The Wilson Center was established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds, engaged in the study of national and world affairs.

The list of 2009-2010 fellows is listed below along with the projects they will pursue while in residence at the Wilson Center.

Katherine Benton-Cohen, Assistant Professor of History, Georgetown University. “The Last Immigration Crisis: A History of the Dillingham Commission, 1907-1911”

Denise Brennan, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Georgetown University. “Life After Trafficking: Resettlement After Forced Labor in the United States”

Nathan Brown, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University. “Islamist Movements in the Political Process: Ideology, Organization and Semiauthoritarianism”

Christopher Candland, Professor, Department of Political Science, Wellesley College. “The Islamic Social Sector and Human Security in Pakistan”

Bhumitra Chakma, Lecturer in War and Security Studies, The University of Hull, United Kingdom. “South Asia’s Three Dimensional Nuclear Deterrence: Examining the US Factor“

Stacy Closson, Trans-Atlantic Post Doctoral Research Fellow, German Institute for International and Security Affairs. “Energy Empire: Russia, Europe, and the Politics of Energy Dependence”

Devin Fergus, Assistant Professor of History, Vanderbilt University. “The Ghetto Tax, 1974-2000”

Sara Friedman, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University. “Exceptional Citizens: Chinese Marital Immigrants, Contested Borders, and National Anxieties across the Taiwan Strait”

Kathleen Frydl, Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of California at Berkeley. “Drug Wars”

Sheldon Garon, Dodge Professor of History and East Asian Studies, Princeton University. “Home Front: A Transnational Study of Japan, Germany, Britain, and the United States in World War II”

Young-sun Hong, Associate Professor of History, State University of New York, Stony Brook. “The Third World in the Two Germanys: Development, Migration, and the Global Cold War”

Maria Ivanova, Assistant Professor of Government and Environmental Policy, The College of William and Mary. “Changing Course: Reclaiming US Environmental Leadership”

Jerome Karabel, Professor of Sociology, University of California at Berkeley. “The American Way: How the United States is Different and Why it Matters”

Elyor Karimov, Professor of History, Institute of History, Uzbek Academy of Sciences, Uzbekistan. “Islamic Political Culture in Central Asia: Roots and Historical Legacies”

Asher Kaufman, Assistant Professor of History and Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. “Contested Frontiers: Conflict and Potential Resolution in the Syria, Lebanon, Israel Tri-Border Region”

Rachel Kerr, Senior Lecturer in War Studies, King’s College London, United Kingdom. “International Peace and Security and International Criminal Justice: The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Western Balkans”

Alan Kuperman, Associate Professor of Public Affairs, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. “Moral Hazard of Humanitarian Intervention”

Pardis Mahdavi, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Pomona College. “Traffic Jam: Gender, Sexuality, Migration and Trafficking in Dubai”

Joseph McCartin, Associate Professor of History, Georgetown University. “Unions of the State: Collective Bargaining and the Politics of Governance, 1960-2002”

Flagg Miller, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, The University of California, Davis. “The Osama Bin Laden Audiotape Library: Echoes of Legality”

Dinshaw Mistry, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director, Asian Studies, University of Cincinnati. “The Nuclear Agreement with India: Diplomacy, Domestic Politics, and the Building of a Strategic Partnership”

Karsten Paerregaard, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. “A Brave New Migrant World: The Development Potential of Peruvian Transnational Migration”

Martin Sherwin, University Professor of History, George Mason University. “Gambling with Armageddon: The Military, the Hawks and the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1945-1962”

David Shirk, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director, Trans-Border Institute, University of San Diego. “The Rule of Law in Mexico and the Border Region”

The $170 million is in line with the Obama administration’s NEH budget request. However, the bill as passed would result in a more significant increase for the NEH than the President proposed.

The Administration proposed transferring oversight responsibility for the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program (NCACA) from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts to the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Obama administration’s budget included $10 million in new funding to NEH to administer a redesigned program of competitive grants to arts, historical, and cultural institutions in the District of Columbia.

However, the House rejected this proposal and would retain the status quo with respect to the NCACA. As a result, the entire $15 million increase in the House-passed bill would go to core NEH programs.

FY 10 NEH Funding by Program (H.R. 2996 as passed by the House vs. FY09 enacted)
(In thousands)

• $41,124 - Federal/State partnership ($35,000) +$6,124
• $17,442 - Preservation and access ($16,000) +$1,442
• $15,942 - Public programs ($14,500) +$1,442
• $17,277 - Research programs ($14,500) +$2,777
• $16,027 - Education programs ($14,500) +$1,527
• $750 - Program development ($400) +$350
• $14,500 - We The People Initiative grants ($15,800) -$1,300
• $5,138 - Digital Humanities Initiatives ($4,000) +$1,138

$128,200—Subtotal Grants————-$114,700 +$13,500

• $4,800 - Treasury funds ($5,000) -$200
• $9,500 - Challenge grants ($9,300) +$200

$14,300– Subtotal Matching Grants—-($14,300)

$27,500 - Administration ($26,000) +$1,500

$170,000 – TOTAL HUMANITIES ($155,000) +$15,000

Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up its version of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies fiscal year (FY) 2010 bill on June 25. The Committee recommended a much smaller increase for NEH. The agency would only receive an increase of $6.3 million increase for FY 10, up to a level of $161.3 million.

