Capitol Commentary

Page Putnam Miller
Director of the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History

Appropriations Hearings on FY 2001 Budgets

On 23 March William Ferris, the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, testified before the Subcommittee on the Interior of the House Appropriations Committee. Representative Ralph Regula (R-OH), the chair of the subcommittee, presided. Also in attendance were Representatives David Obey (D-WI), Ranking Minority on the House Appropriations Committee; Joe Skeen (R-NM); George Nethercutt (R-WA); Norman Dicks (D-WA), Ranking Minority Member; James Moran (D-VA); Robert (Bud) Cramer (D- AL); and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY). The one-hour hearing was a love fest as each of the eight representatives present joined in extolling the programs of NEH and praising Ferris's leadership. This hearing illustrated strong bi-partisan support for the NEH.

In his opening statement Ferris stressed the ways in which the almost 40-percent cut in the NEH's budget in 1996 had deprived Americans of many quality films and exhibits. He also noted the opportunities to enhance public education and to provide research assistance to scholars that the NEH had to pass up due to the budget cut. In advocating the administration's request for an increase from $115 million to $150 million, Ferris said that he recognized the challenges facing the subcommittee in making its budget decisions, but he asserted that NEH was the subcommittee's best investment for giving a significant return on tax dollars to the American people. Frequently during the hearing Ferris spoke of the way NEH grants provide seed money that give a stamp of approval that then assists projects in gaining private sector support. Since its founding, Ferris said that NEH funding had leveraged $1.59 billion in private and corporate funds.

During the question and answer portion of the hearing, there was extended discussion of the ways that NEH can serve rural areas and small communities. Several members asked for more details about the kinds of programs that Ferris said would help the country to guard against "historical amnesia," a concern that historian James McPherson had raised almost a decade ago in testimony before Congress. There were also questions about the new NEH initiative to create regional humanities centers and about NEH's efforts to raise additional funds from corporations and foundations.

One part of the administration's budget proposal that was not discussed at the hearing, but which is of special interest to scholars, is the increase in the stipends for the approximately 170 full-year research fellowships that NEH awards. Since 1990 the stipend for year-long fellowships has remained at $30,000, an amount that is well below the annual salaries of most applicants. In view of the need to continue to attract serious humanities researchers, the NEH would increase the level in 2001 to $35,000; and if additional funds are available, the following year that amount could be raised to $40,000. There is also a plan to phase-in an increase for stipends for the approximately 130 summer fellowships from the current level of $4,000 to $5,000. At the hearing, Ferris did emphasize the many NEH fellowships that have provided early research funds for projects that later became prize winning books. Ferris noted that historian James McPherson, who delivered the 29th Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities on 27 March, received an NEH fellowship that supported a portion of his research for Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, which won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for History

National Archives and NHPRC

The House Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government of the Appropriations Committee held an hour-long hearing on 28 March for testimony from U.S. Archivist John Carlin on the Administration's FY 2001 budget request for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). The president has proposed $308 million for the National Archives, a $78 million increase over the FY 2000 level of $231 million, with most of the new money going toward the renovation of the NARA building on the Mall. The request includes $6 million, for the grants program of the NHPRC. Representative Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), the Chair of the Subcommittee, presided. Also attending were Representatives Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the Ranking Minority member, and David Price (D-NC). Kolbe began the hearing by commending Carlin's leadership and emphasizing the important mission of the National Archives.

Discussion of electronic records dominated much of the hearing. In his opening statement, Carlin announced plans for a major new collaboration with the National Science Foundation to create an Electronic Records Archives. "In simplest terms," Carlin explained, "this Electronic Records Archives will be able to preserve any kind of electronic record, free it from the format in which it was created, retain it indefinitely, and enable requesters to read it on computer systems now in use and coming in the future." Carlin also highlighted the collaborative work of NARA with the San Diego Supercomputer Center and the Department of Defense.

In the question and answer portion of the hearing, Kolbe focused on budget issues, asking if the request for $88 million for the renovation could be phased in over several years instead of all coming in the FY 2001 budget. Kolbe also tried to get an estimate of the projected costs, for 2002 and beyond, of implementing the electronic records projects. Kolbe said that he had heard some mention of the very rough amount of $130 million. Carlin responded by saying that it would be less than $130 million but more than the $2 million for the initial research.

Price asked questions about the timetable for the electronic records project and about funding for the grants program of the NHPRC. Responding to the question on the timetable, Carlin said that NARA would begin asking for sizeable amounts of money in FY 2002 for the implementation of the electronic records projects, some of which are now in the prototype or research phase of theoretical concepts. He anticipates that the electronic records project will not be fully operational until 2004 or 2005. In describing the stages of development, he said that making the State Department 1970s cables accessible electronically would be a priority for 2002. To the question of whether Carlin felt that an increase in funding for NHPRC grants is warranted in the future, Carlin said that he thought the answer to that would evolve in the next few months.

Smithsonian Institution

On 8 March Lawrence Small, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, testified before the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee on the 2001 budget request. Although Small assumed his duties at the Smithsonian less than two months ago, he spent the four months prior to his installation learning as much as he could about the history and traditions of the Smithsonian. He said his fundamental lesson was that the Smithsonian is a monument to American's curiosity about the entire world and particularly to their curiosity about themselves. "No other institution, anywhere," he said "documents America and the American people so comprehensively."

