1980 Report of the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation

Extract

On November 13–14, 1980, the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation convened in Washington for its 24th annual meeting with the officers and staff of the Department of State concerned with the compilation, release and publication of historical documentation on American foreign relations. As usual, the chief consideration of the Advisory Committee was the problems, progress and prospects of the Foreign Relations of the United States. During the initial, open meeting the Office of the Historian reported on its activities and plans to the Advisory Committee. The principal concerns discussed were (a) the publication schedule of the Foreign Relations series, and (b) the problems confronted in the delivery of central services used by the Office of the Historian. Late in the afternoon the committee members had an opportunity to converse informally with staff members. The morning session on November 14 was closed because of the confidential nature of the material supplied to discuss the problems of de-classification. To assist the members of the committee in preparing themselves for the session, the Office of the Historian had compiled a reading file of documents relating to its activities, containing classified and controlled information which had been made available in the Office of the Historian for examination on the morning of November 13. This session proved to be particularly useful because of the participation of the heads of the three geographic divisions of the Office of the Historian. After lunch that day, the Committee reconvened in the Office of the Historian to hear a brief report on the status of policy-related research. The Committee then met alone to evaluate the year's progress of the Office of the Historian and to discuss the nature of its annual report.