Bush Administration falls behind in keeping track of US history John Byrne

Published: Friday December 21, 2007



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Print This Email This Nobody's keeping track of US history in the Bush Administration -- at least not in the form required by law. According to Secrecy News' Steven Aftergood, this week marks the one year anniversary of the date when the US last published the latest print volume of the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, "the official documentary record of U.S. foreign policy which dates back to the Abraham Lincoln Administration." That volume covered the "Organization and Management of U.S. Foreign Policy" from 1969-1972. The volume's publication is required by law, not more than 30 years later than the historical events. Aftergood asserts that the journal of US foreign policy has long lagged behind its 30-year deadline, but the failure to print even a single volume "is extraordinary and unprecedented in living memory." In an email exchange with RAW STORY Thursday, he said he didn't believe it was fair to link the journal's failure to publish with the Bush Administration. "I dont believe there is any direct connection between the Bush White House and the failure to publish," he wrote. "Many if not all of the FRUS volumes in question are remote from any current foreign policy issue. "But I think its fair to say that this is part of a larger pattern of Administration disdain for legal requirements to disclose government records," he added. As recently as June, the State Department promised 10 or 11 volumes would go to the presses this year. Two electronic document collections were posted on the department's website in September, but nothing in print. The site cited an unnamed source, who explained "the situation has been complicated by staff turnover, 'indifferent management,' and even a pending Inspector General complaint." "It is not quite as bad as you think," the journal's general editor Edward Keefer was quoted as saying. "We have two print volumes ready to go. The books are overdue from the printer, but we will try to release them before the end of the year." Dr. Keefer said he would provide a fuller response after the holidays. Keeping up with history isn't the only thing bedeviling the State Department. Following the reassignment of hundreds of foreign service officers to priority embassy positions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the director general of the US foreign service, Harry Thomas, last week instructed State Department officials to identify for elimination the "least critical" ten percent of diplomatic posts. As reported by the Washington Post, however, Congress has not allocated the additional funding to staff vacancies which account for almost one quarter of diplomatic positions around the world.