Because Small is "convinced of the incomparable power of the Smithsonian to engage Americans in experiencing their history and their cultural and scientific heritage," he is advocating that the Smithsonian expand its audiences by loaning its objects. "We should lend objects," he said "to any museum in the United States that can responsibly receive and care for them." He notes that the Smithsonian has it its collections some 141 million objects and fewer than 2 percent of them can be on display at any one time. A second theme Small emphasized in his testimony was the "shabby" state of the Smithsonian's physical facilities. He said, "the buildings are emblems of the nation. They should inspire awe, and they should shine. I am committed to making them shine." Small concluded by stating that the FY2001 budget request was formulated prior to his arrival. While he agreed with the overall priorities, he said he would be seeking approval and support for realigning portions of the base funding.

NHPRC Reauthorization Hearing

On 4 April the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology held a hearing on H.R. 4110, which provides for the reauthorization of the grants program of the National Historical Publication and Records Commission for fiscal years 2002 through 2005, with an appropriations ceiling of $10 million. The very cordial two-hour hearing chaired by Representative Steve Horn (R-CA), a political scientist and the former President of California State University at Long Beach, reflected the chairs great interest in, and commitment to, preserving and making available historical documents. The subcommittee heard testimony from five witnesses: Archivist John Carlin; Executive Director of NHPRC Ann Clifford Newhall; President of the Newberry Library Charles Cullen; Anne Gilliland-Swetland of the Department of Information Studies at UCLA; and Congressman Roy Blunt (R-MO), who represents the House at the NHPRC commission meetings. The witnesses all spoke of the valuable contributions on the NHPRC in providing grants for safeguarding non-federal records of significance to the nation's history. Carlin highlighted the NHPRC's role in preserving state records. Newhall addressed the NHPRC's statutory mission and its work to fulfill its strategic goals of supporting Founding Era documentary editing projects, working with state historical records advisory boards, meeting the challenges posed by electronic records, and assisting with a wide variety of other projects, including documentary editions other than the Founding Era projects and archival education projects. Cullen emphasized that documentary editions benefit the entire American public, not just serious scholars, and Gilliland-Swetland asserted that the NHPRC has single-handedly been responsible for most of the knowledge gains and developments that have occurred in the field of archiving electronic records in the last decade. Representative Blunt described the role of NHPRC in helping to preserve the records that document the often-overlooked story of workers in the Ozarks.

In the question-and-answer portion of the hearing, Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL) joined Horn in asking a number of questions related to electronic records, and making records accessible, training of future archivists, and security and funding issues. Representative Horn expressed interest in the number of volumes of documentary editions that are published and stated the need for greater distribution of these volumes. In answer to Horn's question of whether Congress should increase the authorized ceiling for NHPRC appropriations, Carlin responded that we should see in the near future the current $6 million appropriated level getting closer to the $10 million ceiling. On 5 April, the day following the hearing, the House Committee on Government Reform's Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology voted unanimously by voice vote to recommend to the full committee HR 4110, the bill to reauthorize the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

National Archives Issues Critical Report on Records Management at CIA

NARA has an ongoing program of evaluating in depth the records management practices of approximately six federal agencies a year. As a part of this effort, the National Archives has just released its report "Records Management in the Central Intelligence Agency." While acknowledging that the CIA currently has many elements of a good records management program, the report states that the program has "serious shortcomings that must be rectified." The report focuses on issues of adequacy of documentation, preservation concerns, the need to revise schedules on retention and destruction of records, and handling of electronic files. In preparing the report the NARA staff, with the assistance of CIA staff, visited over thirty major program offices and a large number of their subordinate components and examined all aspects of the creation, maintenance and use, and disposition of records of the CIA.

Unlike most federal agencies, the CIA schedules call for historical records to be transferred to the custody of the National Archives after fifty years, not the usual thirty years or less. Established in 1947, the CIA has retained most of its records. The report points out that the NARA's holdings of CIA records are "skimpy and unsystematic" and consist primarily of copies of documents often drawn from many separate records series. The report states, "even the most comprehensive of these collections, the Soviet estimates, consists solely of copies of the final estimates themselves, not the related background papers that document their formulation." The report identified a number of unacceptable practices, such as classifying the record descriptions in the schedules for the retention and destruction of records. The report states that this practice is "not warranted and serves only to create misperceptions and arouse suspicion," for these descriptions pertain to broad subjects and not specific operations or issues.

The report also discusses the CIA's destruction in the 1960s of files of the 1953 operation in Iran, a subject that was highlighted by the media in 1997. In response to NARA inquiries following the media reports, the CIA claimed that the records relating to the Iran covert action were destroyed in keeping with the Archives' approved schedules. However, this report states that there was no schedule in effect that provided for the destruction of these records and that the CIA's "destruction of records related to Iran was unauthorized."

The report concludes that "CIA retention of permanent files for 50 years is no longer appropriate" now that the Cold War has ended. The report stresses that permanent records should be transferred to the National Archives in coherent blocks, not individual documents drawn from a variety of separate files which is the current CIA practice. The report sets as a goal the transfer to the National Archives by the end of 2003 of most of the permanent CIA files created prior to President Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. These files, the report states, should include the files of the Director of Central Intelligence and other high level policy offices; the finished intelligence products and related background papers; and files of offices concerned with budgetary matters, legal issues, and congressional relations. This report may be seen on the Federation of American Scientists' website at <http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/naracia.html>.

Supreme Court Denies Petition To Consider Electronic Records Case

On 6 March the Supreme Court issued a one-sentence statement denying the 4 November petition of Public Citizen--joined by the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, the the National Security Archive, the American Library Association, the Center for National Security Studies, and several researchers--requesting the review of the Appeals Court ruling that upheld the National Archives' regulations allowing agencies to routinely destroy word processing and electronic mail records of historic value if an electronic, paper or microform copy has been made for record keeping purposes. Since the Supreme Court accepts only about three percent of the petitions that it receives, the denial was not unexpected. The plaintiffs continue to be very concerned about this issue and are exploring other strategies for urging the preservation of electronic records.