September 2023

Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation September 11, 2023

Minutes

Committee Members

James Goldgeier, Chairman
Kristin Hoganson
Adriane Lentz-Smith
Sharon Leon
Nancy McGovern
Timothy Naftali
Deborah Pearlstein
Kori Schake
Sarah Snyder

Office of the Historian

Kristin Ahlberg
Carl Ashley
Margaret Ball
Forrest Barnum
Sara Berndt
Josh Botts
Tiffany Cabrera
Mandy Chalou
Elizabeth Charles
Kathryn David
Cynthia Doell
Lynette Evans-Tiernan
Thomas Faith
David Geyer
Renée Goings
Michelle Guzman
Charles Hawley
Kerry Hite
Adam Howard
Alina Khachtourian
Virginia Kinniburgh
Michael McCoyer
Brad Morith
Christopher Morrison
Mircea Munteanu
David Nickles
Nicole Orphanides
Paul Pitman
Alexander Poster
John Powers
Kathleen Rasmussen
Matthew Regan
Amanda Ross
Seth Rotramel
Daniel Rubin
Ashley Schofield
Nathaniel Smith
Douglas Sun
Melissa Jane Taylor
Chris Tudda
Dean Weatherhead
Joseph Wicentowski
Alex Wieland
James Wilson
Louise Woodroofe

Bureau of Administration

Jeff Charlston
Corynne Gerow
Timothy Kootz
Thomas Opstal
Marvin Russell
Eric Stein

National Archives and Records Administration

Cathleen Brennan
Elizabeth Fidler
William Fischer
David Langbart
Don McIlwain

Public

Over 30 members of the public

Open Session, September 11

Adam Howard opened the meeting. He then introduced Santa Clara University Law Professor David L. Sloss and UCLA Political Science Professor Eric Min, who would speak to the topic of outside scholars’ use of the Foreign Relations (FRUS) series.

Professor Sloss thanked the Committee for the invitation and revealed that after examining his own scholarly work he discovered that he had relied less on the FRUS series than he originally believed. His prime example of his use of FRUS was in doing research for a chapter in his 2016 book The Death of Treaty Supremacy. This book is a comprehensive history of the “treaty supremacy rule,” contained in Article Six of the Constitution. In the early 1950s, a main goal of the “Bricker Amendment” (after Senator John W. Bricker of Ohio) was to separate the treaty making powers of the president from the Constitution’s supremacy clause. Sloss stated that he relied heavily on the FRUS series in his research on the Eisenhower administration’s 1952–54 response to the Bricker Amendment. The administration played a key role in defusing the Amendment by creating a political consensus to agree to reinterpret the supremacy clause. This reinterpretation changed the role of treaties in United States Federal Law. Lastly, Professor Sloss acknowledged that his use of FRUS was necessarily limited as his foreign relations scholarship tended to focus on law and courts, and the FRUS series on diplomatic correspondence.

Professor Eric Min stated that his view in using the FRUS series might also be different in that his main work dealt with using computational text analysis and machine learning techniques to understand international security relations from an alternative perspective. A question he and others in his field have attempted to address is how threats exchanged between the United States and adversarial countries impact the U.S. view of that country, policies toward that country, and how credible they see those threats. Another ongoing project is how much influence White House advisers have over the formulation of foreign policy involving the president. The number of FRUS applications to these projects have “taken off” in the last 5–10 years with the advent of digitalization and online access to the series. This easier access, along with improved text analytical tools and machine learning methods, have shifted the role of FRUS in political science. FRUS can now be looked at from a quantitative angle, converting and using the huge number of words in the series to develop some form of conceptual measures regarding international relations. Professor Min stressed that he and his colleagues were not seeking to replace qualitative historical analysis, but rather to extract interesting trends and patterns that could help explain questions in international affairs.

Professor Min next offered some examples of how FRUS has been used in his work. The series had been quite useful as a testing ground for the text analysis methods they would later employ on data collected from NARA. Using approximately 10,000 Soviet-related FRUS documents, Min and his colleagues attempted to identify how often mentions of threat from the USSR came up in these documents. This test led to many revelations about how feasible it was to use these records. The group later published a paper, using National Archives (NARA) records from the Berlin crisis of 1958–63, concerning how seriously the United States saw public and private threats from the USSR. Another example was a study of group decision making in foreign policy: How much do White House advisers matter in creating foreign policy?

