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(FWD) NCC Washington Update, VOl 6, #35, October 12, 2000



NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 6, #35, October 12, 2000
by Bruce Craig <rbcraig3@juno.com> of the National Coordinating Committee for
the Promotion of History

1.   Appropriation Update: President Signs Interior Bill; Labor, H&HS and
Education Bill Still Pending Congressional Action
2.   Lost to History - Two Giants: Sidney Yates and Bruce Vento
3.   Veterans Oral History Project Act Passes House
4.   Report on DOD Historical Records Declassification Advisory Panel Meeting
5.   News Bits and Bytes: Key NARA Position Vacancy Announcement; Library of
Congress Receives $60 million donation; CIA Declassification News

1.   APPROPRIATION UPDATE: PRESIDENT SIGNS INTERIOR BILL; LABOR, H&HS AND
EDUCATION BILL STILL PENDING CONGRESSIONAL ACTION INTERIOR  - On October 11,
President Clinton signed the $18.8 billion spending plan (no Public Law
number at this writing) previously agreed to by House and Senate conferees.
The measure passed the House on September 29 (H.R. 4578; H. Rept. 106-914) by
a vote of 348-69 and was approved by the Senate on October 5 by a vote of
83-13.  Senate action on the bill was delayed several days because of intense
disagreements related to financing conservation programs. Ultimately, the
Senate agreed with the House/Senate conferees proposal to scrap CARA - the
controversial "Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 2000" (H.R. 701/S. 2567)
- in favor of a compromise proposal, entitled the "Land Conservation,
Preservation, and Infrastructure Improvement Act" (LCPIIA).

The LCPIIA that is wrapped in the Interior appropriation bill creates a very
complicated three-tier approach to appropriating funds for land conservation
and historic preservation programs under the authorities of the Historic
Preservation Fund (HPF).  For example, this fiscal year, the HPF will receive
a total of $79.347 - an increase of $18 million over last year's funding
levels: because of the new LCPIIA provisions there will be an additional $15
million for the states (HPF total of $34.598 million plus $15 million); for
Tribal Preservation Programs there is allocated from the HPF $2.572 million
plus an additional $3 million due to LCPIIA; a total of $7.177 is set aside
for the Historically Black Colleges.  The LCPIIA establishes a six-year
spending program involving $1.6 billion this fiscal year with the amount
growing by $200 million each year for the next five years; CARA would have
delivered $3 billion a year for 15 years.

Irrespective of the complicated preservation formulas, the Interior bill
passed by Congress includes a 26 percent increase over FY 2000 levels.  In
addition to providing significant new funds for the HPF,  the FY 2001
Interior appropriation allocates $105 million to the National Endowment for
the Arts (a $7.372 million increase over FY 2000 totals), $120.260 million
for the National Endowment for the Humanities ($5 million more than FY 2000),
and the museum portion of the Institute of Museum and Library Services gets
$24.907 million (up $600,000 from FY 2000).  The Smithsonian Institution is
allocated $454 million ($16.7 million over FY 2000) and the National Park
Service Operations account will receive a $1.4 billion earmark (some $25
million more than FY 2000).  This brings to a close the debate over one of
the most controversial spending bills of the 106th Congress.

LABOR, H&HS AND EDUCATION - At this writing, Congressional and White House
negotiators continue to iron out policy issues related to the Labor, Health
and Human Services and Education appropriations bill (H.R. 4577).  Capitol
Hill insiders report that discussions have yet to reach the level of final
resolution. Reportedly, key bones of contention center on the President's
insistence that Congress approve funds for school construction to relieve
crowding and money to modernize aging buildings. The conference report that
reportedly contains language earmarking $50 million for "history education"
has yet to be filed. The measure may be taken up by the House late Thursday
or early Friday morning.  Debate over the bill is likely to carry over into
next week.

TREASURY - The Treasury/Postal Department appropriation bill that includes
funding for the National Archives and Records Administration also continues
to be bogged down.  Reportedly, amendments relating to guns and a
congressional pay raise are keeping the measure off the Senate floor.

2.  LOST TO HISTORY - TWO GIANTS: SIDNEY YATES AND BRUCE VENTO
In the last two weeks two prominent Congressmen have died: Illinois Democrat
Sidney Yates who retired last year as the longest-serving member of the House
(24 terms) and Minnesota Democratic Congressman Bruce Vento who served 11
terms.  Yates is remembered especially for his support of the arts; Vento for
an estimated 300 bills that were enacted into law affecting national parks,
public lands and forests.  Yates was 91, Vento was 60 years old. Yates died
of kidney failure; Vento had contracted a rare form of lung cancer and was
under treatment when he announced last February that he would not seek
re-election.

Yates was a soft-spoken, good-humored man who managed to forge strong
friendships on both sides of the aisle - for decades he chaired the
influential House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee.  Vento, respected by
Republicans and Democrats alike, served as Chair of the Subcommittee on
National Parks and Public Lands when the Democrats controlled the House of
Representatives. A substantial number of the bills both men shepherded
through Congress sought to preserve America's heritage including historic
sites and monuments.  They will be missed by all who knew and worked with
them.

