Transcripts For CSPAN2 Oversight Hearing Of The Smithsonian Institution 20240714

This hearing providing oversight to the Smithsonian Institution. In 1836, congress accepted the quest from an english scientist who never visited the United States but nevertheless decided to leave his substantial fortune to our country for the increased knowledge. Ten years later in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was formally established by congress. In the 173 years since, the smithsonian has grown to a complex of 19 museums, Numerous Research centers, Library Systems and a network of more than 200 affiliate organizatio organizations, archives and the national zoo. Today the smithsonian serves as a steward to more than 154 billion artifacts, works of art and specimens. Visitors from across the country and around the world flock to see this broad collection, and in 2018 alone there were nearly 29 million visitors to the smithsonian. The smithsonian also works around the world to advance critical scientific discoveries and research. Earlier this year thanks in large part to the astrophysical observatory leadership, the first ever image of a black hole was unveiled. I was so honored to meet the scientist who affiliated with the smithsonian responsible for that photograph. Just last week we learned the smithsonian researchers in the amazon discovered a new species of electric eel described as the most powerful ever. The smithsonian in detention however is not without challenges as it continues to work through the Strategic Plan that we discussed back in the 2017 committee hearing. These challenges need to be addressed to carry out its mission to increase and diffuse knowledge and include deferred maintenance including deferred maintenance backlog, approaching nearly a billionce dollars, the shortage of Storage Place them in sufficient diversity among the staff and leadership and inadequate Information Technology security. If a smithsonian is also in the midst of ath largescale renovation of the national air and space museum. The challenges exist in the context of the transition. Oh by the smithsonian which as of june of this year as a new secretary and we are honored to have secretary joining us this morning for the first appearance before congress as the secretary. In addition to these challenges, there are a number of congressional proposals for the museums have various levels of maturity. These include 1980, the representative ohlones Smithsonian History Museum act and the Representatives National museum on the american latino act. These proposals would establish an American Museum of womens history, and at the museum of american Latino History respectively. Similar to the authorizing legislation for the National Museum of africanAmerican History and culture, these proposals contemplate a combination of federally appropriated and privately raised funds to finance the construction of the Museum Buildings and perfectly smithsonian to a director to manage the museum. This consideration of the proposals as well. Before i introduce t the witnesses, i would like to recognize the ring and member for any comments he would like on the institution oversight hearing. Welcome, mr. Davis. Thank you for holding the hearing and welcome to both Witnesses Today testifying for the firstha time before the committee. Its not that scary. We certainly hope you will come back and i want to thank you for bringing one of my most famous constituents in springfield illinois. They might be able to vote but not in springfield. We have before us an opportunity here from you and i am really honored that you have become secretary, and i certainly look forward to working with you. The success in the apollo 50 on the mall in july was a welldeserved tribute to the mission and inspirational recognition of the proud moment in the nations history. Since its establishment in 86, the smithsonian has become the Largest Museum education and Research Complex entity edition preserves and celebrates the nations Cultural Heritage and advances thead scientific discovery in multiple disciplines. On behalf of the American People, congress, the board of regents and management we have a responsibility to ensure the continued success of the institution for future generations. Making the collections First Class Research into materials accessible to americans across the country, not just those who visit washington, d. C. Thats needs to be a fundamental part of the strategy moving forward. Im particularly pleased that my former boss and mentor serves on the board of regents. His experience as a former educator allows them to provide owthe smithsonian with unique perspectives to help advance the strategy. I look forward to hearing from you on your vision for achieving this goal and them technicians other priority is. It is a large and complex organization with 19 Museums National zoo possible Research Centers and an international presence, the smithsonian also faces significant risks and challenges. First is the smithsonians current 900 milliondollar renovation from one of the worlds most visited museums that happened to be my boys favored the national air and space facility on the National Mall thats being done while a portion of it remains open thanks only to the public. Additionally, an increase in maintenance backlog that is just over a billion dollars furthermore, inadequate space for collections and finally reports identified muchneeded security improvements and i welcome the Inspector Generals comments on these and other risks facing the institution and look forward to discussing the approach to addressing them. It is an undertaking that should be carefully considered to ensure success with the experience as the founding director of the museum of africanAmerican History and culture and we are hopeful the secretary can provide the committee with insight and the issues