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[NCCmailings] NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 8, #13, April 3, 2002



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From: rbcraig@nccph.org [mailto:rbcraig@nccph.org]
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 1:59 PM
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Subject: [NCCmailings] NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 8, #13, April 3, 2002


NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 8, #13, April 3, 2002
by Bruce Craig <rbcraig@nccph.org>
National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History (NCCPH)
*****************

1.  Senate Committee Marks up S. 803 - The E-Government Act
2.  Teaching American History Grant Program - Get Ready to File
Applications!
3.  Hugh D. Graham Dies - Spearheaded Effort to Open Presidential Records
4.  Records Accidentally Released Pulled From Archives
5.  Effort Launched to Restore Funding For Historic Preservation Fund
6.  News Bits and Bytes: War Crimes Report Released; NEH Local History
Challenge Grants; State Department Advisory Committee Annual Report Issued
7.  Articles of Interest: Humorous URL; FOI Day Speeches Posted

1.  SENATE COMMITTEE MARKS-UP S. 803 -- THE E-GOVERNMENT ACT
On March 21, 2002, the Senate Committee on Government Affairs marked-up and
then favorably reported out of committee a revised version of S. 803 - The
E-Government Act of 2002.   The legislation is designed to enhance the
management and promotion of electronic government services by establishing
a broad framework of measures that require the use of Internet-based
information technology to provide greater citizen access to government
information and services. The bill, sponsored by Senator Joseph Lieberman
(D-CT) and fourteen of his Senate colleagues, creates an Office of
Electronic Government (OEG) in the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB).  If the bill is enacted as passed, the OEG office would be overseen
by an Administrator who would be appointed by the President with the advice
and consent of the Senate.

The revised bill differs from the original measure introduced by Lieberman
in several ways. For example, it moves information management (including
access to, dissemination of, and preservation of government information),
information security, privacy, and computer security out of an Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs and creates the Office of Electronic
Government within OMB.  The revised bill also requires the categorization
(e.g., inventorying, indexing, cataloging) of information and the creation
of timetables for public access. And it directs the OEG Administrator and
other bodies to consult with non-governmental groups such as an Interagency
Committee on Government Information.

The original version of the bill called for spending of some $200 million a
year over three years. It also created an Online National Library that
would have provided public access to and expanding database of educational
resource materials.  Spending is now set at $345 million with the Online
National Library concept replaced by a section that merely promotes
coordinated access to educational resources and materials on the Internet.
Most other aspects of the original bill are largely unchanged in the
revised measure. Those people close to the legislation believe the revised
version represents a significant step toward improved management and public
access to government information.

2.  TEACHING AMERICAN HISTORY GRANT PROGRAM - GET READY TO FILE
APPLICATIONS!
The U.S. Department of Education's FY-2002 $100 million "Teaching American
History" grant program seeks "to raise student achievement by improving
teachers' knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of American
history."  This year's grant cycle will begin shortly!  The Department of
Education is expected to announce a call for grant proposals in Federal
Register - probably in the next two weeks (when the announcement is posted
this publication will alert readers). The deadline for submitting grant
applications will be 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

With approximately $100 million to obligate, this year some 200 to 250
grants are expected to be awarded "to assist local educational agencies
(LEAs) ... to design, implement, and demonstrate effective, research-based
professional development programs." Projects can extend as long as three
years.  To learn more about the Teaching American History grant program,
tap into the "Teaching American History" web page at:
<http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/TAH/index.html>.

To be eligible for the Teaching American History grants, LEAs must work in
partnership with one or more entities that have "extensive content
expertise"- defined as institutions of higher education, non-profit history
or humanities organizations, libraries, or museums.  Already, some national
organizations are lining up consultants to assist LEA and non-profit
partners in formulating proposals.  For example, Murial Watkins, a
consultant to libraries and educational institutions, is available to help
libraries interested in creating a proposal during this grant cycle (she
can be reached at (202) 237-1225).

And again this year, the Teaching American History Program is planning to
assist applicants by conducting a series of outreach sessions in
preparation for its 2002 grant competition. Though the Federal Register
announcement is expected in mid-April, the following sessions will be held
whether or not the announcement is out by that time.  Please call or email
the contact person listed below to check on details before making your
plans to attend:

