Apr 15, 2006
NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 12, #18; 14 APRIL 2006)
1. NARA RELEASES REDACTED VERSION OF"CLASSIFIED OR SENSITIVE" RECORDS MEMO
2. COALITION FORMED TO ADDRESS SMITHSONIAN"SHOWTIME" DEAL
3. WEINSTEIN NAMES NIXON LIBRARY HEAD
4. SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM TO CLOSE FOR RENOVATION
5. BITS AND BYTES: 50 New Recordings Added to Recordings Register
6. ARTICLES OF INTEREST:"Historians Strive to Save Old Sounds" (Christian Science Monitor)
1. NARA RELEASES REDACTED VERSION OF "CLASSIFIED OR SENSITIVE" RECORDS MEMO
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has released a heavily redacted copy of a 2002 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NARA and various federal agencies involved in a secret program in which some 10,000 NARA documents already in the public domain were pulled from open shelves pending re-review (see "House Subcommittee Conducts Oversight Hearing on Government Secrecy" NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 12 # 12; 16 March 2006).
The memo, released to the National Security Archives through a FOIA request, documents a disturbing role that NARA played in the multi-year effort by federal agencies to remove thousands of historical documents from public access, even though the records had previously been declassified.
The agreement is marked "Secret" and is signed by an Air Force official (one of three agencies party to the MOU -- the other two being the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency) and by Michael J. Kurtz, Assistant Archivist for NARA. The memo states that the re-review seeks to identify records that "have been improperly marked as classified" that "would harm the national security interests of the United States by revealing sensitive sources and methods of intelligence collection." Furthermore, the agreement states, "It is in the interest of both (unnamed agency) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to avoid the attention and researcher complaints that may arise from removing material that has already been available publicly from the open shelves for extended periods of time," the agreement said.
Other sections of the memo are equally troubling: "NARA will not disclose the true reason for the presence of -- [redacted word] -- personnel at the Archives, to include disclosure to person within NARA who does not have a validated need-to-know." Withdrawal sheets would conceal any reference to the program and "any reason for the withholding of documents". If queried by the press or public, NARA is to respond that the reviewers are present at the Archives "to ensure appropriate implementation of Presidential Order 12958 historical records declassification review responsibilities."
Even though the agreement clearly is an embarrassment to NARA, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein, who did not head NARA when the agreement was signed, applauded the release of the document. He said, that its release is "an important first step in finding the balance between continuing to protect national security and protecting the right to know by
the American public." J. William Leonard, director of the Information
Security Oversight Office (ISSO) stated, "there is a need for increased transparency in this...the more transparent we can be we will not feed perceptions that somehow this is being done for some sort of nefarious
reason such as trying to cover up agency embarrassments." Weinstein
pledged that NARA's findings on the matter will be issued by the end of April when the audit that is being conducted by ISSO is released.
While Archivist Weinstein is clearly not responsible for any of the language in the agreement and was not aware of its contents until he was recently briefed, concerns have been raised about the role of the then Archivist of the United States Carlin and perhaps other key NARA staff who according to Tom Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive, "basically aided and abetted a covert operation that whited out the nation's history by reclassifying previously released documents."
This raises the issue: why in the first place did the parties to the
agreement believe it a necessity to keep the re_review "secret." There
are other very public re-reviews being conducted by such agencies as the Department of Energy that is carrying out the Congressionally mandated Kyle-Lott review of inadvertent releases relating to nuclear energy and weapons programs.
An answer to this question may seem baffling, especially to those not "of"
the national security establishment. Security agencies generally take the stance that when they have a specific classified program to protect from improper "incidental disclosure," typically they take a firm stance: they insist that all such materials need to be protected under the cloak of classification and secrecy. NARA, on the other hand, generally takes the position that secrecy tends to focus attention on documents that otherwise would not draw any particular attention by researchers, historians, or the press. Often NARA advocates this position in discussions with agencies but finds itself over-ruled by agencies wishing to take a firmer stance. This very public disclosure of a secret re-review program that probably never needed to be classified "secret" in the first place, serves only to raise concerns by the public and Congress alike about excessive secrecy in government.