surrounding the establishment of the museums and the keys to success in doing so you finally, i am excited about the possibility of your visiting springfield illinois. In my district which happens to be the site of the 1908 race riots in the birthplace of the naacp the community would love to have you view the artifacts that are actually being excavated right now and tour the site which the department of interior just determined was suitable for the designation as a National Historic monument. So, thank you and i look forward to hearing from the witness today and yield back. Other members Opening Statements i would like to knows we have in the audience today congresswoman maloney who is the author of the womens History Museum to which now has a sufficient number of cosponsors to actually pass the house. So, welcome, representativere maloney. In the current position he isnt new to the smithsonian. From 2005 until this year he served as the director of the smithsonian National Museum of africanAmerican History and culture spectacular museum and people have not yet visited. When he started the job in 2005, he had one staff member, no collections and no dedicated museum sites they welcome more than a collection of 40,000 objects that are housed and is the first Green Building in the National Mall as the associate director for the affairs of the National Museum of American History during his career and also an accomplished author having written on topics ranging from the american presidency to diversity and museum management. His most recent work is about his experience creating the africanamerican History Museum, a g crowning glory of an achievement for you and we are so honored after the hearing he has brought artifacts for us to look at since 2014 she is responsible for conducting the audits and investigations into keeping the board of regents in congress informed about problems and deficiencies promoting efficiency and effectiveness within the smithsonian and preventing and detecting fraud, wastesp and abuse. He also serves as the vice chair of the Audit Committee of the councils Inspector General and as the chair of the small group of Inspector Generals who meets quarterly to exchange ideas. Before joining, he worked as the deputy Inspector General of the u. S. Government Accountability Office where she helped lead the audit and investigative programs. Ve welcome to both of todays witnesses and we thank you so much for coming. At this time, i would ask unanimous consent all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks involve statements may be made part of the record and without objection that is so ordered. I will remind the witnesses the statements will be made a part of the record and we ask that you summarize your statement about five minutes and when it is nearing the little light will turn yellow and when its red means there are five minutes so we would ask you to wind it up. The record will remain open for these five days for additional materials and questions to be submitted so now we will turn to you, welcome and we are eager to hear your testimony. Thank you so much, chairperson, Ranking Member davis and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My tenure as the secretary of the smithsonian has been only a few shortyo months but as you mentioned my relationship in this institution goes back to when i was a 26yearold kid. I was so honored to serve as the founding director of the museum of africanAmerican History and culture and i am more than pleased in fact im humbled to assume the role as the secretary of the institution. The smithsonian greatly appreciates the continued support of congress, thet administration and the American People and we take seriously the crucial role we play in advancing the civic educational and scientific life of the nation. Our goal was to reach in reach a meaningful way is at least 1 billion people worldwide. Nothing replaces the artifacts we have on display that we need to reach millions who cannot visit us in person using all the Digital Tools available to us. Ch i am committed to achieving this goal while protecting and securing our Digital Assets and those that will be used in the technology. Cultural institutions are uniquely equipped to inspire, and we magnify that ability when we truly reflect the tapestry of humanity. The smithsonian is committed to increasing, attracting and developing a diverse and talented workforce. I am pleased congress supported the goal of telling more expensive representative stories i shepherding legislation that advocates for new museums. If congress deems it to symbian rest of the American Public to authorize the smithsonian to build a new museum and provides the necessary additional funding for th that purpose and appropriates the means for am operation, then we will create a museum that exceeds all expectations. The museum that builds on the standards of excellence set by the smithsonian but in the interim the institution is committed to making every single Smithsonian Museum and program more inclusivee and more representative of the nations population. It is as you pointed out also crucially important that we recognize the smithsonians pressing infrastructure and collections needs a demand of her immediate and ongoing attention. We so appreciate the support of congress and the renovation ofof the national air and space museum and just as important we are grateful for the ongoing support of the maintenance needs throughout the institutions. Regarding the History Museum, legislation, both the house and senate bills largely mirror the successful model employed by the museum of africanAmerican History and culture. Both bills call to construct the museum of 50 federal and require the smithsonian to raise 50 from nonfederal sources. Legislation i has also introduc, calling to create a National Museum of the american latino in y der to