Approval of the Record

Historical Advisor Committee (HAC) Chair James Goldgeier began the session at 11:15 a.m. with brief opening remarks recognizing the twenty-second anniversary of September 11. He expressed appreciation for employees at the Department of State (Department) and in other U.S. Government jobs for their service on 9/11 and in its aftermath. He then turned to the approval of the minutes from the June 2023 HAC meeting. Sharon Leon moved for approval. This was seconded by Sarah Snyder, and the motion for approval carried with one abstention by Kristin Hoganson who had not been present at the June meeting.

Implementation of October 1991 Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) statute and other matters of concern to the Office of Historian (OH)

Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Deputy Director Shelby Smith-Wilson was momentarily delayed, so OH Director and Executive Secretary Adam Howard spoke next. He thanked David Sloss and Eric Min for their presentations in the prior session, indicated that additional presentations will be forthcoming at future HAC meetings, and noted that a panel is currently being considered by the International Studies Association for its April 2024 Annual Convention. The panel, Howard stated, will include many distinguished political scientists, including Goldgeier, Min, and Elizabeth Saunders (Georgetown University). Among the topics the panel will address will be the use of FRUS by political scientists. Howard hopes there will be further conversations in the future on the uses of FRUS in political science and other fields. Howard also introduced John Powers who was recently hired at OH for the new position of Director of the FRUS Declassification Coordination, Publishing, and Digital Initiatives Division (DPD).

Smith-Wilson then joined the session and spoke after Howard. She began by acknowledging the significance of the day, September 11, and what that day means to the United States and to the Department. She said that she was a first tour Foreign Service Officer serving at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi on that day. Smith-Wilson then reported on the OH accomplishments this quarter. First, OH conducted multiple training sessions this summer for Foreign Service interns on the history of U.S. foreign policy and of the Department. The interns are undergraduate students, and the intern program is a merit-based summer program designed to promote talent and diversity in the Foreign Service. This summer was the first time OH has participated in the intern program. Second, OH provided essential support to FSI’s upcoming commemoration and dedication ceremony for the opening of the Codebreaker Café on the FSI campus in a new building that overlooks Arlington Hall, which was once the top-secret location of U.S. women codebreakers during World War II. OH worked with the NSA museum to acquire codebreaking equipment, including an enigma machine, which will be on display at the Codebreaker Café ceremony. Third, Howard participated in a video interview with FSI’s Change Management Office, which is aimed at capturing FSI’s “Pathway to Progress” since its founding in 1946. In the interview, Howard discussed how FSI has evolved to address emerging priorities and to respond to the changing geopolitical landscape. His interview will be included as part of a larger video project designed to help FSI staff and students understand Department history, important benchmarks, collaborations, and its response to global shifts. Smith-Wilson then highlighted OH’s continuing implementation of its reorganization plan, including the hiring of Powers into his new position as the OH Director of DPD. OH has also hired two new historians: Brooks Swett in the FRUS Compilation and Review Division and Stephanie Freeman in the Historical Studies Division. Smith-Wilson next commended the HAC on its Annual Report. She, FSI Director Joan Polaschik, and Under Secretary John Bass have now read the report and are currently working on responses to the Report. Finally, Smith-Wilson highlighted changes taking place within FSI. She started with details about FSI’s new Office of the Provost, the first of its kind in FSI history, and established under the National Defense Authorization Action of 2023. The Office of the Provost will further enhance FSI’s training and professional development to its workforce. She noted that in May 2023, FSI created an internal Change Management Office, which she supervises, to help facilitate the implementation of all the changes that will be taking place at FSI. She expects these changes to take place over the next 12 to 18 months. FSI is also forming a new Board of Visitors, which will be composed of external subject matter experts. The Board will assist with the better alignment of FSI training with policy priorities and adult education. She said that the HAC provides a great model for FSI to follow. The Federal Register notice about the Board has already been published, its charter was also formally approved, and FSI is currently in the process of selecting Board members.

Goldgeier thanked Smith-Wilson for attending the HAC meeting and for her remarks about the Annual Report. He also announced that going forward the HAC would change the timing of when it finishes the report. The HAC usually finalizes the previous year’s report in June, which means it’s not quite up to date. For this coming year the Annual Report will run from January 1, 2023, through June of 2024, which will put the report on a cycle to cover July 1 to June 30 so that when the report is issued it will be more up to date.