The Committee concurred with the House that the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program (NCACA) should not be transferred from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts to the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s breakdown of NEH funding at the programmatic level is not yet available.

Historic Preservation Fund–$90.6 million ($69.5 million) +$21.1 million. The Fund includes:

Preserve America program—$6.1 million (zero funding) +$6.1 million: This program provides small grants to local communities in support of heritage tourism, education and historic preservation planning activities. This program received no funding in FY 2009.

Save America’s Treasures program–$30 million ($20 million) +10 million: These funds are used to make small one-time grants for specific local historic preservation projects to preserve a building or artifact which might otherwise be lost. All projects require a 50 percent match. The bill earmarks $5.16 million of the funds for 36 projects.

State Historic Preservation Offices–$46.5 ($42.5 million) +$4 million
Tribal Grants–$8 million ($7 million) +$1 million

Under the Administration’s Economic Recovery Act enacted earlier this year, the Historic Preservation Fund received an additional $15 million in “emergency appropriations for FY 2009.

The bill provides $25 million for new Park Partnership Project Grants, as requested by the Administration. It is a matching grant program that allows the Park Service to fund merit-based signature projects and programs throughout the park system. It allows the NPS to leverage, from non-federal sources, no less than 50 percent of the total cost of each project. The program was developed to help celebrate the Park Service’s centennial in 2016. Congress did not provide any funding for the program in FY 2009.

The bill also includes $9 million for Civil War battlefield preservation grants.

Please note below that for comparison purposes, the FY ’09 appropriation will be included in parentheses after the FY 2010 budget request.

Heritage Partnership programs–$17.8 million ($15.7 million) +$2.1 million: These funds finance grants to local non-profit groups in support of historical and cultural recognition, preservation and tourism activities. The increase is to allow funding for the expanded number of heritage partnership areas authorized by Congress. In the last two years, the number of authorized partnerships has increased from 27 to 49, including 9 new areas authorized in March 2009.The bill will provide at least $150,000 to the new areas without approved plans. The committee report language directs the NPS to develop new guidelines for this program that include self-sufficiency plans for all heritage areas within a reasonable period of time.

Japanese American Confinement Sites—the bill includes funding across several Park Service accounts for the preservation of sites associated with the confinement of Japanese Americans during World War II. The Committee has included $2,500,000 for the Japanese American Site Grants program, and lesser sums for specific sites and for acquisition of additional sites in the future.

Cultural Programs–$23 million ($22.6 million) +$371K

Cultural Resources Stewardship—In October 2008, the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) issued a report entitled “Saving Our History: A Review of the National Park Cultural Resource Programs.” The report made several recommendations to improve the Park Service’s stewardship of cultural resources including: new performance measures, park superintendent accountability, museum management, and funding and staffing. The Committee directed the NPS Director to report back to the Committee on how future budgets will address the recommendations in the NAPA report.

Sesquicentennial Civil War Planning—In anticipation of the upcoming Sesquicentennial of the Civil War the Committee encouraged the National Park Service, in collaboration with the Civil War Preservation Trust and other organizations, to update the content of its website and the information available at its Civil War Parks and to employ modern technology and adaptive and interactive media to present this information to the public.

Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up its version of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies fiscal year (FY) 2010 bill on June 25. Here is a summary of the programmatic budgets from the bill. Only a draft copy of the committee report language is available at this time so this is not the final version of the numbers and language adopted at the markup.

• Historic Preservation Fund–$74.5 million
• Save America’s Treasures–$20 million
• State Historic Preservation Offices–$46.5 million
• Tribal Grants–$8 Million
• Heritage Partnership programs–$17.7 million
• Preserve America–$3.2 million
• Cultural Programs–$26 million (The bill includes $3 million for the Japanese American Confinement Site grant program).
• Park Partnership Project Grants–$0
• Civil War Battlefield Protection Grants–$4 Million

$1 million is allocated towards the establishment of a pilot program for the teaching of American history and civics in the National Parks. The Committee directed the NPS to work cooperatively with the Department of Education in developing curriculum and facilitate the process of bringing nationally renowned scholars to historically significant Park units to instruct students and teachers at the sites were important historical events occurred. The House report language does not contain similar language.

In report language, the Committee noted that both the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Smithsonian’s Inspector General have found considerable progress in overcoming the management problems the Smithsonian endured over the past few years.

The GAO and other independent analyses have estimated the Smithsonian still has a deferred maintenance backlog of $2.5 billion. As a result, the Committee recommended $140 million for the facilities capital budget, a $17 million increase over FY ’09.

The Committee transferred $15 million appropriated for the Legacy Fund in FY ’08 to the facilities capital budget to fund high priority deferred maintenance and revitalization projects. The Legacy Fund was established in fiscal year 2008 to address major facility repair needs at the Smithsonian Institution. Funds were to have been matched by private donations on a dollar for dollar basis. However the program appears to have been terminated and the seed money has been reallocated to the regular maintenance account.