2. COALITION FORMED TO ADDRESS SMITHSONIAN "SHOWTIME" DEAL The National Coalition for History along with the several major history and archives organizations have joined with a number of other concerned organizations (i.e. Association of Research Libraries, Center for American Progress, etc...) and individuals (especially documentary filmmakers) to begin a campaign to raise public and Congressional awareness of troubling aspects of the recent agreement between the Smithsonian Institution (SI) and SHOWTIME Networks Inc. As reported last week in this publication (see "Smithsonian Semi-Commercial Deal With Showtime Draws Fire" in NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE Vol 12, #16; 7 April 2006) the semi-exclusive aspect of the SI/SHOWTIME agreement is particularly problematic as it appears to violate the professional and ethical standards of a host of scholarly organizations including the American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians (AHA), and the Society of American Archivists (SAA).
This last Tuesday, organizational representatives mapped out a strategy to address the issue. To start, several professional member organizations such as the AHA and SAA agreed to write letters on behalf of their organizations raising concerns, including letters to the editors of major national newspapers and to Secretary of the Smithsonian, Lawrence
Small. A "sign-on" letter is also being circulated in which individuals
can also express their concern in a public forum. For those interested in signing that letter, contact Carl Malamud of the Center for American Progress at carl@media.org for additional information.
3. WEINSTEIN NAMES NIXON LIBRARY HEAD
On 10 April 2006, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein announced the appointment of presidential historian Timothy Naftali to serve as the first director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. Naftali, who is currently Associate Professor and Director of the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center for Public Affairs, will assume his duties on 16 October 2006.
Educated at Yale University and Johns Hopkins University, Professor Naftali received a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University in 1993. Since 1999, he has directed the Miller Center's Presidential Recordings Program, where he oversees the team of scholars and staff responsible for transcribing, annotating and interpreting hundreds of telephone conversations and meetings secretly recorded by Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon in the White House.
According to Richard Ben-Veniste, a former Watergate prosecutor, "Naftali is an excellent choice to head the Nixon Presidential library. In my association with Mr. Naftali, on the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group and the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, I found him to be an outstanding scholar and an energetic advocate for the people."
In making the announcement the Archivist said, "As the Nixon Library prepares to join the other 11 Presidential libraries that are part of the National Archives system, I am very pleased that Timothy Naftali has agreed to take on this important new position. Professor Naftali's experience, energy, and vision will invigorate this new national resource and help the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum quickly become a major center for research and learning. As the representative of a younger generation of scholars, he will be able to set a new tone for a national center to study the Nixon era."
Currently, there are some 44 million pages of textual records that will be placed under Naftali's stewardship. More than 3,000 hours of presidential tape recordings of the Nixon Administration currently housed at the National Archives College Park facility also will be transferred eventually to the Yorba Linda facility.
In accepting the position, Naftali stated, "I am honored to be entrusted with bringing together the vast historical records of the Nixon administration in Yorba Linda and ensuring that they are open and accessible for current and future generations." Among his initial projects, Naftali will focus on is a conferences on Vietnam and Sino-American relations, will initiate a Nixon oral history project and create a significant multimedia website.
4. SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM TO CLOSE FOR RENOVATION On 12 April 2006 the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History announced plans for a major architectural transformation to focus on three
areas: architectural enhancements to the museum's interior, constructing a state-of-the-art gallery for the Star-Spangled Banner, and updating the 42-year-old building's infrastructure including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, lighting, fire and security systems.
To prepare for the transformation, the museum will begin closing some of its exhibition galleries this spring and summer, and the full museum will close to the public as of 5 September. (Labor Day, 4 September, will be the last day to visit the museum.) Construction will begin in the fall of 2006 with the museum being scheduled to reopen by summer 2008.