showcase the life, history and culture of american latinos and their contribution to the United States. This legislation also follows the model of ther National Museum. O while i do have experience with private fundraising, and a more than willing to advocate for private funds, it is simply impossible to pursue projects of this magnitude without explicit appropriations of the federal funding for the projects at their very genesis. If authorized and funded by congress, we would be honored to give these to the smithsonian family. As the congres a congress makeso liberations, we will work diligently to to tell a broader, more complete story with our resources. An example, if this desire is our american womens History Initiative because of her story, which was launched in 2018. Because of the story and the paradigm shift, it allowed the entire smithsonian to wrestle with how issues and gender have shaped the american experience. We are grateful to congress for their support. We are also so proud to be able to unveil in the fall of 2021 the first gallery to explore the latino culture to open on the National Mall, and we work very hard to make sure they Smithsonian Center that was to defer the pacific americans continues to research, build collections, do exhibitions and programsti come and they are alo fundraising for the first gallery dedicated to them. The institution has been conducted groundbreaking research in science and reproducing animals from around the world and the national habitat. Ultimately, what i want to do is say that museums are more important now than ever because of their ability to serve as trusted sources of information. This chairman and Ranking Member and chairman thank you for the opportunity to talk about the Inspector General of oversight of the smithsonian the mission is to promote the efficiency and effectiveness and integrity of the subsiding and programming operations. We do this through independent objective audits and investigations. I will look about collections management and security. Our office has done extensive work with collection stewardship we reported in 2015 that the smithsonian faces challenges to fully implement the plan that is to ensure the Proper Storage of collections because of the estimated cost more than 1 billion over c 30 years and the need to balance competing demands to fund other Capital Projects. Currently we are assessing inventory controls of the newest museum National Museum of africanAmerican History and culture. The smithsonian also faces challenges to address deferred maintenance for itse s facilities. Because it is spending less than the recommended amounts to maintain those facilitiesie and the smithsonian had a deferred maintenance backlog approaching 1 billion. Deferring maintenance can reduce the overall life of the facility and lead to higher cost in the long term. Eventually deferred maintenance requires a major Capital Investment in fact the 650 milliondollar Capital Project to revitalize the nasa museum has more than 250 million of deferred maintenance. Security is also a challenge. Technology security is a growing risk all of all organizations. Those breaches cost money, disrupt operations o , andy road public trust each year our office evaluates the teInformation Technology Security Program. While it has made steady progress of improving this program it is not yet fully effective. In addition, the Security Program helps to ensure the individuals responsible for the smithsonian collectio collection, securities and financial aspects have that appropriate character and conduct to be associated with thee smithsonian. Individuals that receive preemployment backgroundnd investigationn but it has no assurance that there is the postemployment investigation that the smithsonian has one third of the program cost if it had use the automated tool to determine the appropriate t level of investigation for retail employees. We also found Computer Network access has been granted to individuals who have not received background investigations. Finally, in todays world, the importance of a skilled, welltrained Security Guard force is more important than ever. In a recent report new Security Guards were allowed to graduate from basic training although they missed at least one or more days of instruction. Andy they only had to qualify on their firearms once a year rather than twice a year as recommended by best practices. Thank you to the chairman of the Ranking Member and members of the committee this concludes my statement and im happy to respond to any questions you may have. Thank you both for your testimony. Now is the time if members have questions and i have a few. Secretary, one of the great things about being new you are not responsible for any of the problems all you have to do those solved thatt have been identified. s with the cybersecurity issues that have been identified as well as the affirmative action deficits, what are your plans to approach those issues quick. In terms of cybersecurity what we appreciate is the guidance we have received from the Inspector General. This is a highpriority. We have taken many steps to make sure we fill all the holes. We recognize however that cybersecurity is an ongoing issue. We arere committed to having the appropriate level of training and expertise that we can respond to the ongoing challenge. My hope is to make sure a diverse array of scholars and educators andre employees are allowed to shape the institution and make it better. It is clear to me the smithsonian has made amazing strides but it is still very much a challenge and i am committed to actually looking at diversity not just the staff but also the board so ultimately one of the things that ihs expect to have a diverse leadership and to be a place that mirrors the america we believe in. Thank you foror that. My next question the museum that has been proposed reflecting