A Review Team for the FRUS Fracas

Just before DC shut down for the holidays, the following statement was released on the FRUS fracas:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met yesterday, December 22, with members of the Historical Advisory Committee (HAC) to discuss the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series and concerns expressed by some current and former members of the HAC about the series. Secretary Rice stated her strong support for the FRUS series and underscored its importance to academic and general audiences. Secretary Rice also told the group that she had asked an outside Review Team to provide recommendations about how to ensure the FRUS series remains the gold standard for diplomatic history scholarship.

Members of the Review Team, Professor Warren F. Kimball (Rutgers University), Professor Ron Spector (George Washington University), and Ruth Whiteside (Director of the Department of State Foreign Service Institute), will report their recommendations to Secretary Rice and Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Sean McCormack.

I supposed that is good news - the intention is there to be fully present until the last moment. But wasn’t the Assistant Secretary the same one who walked out of that contentious meeting? You'd think that the Review Team’s report would go to 66 and to the guy who oversees the Bureau of Public Affairs. Seems a conflicted setup, is all ... but maybe it does not really matter now; bound to get another review soon.

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