The 42-year old museum has been sending visitors through a maze of hallways, exhibitions, and displays that have confused and mystified visitors for decades. The $85 million renovation will seek to unite the collections by having visitors pass first through a detailed introductory exhibition that will identify the purpose of the museum and explain its
collections. Included in the renovation plans is a new enclosure for the
Stars and Stripes that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor that inspired the writing of the American national anthem. A welcome center will also be added near the entrance of the mall.
The renovation plans are not without criticism, however. Smithsonian insiders report that the key donor, Kenneth E. Behring, who is contributing some $16 million to the renovation (part of an overall $80 million donation to the Smithsonian), has made his views known and insisted on grand stairways and other expensive architectural components and skylights that were questioned by staff as being costly unnecessary additions. There also was considerable internal controversy over the wisdom of closing the entire museum down rather than renovate it in stages in order to avoid closing the popular museum down entirely for two years.
5. BITS AND BYTES
Item #1 - 50 New Recordings Added to Recording Registry: Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has made his annual selection of 50 sound recordings for addition to the National Recording Registry. The selections are made based on the basis of recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The new additions to the registry honor a wide variety of outstanding spoken and musical recordings and span the years 1903-1988. Among the selections is the first presidential inauguration to be broadcast, featuring the New England man-of-few-words -- Calvin Coolidge; the first official transatlantic telephone conversation that took place on 7 January 1927 and a number of performances by a pantheon of significant American artists, including Bob Hope, Nat King Cole, Fred Allen, Mahalia Jackson, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave Brubeck, B.B. King, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and
Stevie Wonder. The Library is currently accepting nominations for the
2006 National Recording Registry at the National Recording Preservation Board Web site, www.loc.gov/nrpb/.
6. ARTICLES OF INTEREST
One posting this week: In "Historians Strive to Save Old Sounds" (Christian Science Monitor; 13 April 2006) Monitor reporter Randy Dotinga traces the effort to preserve songs and spoken word performances recorded on the early precursors of compact discs through digitization. For the article go to:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0413/p13s02_stct.html?s=hns .
2. COALITION FORMED TO ADDRESS SMITHSONIAN"SHOWTIME" DEAL
3. WEINSTEIN NAMES NIXON LIBRARY HEAD
4. SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM TO CLOSE FOR RENOVATION
5. BITS AND BYTES: 50 New Recordings Added to Recordings Register
6. ARTICLES OF INTEREST:"Historians Strive to Save Old Sounds" (Christian Science Monitor)
1. NARA RELEASES REDACTED VERSION OF "CLASSIFIED OR SENSITIVE" RECORDS MEMO
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has released a heavily redacted copy of a 2002 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NARA and various federal agencies involved in a secret program in which some 10,000 NARA documents already in the public domain were pulled from open shelves pending re-review (see "House Subcommittee Conducts Oversight Hearing on Government Secrecy" NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 12 # 12; 16 March 2006).
The memo, released to the National Security Archives through a FOIA request, documents a disturbing role that NARA played in the multi-year effort by federal agencies to remove thousands of historical documents from public access, even though the records had previously been declassified.
The agreement is marked "Secret" and is signed by an Air Force official (one of three agencies party to the MOU -- the other two being the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency) and by Michael J. Kurtz, Assistant Archivist for NARA. The memo states that the re-review seeks to identify records that "have been improperly marked as classified" that "would harm the national security interests of the United States by revealing sensitive sources and methods of intelligence collection." Furthermore, the agreement states, "It is in the interest of both (unnamed agency) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to avoid the attention and researcher complaints that may arise from removing material that has already been available publicly from the open shelves for extended periods of time," the agreement said.
Other sections of the memo are equally troubling: "NARA will not disclose the true reason for the presence of -- [redacted word] -- personnel at the Archives, to include disclosure to person within NARA who does not have a validated need-to-know." Withdrawal sheets would conceal any reference to the program and "any reason for the withholding of documents". If queried by the press or public, NARA is to respond that the reviewers are present at the Archives "to ensure appropriate implementation of Presidential Order 12958 historical records declassification review responsibilities."