Once Smith-Wilson concluded, Howard introduced FRUS General Editor Kathleen Rasmussen, who detailed recent progress of and developments in the FRUS series. Rasmussen began by announcing that OH has resumed research in Department of Defense (DOD) records for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Six FRUS historians submitted requests for Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush-era records for volumes on European Security, North Africa, Southern Africa, non-proliferation, the former Soviet Union, Rwanda, Central America, and China. Rasmussen thanked numerous DOD officials for their support and assistance in getting access to these records. Rasmussen also noted that OH has begun doing preliminary research in the George W. Bush presidential records, which are at the National Declassification Center (NDC) at the NARA facility in College Park, Maryland. She said that FRUS historians are able to do this research in these records, which are relatively recent, because of the December 2021 Congressional amendment to the FRUS statute enabling FRUS researchers access to records only 20 years after their creation as opposed to 26 years. Two FRUS historians, Daniel Rubin and Forrest Barnum, are currently identifying and copying records of interest to the entire FRUS team. She also said a working group had been formed to plan the George W. Bush sub-series. The working group members include OH staff members Alex Wieland, Nicole Orphanides, Louise Woodroofe, Brad Morith, Matt Regan, and Charles Hawley. Rasmussen concluded by thanking the numerous NARA officials who have helped with this access. In regard to the status of FRUS volume publication, Rasmussen said that Poland 1982–1988 has just been submitted to the declassification process, which leaves only eight out of fifty-two volumes remaining of the Reagan series to submit to the declassification process. She anticipates two more volumes will be submitted by the end of 2023, three in 2024, and the final three in 2025. At the conclusion of Rasmussen’s presentation, no one had any questions or comments.

Howard next introduced OH’s new DPD Division Director, John Powers, to make a few remarks and answer questions. Howard said that Powers’ position was newly created to reduce the management burden of the General Editor. Prior to this new position, the management of editing, declassification, and publishing was the General Editor’s responsibility, along with overseeing the research and compilation of the FRUS series. Howard stressed Powers’ qualifications for this new position as the former NSC Director of Information and Access Management, the Associate Director of Declassification Management and Director of Access Management of NARA’s Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), and the Supervisory Archivist for the Richard Nixon Presidential Materials Project at NARA.

Powers began by thanking OH for welcoming him. He spent his initial time with OH getting to know as many members of the OH staff as he could to learn about what they do and how he could assist them to do their work. He also had introductory meetings outside of OH with IPS, as well as colleagues at OH’s interagency partners, including DOD and the Department of Energy (DOE). He stated that DOE had recently returned documents for release that will permit OH to publish two volumes. He plans to continue with these meetings later this month to discuss ways to increase the declassification process productivity and enhance interagency cooperation. Powers said he has already had a chance to work with OH colleagues, Sara Berndt and Nathaniel Smith, as well as colleagues in the Department’s Bureau of Intelligence Research (INR); Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA); and the U.S. Embassy in Chile, to declassify records related to the 1973 coup in Chile, which, he pointed out, had occurred fifty years ago on September 11. Powers then provided a summary of his biography to introduce himself to the HAC members. After college and time in the U.S. Army and private sector, Powers said he began his government career at the National Archives where he became an archivist. During his 2-year stint as an archivist at the Lyndon Johnson Presidential Library, Powers recalled that he had the opportunity to assist an Army researched named H.R. McMaster, who would later become his boss as National Security Adviser when Powers worked at the NSC. In 2007, he moved to ISOO where he set up a program to help federal agencies improve the declassification process. He then briefly discussed his work with the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) team and his ten years supporting the Public Interest Declassification Board. He also noted that he helped write sections of Executive Order 13526. He finished by describing some of his accomplishments during his tours with the NSC: co-leading the interagency process that led to the declassification of Presidential Daily Briefs and leading the declassification project for Argentina. He said that one of his most important NSC duties was reviewing FRUS manuscripts and he praised the work of the FRUS historians. He concluded by stressing that he joined OH because of his firm belief in its mission and his interest in helping address the challenges of the current declassification process.

Powers then asked meeting participants if they had any questions or comments. HAC member Deborah Pearlstein said that she was thrilled that Powers had joined OH because of his experience with the declassification process and added that she was looking forward to meeting with him to discuss the challenges facing the FRUS series and to hear Powers’ thoughts on ways to make improvements. HAC member Timothy Naftali concurred with Pearlstein.

Howard concluded this session soliciting final questions from meeting participants. Only one participant had a question about the plan to put DOS telegrams from the early 1980s on NARA’s Access to Archival Databases (AAD) website, and NARA representatives David Langbart and Don McIlwain said that declassification review of the telegrams is in progress.

Howard then thanked the participants and the audience for attending. The session then concluded.