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(FWD)NCC Washington Update, Vol 6, #20, June, 16, 2000



NCC Washington Update, Vol 6, #20, June 16, 2000

by Page Putnam Miller <ppm40@aol.com> and Bruce Craig
<Rbcraig3@juno.com> of the National Coordinating Committee for the
Promotion of History

1.   Appropriation/Congressional Update
2.   Moynihan's Declassification  Bill
3.   Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress Meeting
4.   US/Nixon Estate Settles Over Seized Records
5.   A Final Note---Page Miller Departs NCC

1.  Appropriation Update
At 1:10 am on June 16, the House passed the Interior Appropriations
Bill, H.R. 4578.  At attempt by Representatives Louise Slaughter (D-NY),
Steve Horn (R-CA) and Nancy Johnson (R-CT) to increase funding for the
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) by $5 million was not
successful.  The thwarted plan called for $22 million from the Clean
Coal Technology fund to be transferred, with $10 million going to the
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), $5 million for the NEH and $2
million for the Institute for Museum Services.  There was considerable
discussion about the need to bring NEA's budget closer to the level of
that of NEH.  Currently NEA is funded at $98 million and NEH at $115.3
million.

No date has yet been set for the House Treasury, Postal Service, and
General Government Subcommittee markup that had been planned for June 8
but was postponed.  The markup will determined the subcommittee's
recommendations for the FY 2001 budgets for the National Archives and
the grants program of the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission.

2.  Moynihan's Declassification Bill
Senator Patrick Moynihan's (D-NY) legislative efforts to reform the
national security classification and declassification system has moved
from the initial effort at bold reform to a draft bill to establish an
advisory board with relatively little authority.  Moynihan first
introduced, the Government Secrecy Reform Act. S. 712 in the 105th
Congress.  When it didn't pass, he reintroduced it in the 106th Congress
and it became S. 22.  This legislation built on his work as Chair of the
Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. It called for
all but the most sensitive information to be declassified after 25 years
and established an appeals process. Following considerable opposition to
this bill from several major federal agencies, he shifted his focus and
in October, 1999 introduced S. 1801, the Public Interest
Declassification Act of 1999.  This legislation called for the creation
of a Public Interest Declassification Board to oversee and manage the
special requests for declassification and to provide agencies with the
funding necessary for the "special searches."  However, this bill also
ran into opposition from those inside and outside of the government,
partly because of its emphasis on the declassification of targeted
records and not entire record groups, which is the usual archival
procedure for systematically declassifying files.

Against this backdrop, Moynihan's third effort is quite modest.  The
latest version, which is still in draft form and may end up as a
substitute amendment to the last bill, would create an advisory board to
promote openness, to support congress in its oversight of
declassification, and to make recommendations to the President on
declassification practices and procedures.  The President would appoint
the advisory board members.  The board would undertake tasks very
similar to those set forth for the Information Security Policy Advisory
Council in Section 5.5 of Clinton's Executive Order 12958 on
classification and declassification policy.  Since Clinton never made
the appointments to this council, it has not functioned.  Unlike the
Executive Order's council, the Moynihan one does not have a prohibition
against government employees serving on the committee.  If, and that is
a big if, the President appoints qualified people, the Board could
foster increased openness.   Because there are little costs and no
authorities associated with this bill and since it would honor a
retiring Senator who has been a champion of declassification, it may
pass despite the few legislative days left in this congress.  Yet there
is a lingering question of whether this legislation would end up
promoting or hindering declassification. The latest draft of this bill
is on the Federation of American Scientists' Web site at
<http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2000/s1801b.html>

3.  Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress Meeting
The Advisory Committee on Records of Congress met on June 12 for their
semi-annual meeting.  In his report, Gary Sisco, Secretary of the Senate
and Chairman of the Committee, highlighted the progress being made in
the planning of the proposed Capitol Visitors Center -- a three floor
underground museum on the east side of the Capitol scheduled to open in
2005.  Most of the meeting was devoted to a review of the draft third
report of the Advisory Committee's report that is scheduled to be
presented to Congress next year. The report assesses past projects and
determines where efforts need to be directed in the next six years.
Archivist John Carlin updated the Committee on the progress being made
on electronic records but emphasized that it will be some time before
solutions are available and implemented.  While there was no formal
discussion on the hiring of a House Historian, indications are that the
Legislative Resources Center is moving ahead with interviewing
candidates to fill three positions recently advertized -- an Archival
specialist, a Research Assistant and a Manager, Historical Services.

4.US/Nixon Estate Settles Over Seized Records -- On June 12, the Justice
Department and the estate of former President Richard M. Nixon reached
an out-of-court settlement and concluded over twenty years of litigation
relating to the White House tapes and papers that the government seized
from Nixon shortly after his resignation in 1974.  The government agreed
to pay $18 million for the collection.  While this is a fraction of what
Nixon's estate had originally sought -- more than $200 million when
adjusted for 25 year's worth of interest -- nevertheless, it is  more
than the government initially had hoped to pay.   The government took
possession of Nixon's presidential materials in 1974 and placed them
under the custody of the National Archives.  Nixon brought suit in 1980
claiming that he deserved compensation for his tapes and records.
Government lawyers originally contended that because the documents had
been created by public officials, at public expense, on public equipment
for the public's benefit and that the Nixon Estate should receive no
compensation.

It is expected that more than half of the $18 million will go to lawyers
fees, estate taxes and unpaid interest on back taxes with the remaining
amount probably going to the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda,
California.  The records of the Nixon presidency will remain as a
special collection at the National Archives facility in College Park.

5.  Page Miller--A Final Note--On January 11, 1995, I wrote the first
"NCC Washington Updates" for distribution on the Internet.  Now, 265
updates later, I am working on my last one.  During my 20 years at the
NCC, putting on the "reporter hat" for the updates has been one of the
most stimulating and challenging aspects of my work.  Under NCC's able
new Executive Director, Bruce Craig, the updates will continue.   I'll
be moving to South Carolina at the end of June. I hope you will continue
to stay in touch with me through my new e-mail <ppm40@aol.com>

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