Even though the agreement clearly is an embarrassment to NARA, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein, who did not head NARA when the agreement was signed, applauded the release of the document. He said, that its release is "an important first step in finding the balance between continuing to protect national security and protecting the right to know by
the American public." J. William Leonard, director of the Information
Security Oversight Office (ISSO) stated, "there is a need for increased transparency in this...the more transparent we can be we will not feed perceptions that somehow this is being done for some sort of nefarious
reason such as trying to cover up agency embarrassments." Weinstein
pledged that NARA's findings on the matter will be issued by the end of April when the audit that is being conducted by ISSO is released.
While Archivist Weinstein is clearly not responsible for any of the language in the agreement and was not aware of its contents until he was recently briefed, concerns have been raised about the role of the then Archivist of the United States Carlin and perhaps other key NARA staff who according to Tom Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive, "basically aided and abetted a covert operation that whited out the nation's history by reclassifying previously released documents."
This raises the issue: why in the first place did the parties to the
agreement believe it a necessity to keep the re_review "secret." There
are other very public re-reviews being conducted by such agencies as the Department of Energy that is carrying out the Congressionally mandated Kyle-Lott review of inadvertent releases relating to nuclear energy and weapons programs.
An answer to this question may seem baffling, especially to those not "of"
the national security establishment. Security agencies generally take the stance that when they have a specific classified program to protect from improper "incidental disclosure," typically they take a firm stance: they insist that all such materials need to be protected under the cloak of classification and secrecy. NARA, on the other hand, generally takes the position that secrecy tends to focus attention on documents that otherwise would not draw any particular attention by researchers, historians, or the press. Often NARA advocates this position in discussions with agencies but finds itself over-ruled by agencies wishing to take a firmer stance. This very public disclosure of a secret re-review program that probably never needed to be classified "secret" in the first place, serves only to raise concerns by the public and Congress alike about excessive secrecy in government.
2. COALITION FORMED TO ADDRESS SMITHSONIAN "SHOWTIME" DEAL The National Coalition for History along with the several major history and archives organizations have joined with a number of other concerned organizations (i.e. Association of Research Libraries, Center for American Progress, etc...) and individuals (especially documentary filmmakers) to begin a campaign to raise public and Congressional awareness of troubling aspects of the recent agreement between the Smithsonian Institution (SI) and SHOWTIME Networks Inc. As reported last week in this publication (see "Smithsonian Semi-Commercial Deal With Showtime Draws Fire" in NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE Vol 12, #16; 7 April 2006) the semi-exclusive aspect of the SI/SHOWTIME agreement is particularly problematic as it appears to violate the professional and ethical standards of a host of scholarly organizations including the American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians (AHA), and the Society of American Archivists (SAA).
This last Tuesday, organizational representatives mapped out a strategy to address the issue. To start, several professional member organizations such as the AHA and SAA agreed to write letters on behalf of their organizations raising concerns, including letters to the editors of major national newspapers and to Secretary of the Smithsonian, Lawrence
Small. A "sign-on" letter is also being circulated in which individuals
can also express their concern in a public forum. For those interested in signing that letter, contact Carl Malamud of the Center for American Progress at carl@media.org for additional information.
3. WEINSTEIN NAMES NIXON LIBRARY HEAD
On 10 April 2006, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein announced the appointment of presidential historian Timothy Naftali to serve as the first director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. Naftali, who is currently Associate Professor and Director of the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center for Public Affairs, will assume his duties on 16 October 2006.
Educated at Yale University and Johns Hopkins University, Professor Naftali received a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University in 1993. Since 1999, he has directed the Miller Center's Presidential Recordings Program, where he oversees the team of scholars and staff responsible for transcribing, annotating and interpreting hundreds of telephone conversations and meetings secretly recorded by Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon in the White House.