April 15:  A. Portland, OR-Ramada Inn-1-4 PM, Contact-Steve Nelson,
nelsons@nwrel.org; Jana Potter, potterj@nwrel.org, 1-800-547-6339, ext.
126; B. Chicago-Embassy Suites Hotel Rosemont, IL, 1-4 PM, Contact-Donna
Bronson, donna.bronson@ncrel.org, 630-649-6603;
April 18-Providence, RI-Tollgate High School, Warwick, R.I., 2:30-5:30 PM
Contacts-Michael Ferrance, Michael_Ferrance@brown.edu; Lisa DiMartino,
Lisa_DiMartino@brown.edu; 401-274-9548;
April 22-Tampa-Doubletree Hotel 1-4 PM Contact-Trudy Hensley,
thensley@ets.org,, Steve Brown, sjbrown@ets.org 1-800-756-9003;
April 23-New York City-New York University-Bobst Library, 1-4
PM-Contact-Fabiola Acuna   fabiola.acuna@nyu.edu;  212-998-5121;
April 24-Philadelphia-Temple University, Kiva Auditorium, 1-4 PM,
Contact-David Zuckerman, dzuckerma@astrotemple.edu, 215-204-7194;
April 25-Charleston, WV-Summit Conference Center, 1-4PM. Contact-Billie
Hauser,  hauserb@ael.org; Janis Augustine augustij@ael.org; Kim Cook,
cookk@ael.org;  1-800-624-9100;
April 29-Los Angeles-Autry Museum of Western Heritage, 4700 Western
Heritage Way, (closest to Burbank Airport), 1-4 PM-Alex-Contact-Michelle
Herczog, Michelle_Herczog@lacoe.edu,562-922-6908; Tim Murphy, 562-922-6333;
May 6-Houston-Sheraton North Houston Hotel-1-4 PM. Contact: Victor
Rodriguez: vrodrigu@sedl.org; 1-800-476-6861; Joyce Pollard;
jpollard@sedl.org 1-800-476-6861;
May 9-Charlotte, NC-Adam's Mark Hotel, 1-4 PM. Contact: Charles Ahearn:
cahearn@serve.org; 1-800-659-3204.

3. HUGH  D. GRAHAM DIES - SPEARHEADED EFFORT TO OPEN PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS
Hugh Davis Graham, the Vanderbilt University historian who spearheaded
efforts to open presidential records and was a plaintiff in the ongoing
lawsuit to block President Bush's reinterpretation of the Presidential
Records Act Executive Order, died of complications from cancer of the
esophagus in Santa Barbara just days before a conference on the Reagan
presidency that he helped organize began at the University of California
Santa Barbara. Graham was 65.

Graham was born in 1936 in Little Rock, Arkansas.  He graduated magna cum
laude from Yale University and earned his Ph.D. at Stanford University. As
an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, shortly after the
assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Senator Robert F. Kennedy,
Graham was selected by President Lyndon B. Johnson to help lead an inquiry
into violence in America. During his career, he taught at several
universities including the University of Maryland and Vanderbilt University
in Nashville, Tennessee. Most recently, he was an adjunct professor at U.C.
Santa Barbara.

Graham wrote or edited over fifteen books including the Pulitzer Prize
nominated book, "The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National
Policy, 1960-1972" (Oxford, 1990). In recent months, Graham was
instrumental in the ongoing effort to overturn the executive order that
prevented the release of nearly 68,000 Reagan White House "confidential
communications" between the President and his key advisors.  Graham lived
to see nearly all of the papers released though his illness prevented him
from examining those that were of key interest to him - papers relating to
Edwin Meese and the Reagan administration's Civil Rights record. A memorial
service will be held at Vanderbilt University.

4.  RECORDS ACCIDENTALLY RELEASED PULLED FROM ARCHIVES
Much to the dismay of historians and other scholars, thousands of pages of
historically valuable documents that served as the basis for published
research concerning intelligence in the early Cold War years have been
withdrawn from public access by the National Archives. According to the
on-line publication Secrecy News, historian Matthew M. Aid recently found a
large body of once open materials missing from the National Archives in
College Park, Maryland while conducting research there.

Once a part of Record Group 38 , boxes 2739-2747 were part of a special
collection entitled, "Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic."
They provided researchers with an unparalleled insight into U.S. signals
intelligence activity in the period 1947-49. According to Aid, "All in all,
these records were essential reading for any serious researcher trying to
document the successes and failures of the U.S.-British intelligence effort
in the years after the end of World War II."

Despite their withdrawal, the substance of some of the missing documents
has already been integrated into various books and articles. Aid cited them
extensively in a recent book he co-edited with Dutch scholar Cees Wiebes
entitled, "Secrets of Signals Intelligence During the Cold War and Beyond"
(London: Frank Cass, 2001) and historian David Alvarez, formerly a scholar
in residence at the National Security Agency (NSA), used the collection in
his paper "Behind Venona: American Signals Intelligence in the Early Cold
War" recently published (Summer 1999) in the journal Intelligence and
National Security.

According to National Archives officials, the collection in Record Group 38
was "erroneously released" and somehow accidentally slipped through
declassification review. In 1997, the agency responsible for generating the
records (presumably the NSA) had requested that the records be
withdrawn.  As custodian of the records, the National Archives (which has
no independent declassification authority) had no choice but to comply with
the agency request.

In the past, the NSA has adhered to a general policy of not declassifying
documents dating from after the Japanese surrender in 1945 (the surrender,
in effect, represents the boundary between an open period and a closed
period for access to communications intelligence records). The closing of
the records appears consistent with that general policy. According to
Alvarez, before the surrender most of these types of records are open, but
after the surrender "hardly anything has been declassified."

