My reference was directly to Ron May's comment that archaeological resources (on military installations) would be safe during the then-coming war (date for the posting I have is 4 February) due to funding cuts for training. I wanted to point out the irony of the original comment, given the disaster at the museums and libraries in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, caused by the war. This had nothing to do with Patrice Jeppson's comment in the string posted here.
D. Babson
-----Original Message-----
From: Patrice L. Jeppson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Fri 4/18/2003 3:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Re: Agency Archaeologists Job Cuts
Hey, this sloppily cut and pasted message (thread) attributes statements to me that I most certainly did not make!
It totally misrepresents my concerns and my actions.
Jim Gibb is the one who is actually quoted below. He was responding to my January 30th posting which is not included in this cut and paste job. (Only my email header is included and it tops Jim's message). Jim is entitled to his position - and he has many good ones - but I do not happen to share this one with him.
I posted an NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE alert on the outsourcing of federal archaeologists. Jim and others responded to this. I followed up later (on 02/04) with comments weighing in heavily from the opposite position than that taken by Jim (yet his position is erroneously attributed to me below).
I can certainly understand that technicalities (like properly cutting and pasting for attribution) are easily overlooked, especially in unpleasant times like these with archaeology under attack. OF COURSE, such a thing is of NO consequence when compared to the devastating situation of the A-76ing of federal archaeologists.
For those wishing to read the original alert that I posted about the A-76 process, I have copied and added it to the end of this message.
Patrice L. Jeppson
At 01:11 PM 4/18/2003 -0400, you wrote:
Anita,
Try this:
Cleaning out old postings--could not resist nominating this in the
"Famous Last Words" category.
D. Babson
-----Original Message-----
From: Ron May [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tue 2/4/2003 11:14 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Re: Agency Archaeologists Job Cuts
In a message dated 2/4/2003 7:09:51 AM Pacific Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Whether the paperwork is filled out by an
>archaeologist who meets the Secretary's standards or by
President Bush's
>mum, the federal government must comply and when it
does not, it is up to
>the professional and avocational supporters of
archaeology to take action
Jim, I want you to think about this statement in the context of
"closed military bases" and "classified projects." Just how do you think
the Register of Professional Archaeologists or an avocational group is
going to know the internal workings of a military base? The answer is
they will not. The only time things surface is when someone who used to
contact an environmental office takes the time to track down the one
archaeologist assigned to all the bases and tells him. Nothing is going
to be done to those sites damaged by fiber optic cable trenching, road
construction, new buildings, etc. unless someone blows the whistle at
great personal expense. Whistle blowers are lepers in the Navy and I
expect the same goes for the National Park Service.
Fortunately for archaeology, the war about to be promulgated on
Iraq has stripped all project money from the Navy right now. For the
most part, archaeology resources will be safe.
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: Anita Cohen-Williams [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 12:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Agency Archaeologists Job Cuts
David,
I am unable to read any of your messages. What are you sending them in?
At 12:39 PM 4/18/03 -0400, you wrote:
>Q2xlYW5pbmcgb3V0IG9sZCBwb3N0aW5ncy0tY291bGQgbm90IHJlc2lzdCBub21pbmF0aW5
>nIHRo
>aXMgaW4gdGhlICJGYW1vdXMgTGFzdCBXb3JkcyIgY2F0ZWdvcnkuDQogDQpELiBCYWJzb24
NCiAN
>Cg0KCS0tLS0tT3JpZ2luYWwgTWVzc2FnZS0tLS0tIA0KCUZyb206IFJvbiBNYXkgW21haWx
0bzpU
Anita Cohen-Williams
Search Engine Guru/SEO
http://www.mysearchguru.com <http://www.mysearchguru.com/>
"Connecting Your Site to the Web"
Listowner of HISTARCH, SUB-ARCH & SPANBORD
----------------------
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http://archaeology.blogspot.com <http://archaeology.blogspot.com/>
MuseumGuru Blog
http://museumguru.blogspot.com <http://museumguru.blogspot.com/>
Jim,
I recently forwarded an item to the list about the outsourcing of archaeology professionals at NPS. This was a National Coalition for History newsletter item that ended with actions concerned citizens - and archaeologists - could take (see below). While I agree with you that this is one of the most important topics this list could take up, I also hope that this act of democratic participation is what our colleagues would do first. Perhaps once they have done this, they could join in the discussion. If it is a choice of one or the other, while both are important, I think the former currently deserves priority:
<Individuals and organizations wishing to express their views on outsourcing
"professional" positions should write: the Secretary of the Interior Gale
Norton and NPS Director Fran Mainella both at Department of the Interior,
1849 C Street NW, Washington D.C. 20240; For Secretary Norton -- fax:
202.208-6956; e-mail: [log in to unmask]; for Director Mainella -- fax 202.
208-7889; e-mail [log in to unmask] . Members of Congress should be
contacted not by letter but via e-mail or fax (for a listing for members of
Congress via zip code, tap into: http://www.house.gov/writerep/ <http://www.house.gov/writerep/> and
<http://www.senate.gov/ <http://www.senate.gov/> >.
