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(FWD) NCC Washington Update, Vol 6, #7, March 6, 2000



NCC Washington Update, Vol 6, #7, March 6, 2000
   by Page Putnam Miller, Director of the National Coordinating
      Committee for the Promotion of History <pagem@capaccess.org>

1.   Supreme Court Denies Petition To
        Consider Electronic Records Case
2.   Dates for Upcoming Appropriations
         Hearings
3.   White House E-Mail

1.  Supreme Court Denies Petition To Consider Electronic Records Case -
On March 6 the Supreme Court issued a one sentence statement denying the
November 4 petition of Public Citizen -- joined by the American
Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, 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 that allow agencies to routinely destroy word
processing and electronic mail records of historic value if an
electronic, paper or microform copy has been made for recordkeeping
purposes.  Since the Supreme Court accepts only about 3 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.

2.  Dates for Upcoming Appropriations Hearings - The Interior
Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee will be holding a
hearing on March 23 at 10 am to hear testimony from William Ferris, the
Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities on the
Administration's proposed FY 2001 budget request of $150 million.  This
would be a 30 percent increase over the current level of $115.260
million.  Yet, it is considerably less than the $172 million the agency
had in FY 1995 prior to 36 percent reduction in funding that it
sustained in FY 1996.  The request would spread most of the increase
proportionately among the existing core programs.  A hearing for outside
witnesses to testify on the NEH budget proposal will be held on April
6.  Although the limited number of time slots for oral testimony at that
hearing have been filled, the subcommittee encourages organizations to
submit written testimony.  The members of the House Interior
Subcommittee are: Representatives Ralph Regula (R-OH) Chairman, Jim
Kolbe (R-AZ);  Joe Skeen (R-NM); Charles H. Taylor (R-NC);  George
Nethercutt (R-WA);  Zach Wamp (R-TN);  Jack Kingston (R-GA);  John
Peterson (R-PA);  Norman Dicks (D-WA), Ranking Minority Member;  John
Murtha (D-PA);  James Moran (D-VA);  Robert (Bud) Cramer (D-AL);  and
Maurice Hinchey (D-NY).

The House Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General
Government of the Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on March
28 at 2 pm to hear the testimony of U. S. Archivist John Carlin on the
Administration's FY 2001 budget request for the National Archives and
the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The
President has proposed $308.343 million for the National Archives, a
$77.755 million increase over the FY 2000 level of $230.588 million.
The major new spending initiative in this budget is $88 million for the
renovation of Archives I, the original archives building on Pennsylvania
Avenue.  The renovation will include extensive work on electrical,
plumbing, fire safety, climate control, and exhibit space.  The proposed
budget includes only a 3 percent increase in the operating budget of the
National Archives and no increase in the competitive grants program of
the NHPRC.  The Subcommittee has not scheduled a hearing for outside
witnesses.  Members of the House Treasury, Postal Service, and General
Government Appropriations Subcommittee are: Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Chairman;
Frank Wolf (R-VA); Anne Northup (R-KY);  Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO);  John
Sununu (R-NH);  John Peterson (R-PA); Virgil H. Goode (R-VA);  Steny
Hoyer (D-MD) , Ranking Minority Member;  David Price (D-NC);  Carrie
Meek (D-FL); and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA).

3.  White House E-Mail - Federal Computer Week has an article in its
March 6 issue that highlights the difficulty that the National Archives
is having in dealing with White House e-mail.  Unlike the regulations
that allow agencies to destroy e-mail messages if paper copies are
printed, all White House e-mail records are preserved and transferred to
the Presidential Libraries which are part of the National Archives. In
1993 as a result of 1989 litigation between the National Archives and
Public Citizen, researcher Scott Armstrong, and historical and library
associations over the preservation of the e-mail of Oliver North and
John Poindexter, the National Archives instituted procedures for
preserving White House e-mail.  These procedures are still in place.

As the Federal Computer Week article points out, about 13,698 e-mail
messages are produced each day at the White House and the National
Archives is struggling over what to do at the end of the Clinton
Presidency with the 30 to 40 million e-mail messages created by the
Clinton Administration.  Michael Miller, the director of Modern Records
Programs at the National Archives, states in the article that this large
amount of e-mail is more than the Archives can properly preserve with
current technology.  He further states that the Archives needs to
develop new methods of searching and retrieving items so that privacy is
protected.  The Presidential Records Act makes clear that records
created by the President and the people who work for him are government
records and they are to be preserved and made available -- after review
for national security information that requires continued protection --
to the public at Presidential Libraries.  However, the Privacy Act also
protects certain kinds of personal information, such as health records
and social security numberbs.  The National Archives does not yet have
the technical capability to screen out personal information.  Although
many inside and outside of government have been aware, for almost two
decades, of these difficulties, the National Archives has not been
successful in coming up with solutions.  The Federal Computer Week
article may be see in full at
<http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2000/0306/web-email-03-06-00.asp>

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** *  * * * * * * * * * * * *
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