NARA officials reported that in principle, the records could be subject to
re-review and may eventually be re-released in whole or in part.  No time
frame for any future document release from this special collection has been
announced or is anticipated in the near future.

5.  EFFORT LAUNCHED TO RESTORE FUNDING FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION FUND
Historic preservation advocates have launched an effort to restore cuts to
for the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) and the national preservation
program. Last year, Congress appropriated $74.5 million for the HPF, a $20
million reduction from FY 2001. This year, the President's Budget requests
only $67 million for the HPF -- another $7.5 million decrease from the
previous year. In the current fiscal year, FY 2002, funding for state and
tribal preservation programs has been cut by $10 million, and now an
additional reduction of $7.5 million is proposed in the President's budget
for FY 2003.

Preservation organizations, including the National Trust for Historic
Preservation, are seeking $85.5 million for the HPF in FY 2003. To this
end, every member of the House of Representatives will have a chance to
support this increased funding request by signing the "Dear Colleague"
letter addressed to Representative Joe Skeen (the chairman) and Norman D.
Dicks (the ranking member) of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the
Interior.  That letter urges the Subcommittee to return the appropriation
for the State and Tribal preservation programs to their FY 2001 level. The
letter is sponsored jointly by Representative Dale Kildee (D-MI) and Robert
Ehrlich, Jr. (R-MD).

Members of Congress can demonstrate their support for the historic
preservation programs in their state by signing on to the
letter.  Advocates are urged to contact their Representative's office
immediately and request that the member sign the Kildee/Ehrlich letter by
contacting Elizabeth Leoty of Representative Kildee's staff at 202-225-3661
or J. P. Scholtes of Representative Ehrlich's staff at 202-225-3061. The
deadline for signatures is April 8, 2002.  To contact your Congressional
representative call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or
e-mail your Representative through the National Trust for Historic
Preservation's Congressional advocacy center web site at: <
http://www.capwiz.com/nthp/home/>.

6.  NEWS BITS AND BYTES:
Item #1 - War Crimes Report Released: The National Archives and Records
Administration has published a substantive new report to Congress on the
declassification of records concerning Japanese war crimes in World War
II.  The report describes some of the highlights of the 18,000 pages that
have been declassified to date, including such things as Japanese
bacteriological warfare-related activities.  The report gives the status of
the remaining 60,000 pages awaiting declassification review. To access the
report entitled, "Implementation of the Japanese Imperial Government
Disclosure Act and the Japanese War Crimes Provisions of the Nazi War
Crimes Disclosure Act" tap into: <http://www.nara.gov/iwg/report02.html>.

Item #2 - NEH Local History Challenge Grants: The National Endowment for
the Humanities has announced a special initiative through its Challenge
Grants program to help small institutions improve their humanities
resources in local history. Deadline for submissions is May 1, 2002. The
initiative's goals are to build opportunities for research, education, and
public programs in local history, especially in communities under served by
humanities activities; to establish long-term partnerships among
educational and cultural organizations in a community; to help
organizations in strategic planning; and to build a base of financial
support for long-term programming. Awards ranging from $10,000 to $100,000
will require recipients to raise an equal amount from non-federal sources.
For additional information, tap into:
http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/localhistory.html

Item #3 - State Department Advisory Committee Annual Report Issued: On
February 28, 2002, the State Department's Advisory Committee on Historical
Diplomatic Documentation transmitted the annual report to the Secretary of
State for the period January 1 - December 31 2002.  The 11-page document
summarizes the activities of the Office of History and highlights some
accomplishments.  However, the report expresses the Committee's concern
over delays in declassification that "seriously undermines the ability of
the Department of State to meet the statutory requirement of publication
within thirty years of events covered by a FRUS volume." In particular, the
report notes that "significant friction" exists between the [State
Department Historian's Office] and the CIA, an agency that frustrates "the
timely compilation and publication" of the official Foreign Relations of
the United States (FRUS) series. "The CIA continues to deny HO [Historian's
Office] historians the right to quote or cite material from the President's
Daily Briefs (PDBs)," wrote Committee Chair Robert D. Schulzinger in his
cover letter to Secretary Colin L. Powell. "These denials," wrote
Schulzinger, "set a dangerous precedent and may compromise the integrity of
future FRUS volumes." The Chairman also noted the CIA's continuing efforts
to block the release of a pending FRUS volume on Greece, Cyprus and Turkey,
which the report characterized as "a vexing issue."  For the text of the
report, tap into: http://www.fas.org/sgp/advisory/state/hac01.html

7.  ARTICLES OF INTEREST:
Two items of interest this week - First, for all of you interested in
public access issues, take a look at this great URL:
<http://www.workingforchange.com/action_center.cfm?itemid=13022>.

Second, a number of interesting and useful documents were generated during
a Freedom of Information Day conference sponsored by the Freedom Forum
First Amendment Center and the American Library Association on March 15;
several speeches for example, are now available online.  Of particular note
are the presentations by historian Richard Reeves and Steven Garfinkel,
former Director of the Information Security Oversight Office. See "2002 FOI
Day Resources"at:
<http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=15905>.

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