $524 million. Holding to Obey's
word, language was also added to the bill capping the salaries of key
SI officials to no higher than $400,000 -- the salary of the President
of the United States.
Finally, under intense pressure from some of his Republican colleagues
and the House leadership, subcommittee Chair Taylor abandoned his
two-year effort to block federal funds for a memorial to the passengers
and crew of United Air Lines Flight 93, which went down in Pennsylvania
during the 9-11 tragedy. Taylor maintained the planned memorial was
overly grandiose and that private funds should be raised to fund the
monument. His position grew increasingly difficult to stand by in light
of the release of a Universal Pictures movie titled "United 93" that
portrays the passengers of that doomed flight heroically. For the
memorial Taylor the committee approved $25.9 million in federal funds
for the project.
2. PUBLIC INTEREST DECLASSIFICATION BOARD CONDUCTS ITS FIRST PUBLIC
MEETING
Having already conducted two organizational meetings earlier in the
year, on 9 May 2006, the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB)
conducted its first public meeting at the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) building in Washington D.C. In spite of being two
members short of its full complement, the board took up a range of
topics, including the recently released audit report of the
controversial agency reclassification program. They also discussed the
declassification initiative being undertaken by NARA and the
Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO). The board concluded its
first meeting only after providing an opportunity for public comment on
the board's work.
The PIDB was authorized back in 2000 (P.L.106-567) and charged to
advise the president and other executive branch officials on
classification and declassification policy. It is composed of nine
members, five appointed by the president, one each by the Speaker and
Minority Leader of the House, as well as one each by the Majority and
Minority Leader of the Senate. At this point, all but the appointments
by the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate have
been made. Members of the board are to be preeminent in the fields of
history, national security, foreign policy, intelligence policy, social
science, law, or archives. The members are: L. Britt Snider (Chair),
Martin Faga, Steven Garfinkel, Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, Richard
Norton Smith, David Skaggs, and Joan Vail Grimson. The director of the
ISOO, William Leonard, serves as Executive Secretary to the board.
Chair Britt Snider called the meeting to order and made some brief
opening comments. He emphasized that the board had agreed to some
operating rules and pledged to conduct its meetings in a public forum
as much as possible. He stated that the board's recommendations were
advisory in nature, that the PIDB did not represent federal agencies
but rather the members were charged to represent the public's
interests. Before turning to the board's Executive Secretary William
Leonard, for his report, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein
also made a few welcoming comments.
Leonard reported in detail about the recently released audit report of
the multi-agency reclassification effort that captured considerable
public attention in recent weeks and months (for details on the audit
report findings, see "NARA Issues Reclassification Audit Report" in NCH
WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol 12, #20; 28 April 2006). Leonard stated that the
audit demonstrated the need to hold people accountable for
inappropriate classification as much as to hold people accountable for
inappropriate release of documents. Jay Bosanko, the individual
detailed for 60 days by Archivist Weinstein to coordinate the
Declassification Initiative, then made his report.
Bosanko explained that the pilot National Declassification Initiative
seeks to more effectively address the enormous document backlog (over
450 million pages, including some 80 million pages that current law and
agency practice requires be referred to other agencies prior to
declassification). The initiative also seeks to better integrate the
work that agencies currently undertake in declassification. Bosanko
hopes to explore what can be done to improve the policies, procedures,
structure, and resources in order to create a more viable and reliable
executive-branch wide declassification program. Based on the discussion
that followed, it appeared to several PIDB board members and
organizational representatives in the audience that the initiative may
result in some recommendations requiring legislation in order to create
a more viable, cost-effective declassification system.
The discussion that ensued revealed that the PIDB members were well
versed in the issues being discussed; they posed relevant and
thoughtful and at times challenging questions, and were not shy about
voicing their opinions and making recommendations to staff.
Following the discussion of the declassification initiative, the board
heard from representatives of three organizations who spoke on a
variety of issues, including the declassification effort. In addition
to addressing the recent NARA reclassification program, Tom Blanton of
the National Security Archive spoke eloquently of the hope of virtually
everybody present in the audience that someday the PIDB will receive
the legislative charge to declassify documents independently of
agencies. Adina Rosenbaum of Public Citizen Litigation Group also
addressed the reclassification effort. Bruce Craig of the National
Coalition for History not only made some suggestions regarding
administrative procedures that the PIDB may want to consider in order
to insure the greatest public transparency to its operations, and also
made recommendations regarding several specific issues and concerns
that the PIDB may want to consider addressing in the future.
The spirited discussion and exchange between the board and the public
witnesses that followed gave evidence that the PIDB is up and running
and off to a good start.
3. TOM WOLFE DELIVERS JEFFERSON LECTURE
On 10 May 2006, clad in his signature white suit, Tom Wolfe, the
celebrated novelist and chronicler of American society, delivered the
35th annual Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities before a packed
audience. Established in 1972, the Jefferson Lecture, which carries a
$10,000 honorarium, is the highest honor the federal government bestows
for distinguished intellectual and public achievement in the
humanities. Wolfe, who is best known for "The Right Stuff," and "The
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and has written many other books, novels,
and magazine essays delivered a lecture titled "The Human Beast," -- a
title taken from a 1888 novel by Emile Zola who Wolfe described as one
of his "idols."