According to Richard Ben-Veniste, a former Watergate prosecutor, "Naftali is an excellent choice to head the Nixon Presidential library. In my association with Mr. Naftali, on the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group and the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, I found him to be an outstanding scholar and an energetic advocate for the people."
In making the announcement the Archivist said, "As the Nixon Library prepares to join the other 11 Presidential libraries that are part of the National Archives system, I am very pleased that Timothy Naftali has agreed to take on this important new position. Professor Naftali's experience, energy, and vision will invigorate this new national resource and help the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum quickly become a major center for research and learning. As the representative of a younger generation of scholars, he will be able to set a new tone for a national center to study the Nixon era."
Currently, there are some 44 million pages of textual records that will be placed under Naftali's stewardship. More than 3,000 hours of presidential tape recordings of the Nixon Administration currently housed at the National Archives College Park facility also will be transferred eventually to the Yorba Linda facility.
In accepting the position, Naftali stated, "I am honored to be entrusted with bringing together the vast historical records of the Nixon administration in Yorba Linda and ensuring that they are open and accessible for current and future generations." Among his initial projects, Naftali will focus on is a conferences on Vietnam and Sino-American relations, will initiate a Nixon oral history project and create a significant multimedia website.
4. SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM TO CLOSE FOR RENOVATION On 12 April 2006 the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History announced plans for a major architectural transformation to focus on three
areas: architectural enhancements to the museum's interior, constructing a state-of-the-art gallery for the Star-Spangled Banner, and updating the 42-year-old building's infrastructure including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, lighting, fire and security systems.
To prepare for the transformation, the museum will begin closing some of its exhibition galleries this spring and summer, and the full museum will close to the public as of 5 September. (Labor Day, 4 September, will be the last day to visit the museum.) Construction will begin in the fall of 2006 with the museum being scheduled to reopen by summer 2008.
The 42-year old museum has been sending visitors through a maze of hallways, exhibitions, and displays that have confused and mystified visitors for decades. The $85 million renovation will seek to unite the collections by having visitors pass first through a detailed introductory exhibition that will identify the purpose of the museum and explain its
collections. Included in the renovation plans is a new enclosure for the
Stars and Stripes that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor that inspired the writing of the American national anthem. A welcome center will also be added near the entrance of the mall.
The renovation plans are not without criticism, however. Smithsonian insiders report that the key donor, Kenneth E. Behring, who is contributing some $16 million to the renovation (part of an overall $80 million donation to the Smithsonian), has made his views known and insisted on grand stairways and other expensive architectural components and skylights that were questioned by staff as being costly unnecessary additions. There also was considerable internal controversy over the wisdom of closing the entire museum down rather than renovate it in stages in order to avoid closing the popular museum down entirely for two years.
5. BITS AND BYTES
Item #1 - 50 New Recordings Added to Recording Registry: Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has made his annual selection of 50 sound recordings for addition to the National Recording Registry. The selections are made based on the basis of recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The new additions to the registry honor a wide variety of outstanding spoken and musical recordings and span the years 1903-1988. Among the selections is the first presidential inauguration to be broadcast, featuring the New England man-of-few-words -- Calvin Coolidge; the first official transatlantic telephone conversation that took place on 7 January 1927 and a number of performances by a pantheon of significant American artists, including Bob Hope, Nat King Cole, Fred Allen, Mahalia Jackson, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave Brubeck, B.B. King, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and
Stevie Wonder. The Library is currently accepting nominations for the
2006 National Recording Registry at the National Recording Preservation Board Web site, www.loc.gov/nrpb/.
6. ARTICLES OF INTEREST
One posting this week: In "Historians Strive to Save Old Sounds" (Christian Science Monitor; 13 April 2006) Monitor reporter Randy Dotinga traces the effort to preserve songs and spoken word performances recorded on the early precursors of compact discs through digitization. For the article go to:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0413/p13s02_stct.html?s=hns .