The bill includes $20 million for the design of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture which will be built on the National Mall.

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s version of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies fiscal year (FY) 2010 bill also includes $759 million for the Smithsonian Institution.

The newly released recorded conversations are available on the Library’s website. They are also available at both the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA and at the National Archives College Park, MD facility.

There are no transcripts for these recordings; however, tape subject logs are available at each location and on the web to aid researchers in locating specific conversations and participants. Each log identifies the name, date, and location of the conversation as well as an outline of the general content. In addition, researchers may consult finding aids—-a tapes description and a Scope and Content note—to these newly released tapes on the web. Listening stations will be available for researchers at both locations on a first come, first served basis.

This is the 13th opening of Nixon White House tapes since 1980 and with this release approximately 2,371 hours of tape recordings from the Nixon White House are now available to the public.

The opening also includes approximately 10.5 cubic feet of previously restricted materials from the White House Special Files, Staff Member and Office Files; the National Security Files; and the Henry A. Kissinger Files. The materials include documents on U.S. policy toward Europe, on U.S. policy in the Middle East, on the investigation of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on the investigation of Jack Anderson, also known as the Radford Affair, and on the conduct of the war in Cambodia and Vietnam. The opening also includes CIA Bay of Pigs materials personally delivered to the White House in 1971 by the Director of Central Intelligence, Richard Helms, at President Nixon’s request. The President asked for these materials in support of activities associated with the so-called Plumbers unit. Although other copies of these documents have been released by the CIA on its website, these materials were not previously publicly known to have been received by the Nixon administration.

The Library also opened the files of Nixon aide Kenneth Cole from the White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office files collection at its Yorba Linda facility. The bulk of the Nixon presidential materials collection is still housed at the National Archives in College Park. To accelerate processing for the benefit of researchers some domestic policy collections, like the Cole collection, were moved to California in advance of the move of the entire textual holdings in 2010. In May 1973 Cole replaced John Ehrlichman as President Nixon’s chief domestic affairs advisor. The 12,000-page Cole collection provides a new portal into the formulation of President Nixon’s domestic policy. This collection is only available at the Library’s Yorba Linda Facility.

Priority was given to those groups submitting applications for nationally significant battlefields. The majority of awards were given to battlefields listed as Priority I or II sites in the National Park Service’s Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields, and the Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States.

These grants are administered by the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP). Federal, state, local, and tribal governments, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions are eligible to apply for these battlefield grants each year. ABPP promotes the preservation of significant historic battlefields associated with wars on American soil. More information about ABPP is available at http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp.

This year’s grants provide funding at endangered battlefields from the King Philip’s War (1675-1676), Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Second Seminole War, Mexican-American War, Civil War, World War II and various Indian Wars. Awards were given to projects in 23 states or territories entailing archeology, survey, mapping, documentation, planning, education and interpretation.
Winning projects include: archeological investigation of submerged remains at the World War II Saipan battlefield in the Tanapag Lagoon, Northern Mariana Islands; documentation of the 1636 Colonial-Native battle at Mystic Fort, Connecticut; survey and mapping of Second Seminole War battlefields in Palm Beach County, Florida; statewide assessment of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 naval battle sites in the waterways of Maryland; a preservation plan for portions of the Cedar Creek Civil War battlefield located outside the designated boundaries of the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, Virginia; cultural resource inventory for the Palmito Ranch National Historic Landmark, Texas; and boundary identification for the Mexican-American War battle of San Pasqual in California.

The Declassification Policy Forum will be used to solicit recommendations for revisions to the Order in four topical areas: Declassification Policy (June 29 - July 1), a National Declassification Center (July 2 - July 4), Classification Policy (July 5 - July 7), and Technology Challenges and Opportunities (July 8 - July 10).

Once posted, each topic will be available for comments for three days. At the conclusion of the third day, the comment function on the topic will be turned off and the next topic will begin the following day. After each topic closes, a concluding summary will be posted. The Declassification Policy Forum requires registration to participate. Participants may make suggestions or comments, vote on previous postings, and flag topics that are off-topic.

In December 2007, the PIDB issued a comprehensive report to President Bush which made a series of recommendations that address the broad topical areas that are the subjects of the Policy Forum.

In addition to the online discussion, the Board will also accept input via email (PIDB@nara.gov), fax (202-357-5907), and US mail (Public Interest Declassification Board, National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Room 100, Washington, DC 20408-0001).

The PIDB is also holding a public meeting to solicit input concerning recommendations and proposed revisions to the classification and declassification policies found in Executive Order 12958, as amended.

The public meeting will be held on July 8, 2009, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the National Archives Building, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 105, Washington, DC 20408.

To ensure that the Board may hear from all interested parties, individuals interested in addressing the Board may be limited to 10 minutes. Due to space limitations and access procedures, the name and telephone number of individuals planning to attend must be submitted to the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) via e-mail, PIDB@nara.gov, no later than July 2, 2009. ISOO will provide additional instructions for gaining access to the location of the meeting.

For further information contact: Julie A. Agurkis, PIDB Staff, Information Security Oversight Office at (202) 357-5308.