The evening began as every Jefferson Lecture has in recent years, with
a selection of patriotic tunes played by a brass band that graced the
stage of the opulent Warner Theater. Ten minutes after the hour, more
pomp when the United States Joint Armed Forces Color Guard escorted the
American and other flags representing the various military departments
to the stage; the audience was asked to stand for the national anthem.
Shortly thereafter, a superb short film produced by The History Channel
commemorating the 40th anniversary of the NEH was screened. NEH
Chairman Bruce Cole ascended to the podium and made some brief
welcoming remarks. He recognized the presence of the Vice-President's
wife and former Chair of the NEH, Lynne Cheney in the audience, and
then introduced the keynote speaker.
Wolfe dedicated his talk to fellow Jefferson Lecturer Robert Nesbit
whose 1988 Jefferson Lecture focused on the idea of a national
community. Nesbit called his talk "The Present Age" -- a title that
just as well would have fit Wolfe's presentation. Wolfe deviated only
slightly from his prepared lecture that ran twelve single-spaced pages
and took an hour and a half to deliver. In his opening remarks, Wolfe
pledged that in his talk he hoped to tell "everything you will ever
need to know about the human beast" and true to his words, indeed he
did just that.
Wolfe's lecture was occasionally punctuated with asides and bits of
humor but it largely focused on two key notions: first, on the
evolutionary importance on speech, which he asserted gave humans the
power of reason and complex memory; and second, on Wolfe's fairly
unorthodox if not condescending views of "status" (pronounced
consistently throughout the talk in his Yaleian accent as "state-us")
groups that populate the American nation.
In his effort to demonstrate something new in the worn opinion that
there is "no such thing as a human nature independent of culture,"
Wolfe described varieties of human beasts that populate various
American subcultures (from military officers, academics, and astronauts
to frat boys, cheerleaders, and rappers) and reflected on how each
group establishes its own internal status hierarchy. He claimed that
all such groups are motivated by two things: the desire for status and
the fear of humiliation.
Wolfe stated that "The human beast's belief in his own fiction-absolute
accounts for one of the most puzzling and in many cases irrational
phenomena of our time." To highlight this assertion, Wolfe explained
why he believed the gun-toting NASCAR-attending Scots-Irish population
was responsible for the election of George Bush. He said that while
Democrats represent the views of those who live in the "parenthesis
states of New York and California" they failed to "read the sentence in
between" -- middle America -- that voted solidly for Bush. "And the
reason" he stated is "that great swath of territory was largely
inhabited by the Scot's Irish."
While some questioned the validity of such dubious assertions and
Wolfe's other rambling and wandering arguments on everything from
Darwinian evolution to gun control, and while still others wrapped
their fingers impatiently on the arm rests, a generally appreciative
audience clapped politely at the conclusion of the lecture. The effort
by a stalwart handful to give Wolfe a standing ovation fell short by
hundreds. Nevertheless, by the scores attendees flocked out the side
doors to attend the reception in Wolfe's honor that followed at the
historic Willard hotel.
Wolfe's lecture is available on-line at
http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/wolfe/index.html .
4. BITS AND BYTES
Item # 1 -- Bush Library P-2/P-5 Release: The George Bush Presidential
Library has issued its sixth release of documents previously withheld
under the P-2 (appointment to federal office) and P-5 (confidential
advice between the President and his advisors or between advisors)
restrictions of the Presidential Records Act. This release is of some
11,203 pages (some 2,860 documents) and they are now available for
immediate inspection. The collection includes materials from a number
of White House offices including the president's Chief of Staff,
Counsel to the President, the First Lady's Press Office, as well as
various White House agencies including the Council of Economic
Advisors, National Security Council and the Office of Intergovernmental
Affairs. To date some 43,000 pages (14,000 documents) have been
released; some 26,500 pages are still under review. A library
spokespersons states that hopefully by the end of summer the entire
collection will be processed in accordance with the PRA guidelines. A
detailed index of this and other releases can be found at
http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/releaseddocuments.html Please see
"Release #6 - April 24, 2006."
Item # 2 -- Wilson Fellowship Competition Announced: The Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars has announced the opening of its
2007-2008 fellowship competition. The Center awards approximately 20-25
academic year residential fellowships to individuals from any country
with outstanding project proposals on national and/or international
issues. Topics and scholarship should relate to key public policy
challenges or provide the historical and/or cultural framework to
illuminate policy issues of contemporary importance. Applicants must
hold a doctorate or have equivalent professional experience. Fellows
are provided stipends (which include round trip travel), private
offices, access to the Library of Congress, Windows-based personal
computers, and research assistants. For more information and
application guidelines please visit the center webpage at:
<http://www.wilsoncenter.org/fellowships>. The application deadline is
2 October 2006.
Item # 3 -- Seminar for Historical Administration: The 47th annual
Seminar for Historical Administration will take place at the Indiana
Historical Society in Indianapolis, 28 October to 18 November 2006. The
three-week intense residential program seeks to present in-depth
sessions on a range of topics of interest to museum/history
organization managers and professionals, including marketing,
interpretation, fund-raising, human resources, ethics, and historic
preservation. For information about this year's offering, visit
http://www.aaslh.org/histadmin.htm .
5. ARTICLES OF INTEREST
One posting this week: In "The Case of Roberts's Missing Papers"
(Washington Post; 11 May 2006): Post reporter Christopher Lee
investigates NARA's ongoing effort to locate the missing Affirmative
Action file that figured prominently in the confirmation hearing of
Chief Justice John G. Roberts. For the story tap into:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051
002232 .
*****************************************
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