3.  VETERANS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT ACT PASSES HOUSE
With the support of 235 plus co-sponsors, the House of Representatives easily
passed legislation on October 4, 2000 directing the American Folklife Center
at the Library of Congress to establish a program to collect video and audio
recordings of personal histories and testimonials of American war veterans.

Introduced by Representative Ron Kind (D-WI), the Veterans Oral History
Project Act (H.R. 5212) creates a new federally sponsored and funded program
to coordinate at a national level the collection of personal histories of war
veterans and to encourage local efforts to preserve their memories. The
legislation authorizes the Director of the Folklife Center to enter into
agreements and partnerships with other "government and private entities and
may otherwise consult with interested persons" in carrying out the provisions
of the act.

A total of $250,000 for FY 2001 is authorized to be appropriated. A companion
bill (S. 3135) has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Max Cleland
(D-GA); it mirrors the House passed bill. The legislation is expected to be
enacted this Congress.

4.   REPORT ON THE DOD HISTORICAL RECORDS DECLASSIFICATION ADVISORY PANEL
MEETING:
Periodically, the chief historians of the seven agencies that comprise the
Department of Defense - together with appointed advisory panel members with
expertise in military and national security matters - meet to review agency
activities, facilitate declassification of DOD records, aid in the
establishment of a comprehensive declassification program, and when
appropriate advise the Secretary of Defense on matters relating to DOD
historical records.

On September 26, 2000 the Department of Defense Records Declassification
Board met in open session for several hours. After opening comments
(including the reading of a written statement from Dr. Alfred Goldberg
(Office of the Secretary of Defense) who was not in attendance) the Board
heard from Mr. Carl F. Muller, Vice President of Highland Technologies (This
company is responsible for installation of the systems in place for the NSA,
FBI/FOIA, CIA and a host of other federal agencies).  Muller's presentation
focused on information technology applications for the preservation of
permanent records and FOIA.  He emphasized the ongoing need for subject
matter experts, the need for indexing and "seal and release" type reviews and
commented that so often FOIA is the driver of records management reform.

The Board also heard from Henry McIntire (Director DFOISR) who discussed "Use
of Technologies" and from Randy Lovdahl, Director of the DOD Declassification
Referral Center.  Lovdahl reported that since April 2000 six reservists have
been working to complete referral requests for DOD archival material found in
various archival repositories including the Eisenhower, Kennedy and LBJ,
Nixon, Ford, and Carter Presidential Libraries as well as the State
Department.  Literally thousands of pages have been referred.  The goal of
the referral center is to insure that documents slated for declassification
are sent to the proper DOD agency for processing, hopefully prior to the
receipt of a researcher request.

In the afternoon, Jeff Watson, Director of the Defense Security Service
Academy spoke on the history and present curricula offered by the Academy to
meet the training and professional development needs of security specialists
and classification/declassification managers.  Steve Garfinkle of the
Information Security Oversight Office wrapped up the day's session with a
briefing on pending legislation impacting DOD operations including the
proposed Moynihan declassification bill.

Minutes of the meeting should be posted by mid-November on:
<http://www.c3i.osd.mil\requested.html> Go down the index and click on the
line that reads "Historical Records Declassification Advisory panel (HRDAP)"

5.   NEWS BITS AND BYTES:
Item #1: NARA VACANCY:  The National Archives and Records Administration is
accepting applications for the position "Preservation Programs Manager"
(GS-1001-15; salary $84,638-$110,028). The selected candidate will direct
NARA's nationwide preservation, conservation, and reproduction programs.
Closing date for applications is November 21, 2000. For a copy of the vacancy
announcement (number N 01-03B) and related forms, contact Pamela Pope at
(800) 827-4898.

Item #2: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DONATION:  On October 5, the Library of Congress
accepted the largest single donation in its 200 year history - $60 million
from 85-year old philanthropist, billionaire entrepreneur and president of
global telecommunications and entertainment giant Metromedia Inc., John W.
Kluge.  The donation will be used for the establishment of the John W. Kluge
Center and the John W. Kluge Prize in the Human Sciences. The Center will
include five endowed chairs in broad areas such as American law and
governance, the cultures and societies of the Northern and Southern
hemispheres, technology and society, and modern culture.  In addition, ten
endowed fellowships for young scholars will be established. The Kluge Prize
in Human Sciences (likely to include history, anthropology, sociology,
literary and artistic criticism) consists of a $1 million cash award that
will be given for lifetime achievement for scholarly endeavors in a broad
field not recognized by the Nobel Prize. The initial senior scholars are to
be chosen within the next year with the first Kluge Prize for intellectual
excellence being presented in 2002.

Item #3: CIA DECLASSIFICATION NEWS:  On October 2, the Central Intelligence
Agency issued an announcement claiming to have declassified 5 million pages
of records last year. According to Steven Aftergood, Project on Government
Secrecy, "Despite its latest declassification achievements, CIA
declassification activity remains far below the levels required by Executive
Order 12958."  That Order mandates that each agency declassify 15% of its
non-exempt holdings of permanently valuable 25-year old records each year.
According to Aftergood, "In the CIA's case, that requirement translates into
about 9 million pages annually."  For the CIA's announcement see:
<http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2000/10/re100200.html>
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  * * * * * *
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