Having said that, we would all be better informed if our colleagues in NPS 'could' bring insight to this issue. However, the jobs in question are filled by archaeologists who 'may' feel constrained in taking part in this debate to a degree. This could be for various reasons:
They may fear that pleading to the profession to save these jobs for the sake of the cultural resources could be viewed by some as only special pleading 'to save my job'. So, for appearances sake, this segment of our profession may not feel as free as you or I to chime in on this crisis in our profession. If so, this would be a shame for those of us who need and want more information about what is going on.
Also, federal agency employees are not allowed to lobby Congress. It is probably safe to say that while NPS archaeologists can, as individuals, lobby Congress and also lobby for action within their profession, some agency archaeologists may not speak out for fear that it could be problematic for them. With the guillotine so near, it is possible that they are being overly cautious.
Then again, post the rounds of cut backs during the last administration (almost a dozen archaeologists down-sized in the Mid-Atlantic region alone when the NPS Denver Service Center went from a total of 800+ to just over 200+ in personnel), the surviving archaeologists are likely too busy doing the work of these lost others to join in. (As I understand it, the Mid-Atlantic group was outsourcing close to %70 of their work and were still closed down.)
To HISTARCH
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
FYI:
NPS and Interior Agency "Professionals" Subjected to A-76 Outsourcing
Assessments
NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 9, #4, 30 January 2003
by Bruce Craig <[log in to unmask]>
National Coalition for History (NCH)
*****************
In an effort to identify as many as 850,000 federal jobs that could
eventually be performed by private-sector employees, the Bush
administration is examining about 1,700 full-time jobs in the National Park
Service, including archeologists and others, as potential candidates for
replacement by private-sector employees. NPS director Fran Mainella has
expressed a long-term goal to maintain a uniformed presence in the parks as
a "public face" for visitors, and as a consequence park ranger and
positions declared "inherently governmental" are spared, at least for
now. But many other employees -- maintenance workers,
architects/engineers, administrative workers such as secretaries, fee
collectors, and some scientists (this year only archeologists are singled
out) may ultimately find their positions privatized. According to some NPS
sources, up to 50% of the bureau's positions may eventually be studied.
Interior officials anticipate that no more than 4 percent of the current
workforce may lose their jobs through outsourcing. Officials also claim
that decisions to let employees go would be based "on performance
objectives, not strictly on cost." Interior sources also maintain that
downsizing goals of the federal workforce may be achieved through
retirement and attrition. By some estimates about 20% of the NPS workforce
will reach retirement age in the next five years.
There is nothing new about the present administration's efforts to downsize
and out-source federal jobs. Past administrations have also attempted to
reduce the federal workforce through the "A-76 process" -- a procedure
where a cost-benefit analysis is performed comparing the costs to deliver
services by federal employees to costs of doing the same tasks through
private sector sources. The operative theory behind A-76 staffing
assessments is that any position that is not considered "inherently
governmental" can be performed equally as well by private-sector contract
workers. The efforts have produced mixed results. At times, A-76
assessments conclude that market-style competition is not cost-effective
and that the federal employees provide better cost-effective service than
the private sector can.
In the past, however, previous administrations have not targeted the
professional ranks of architects, engineers, and archeologists such as
those based in archeology centers found in Santa Fe New Mexico, Estes Park
Colorado, and Lincoln Nebraska. But according to a NPS spokesperson,
archeologists were selected this year because "there are a lot of them"
and their positions are not "inherently governmental."
Some NPS officials note that the cost of performing the assessments is
"strangling" the parks. Costs to perform the studies are coming from
across-the-board-cuts from central and regional offices and parks. An
assessment typically costs about $90,000 in direct expenses, not including
the indirect costs of lost work time for employees at the centers under
study. One NPS source estimated the total cost to perform this year's
assessments alone is probably several hundred thousand dollars to a million
or more -- money the parks desperately could use for more pressing concerns.
Critics fear that outsourcing of the Park Service's entire corps of
scientists, archeologists, and historians to private companies that are not
steeped in the Park Service culture of resource protection would undermine
protection and preservation of the nation's archeological, paleontological,
and historical treasures. Moral is already impacted in professional
ranks. According to Roger Kennedy, a former Director of the NPS as well as
the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, "The public
understands that parks are not parking lots -- they are places that require
a high degree of professional skill to manage. Not just anyone can do it."
Individuals and organizations wishing to express their views on outsourcing
"professional" positions should write: the Secretary of the Interior Gale
Norton and NPS Director Fran Mainella both at Department of the Interior,
1849 C Street NW, Washington D.C. 20240; For Secretary Norton -- fax:
202.208-6956; e-mail: [log in to unmask]; for Director Mainella -- fax 202.
208-7889; e-mail [log in to unmask] . Members of Congress should be
contacted not by letter but via e-mail or fax (for a listing for members of
Congress via zip code, tap into: http://www.house.gov/writerep/ and
<http://www.senate.gov/>.
***********************************************************
The National Coalition for History invites you to subscribe to this FREE
weekly newsletter! You are also encouraged to redistribute the NCH
Washington Updates to colleagues, friends, teachers, students and others
who are interested in history and archives issues. A complete backfile of
these reports is maintained by H-Net on the NCH's web page (currently under
revision) at <http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~nch>.
To subscribe to the "NCH Washington Update," send an e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] according to the following model: SUBSCRIBE H-NCH
firstname lastname, institution. To unsubscribe send an e-mail message to
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