the greater diversity of our country. First the Womens Museum that has so many cosponsors but s andhe Latino Museum also a proposal for the asian American Museum. What are the next steps we could take . I know there has been substantial fundraising with those. Efforts underway and we also need to appropriate funds and it seems to me it is to authorize the museums in the private funds raised with public funds. It isnt porten going through the full years of building the museum it is clear o that in order to move forward we need to identify all the challenges. Some of those are about funding and resources or the process of how that is released. Andos a recognition this is a longterm commitment. And if this is authorized , then we would expect to do like we do at that museum of Natural History and culture to have a period of several years to actually move this forward to study exactly what we are talking about, what the collection needs, building, scholarship to have an idea of what the cost would be that you have that commitment to recognize its a challenging endeavor that challenges the smithsonian. We are very lucky topo have someone leading the whole institution that brought a fabulous museum from concept to reality. One final question. The smithsonian recently conducted a very Successful Fundraising Campaign to raise one. 88 billion in the course of eight years. Can any of these privatein funds to address the back log of deferred maintenance quick. A lot are committed to educational programs, supporting the research initiatives. We will always look wherever we can take resources to put it toward deferred maintenancec. But as you know that isnt sexy so the donors are not interested to put their money in that regards we have to look to the federal governmentgv and be more creative in the partnerships we put together to allow us ultimately to do a better job of using those funds. Thank you mister secretary. Thank you madam chair. The concern of the postemployment backgroundos checks, what are you hiding . [laughter] with the postemployment background check. [laughter] how are you concerned about the size and the growth of the backlog quick. I am very concerned about this. I think in that we are looking at prioritizing very clearly in one of the priorities we have to do what is it about missioncritical and Public Safety and safety of the collection so we are doing a better job to make sure we are putting the resources we have in the priority that we are focusing on. And also to have more creative ways like the innovation of the air and space museum to allow us to get to the backlog. Obviously we are looking carefully at those initiatives to allow us to look at maintenance like the south mall master plan is that the best way to accomplish these things . I am committed to revisiting this and taking a hard look and to figure out the best way to use those limitedt resources spent institution must be perceived particularly when olamericans remain divided on the issues. After seeing the caption or the portrait of Ronald Reagan and the National Portrait galler gallery, how does the smithsonian ensure it remains an honest broker of that information and how important it is in your new role to be seen as nonpolitical and nonpartisan. It is cruciallynt important to emphasize that we are nonpartisan throughout the organization. Thats the biggest thing to make sure we are not seen as partisan we have supports on both sides of the aisle. It is crucial to understand label copy, we review them through the curators and directors of the museum when there are issues that go beyond that at the secretarial level, we are committed to using our research and scholarship and that guides what we do. Not political consideration but the best evidence from the research that we have. I want look at that reagan caption again and we can talk after that. And with that digitization will help to improve collections management including the pace and what is your assessment quick. Several years ago we did a report where we looked at a collection and storage plan as well as digitization and found the smithsonian was working toward digitization but it is a longterm effort. Lets hope that it beats the renewal project. [laughter] all dc area can you discuss your plans to achieve it and to extend that reach more broadly quick. I believe the smithsonian is one the most important educational institutions in this country and it needs to play a role not just the weight the traditionally way it does work but nontraditional ways to figure outon how we put the resources we have to improve k12 education. I have made that a cornerstone of my tenure. Is not just enough to bring the kids in make sure theyre helping with the curriculum challenges and get the most learning possible. I want to use the District Of Columbia to test how it is the smithsonian cannot only help children but excite teachers with career rejuvenation, activities for parents to be part of that f arning journey for their children. We hope those ideas that we test and those virtual ideas will allow us to expand the work we already do nationally. I am committed to the smithsonian ultimately to be a place that influences and enhances and enriches k12 education throughout the United States. The gentle man from recognized. , congratulations mister bunch on your new book and youre very inspiring and Successful Service says director National Museum of africanAmerican History. So it has inspired other efforts to create of american women at the Latino Museum. One of the remarkable things of the africanAmerican Museum is that personally its now the most popular destination. It is one of the mostos popula popular. It is remarkable because people come from all over the world, large, multiracial and multicultural crowds coming to check it out. Can you just reflect for a moment how the museum that focuses on a certain dimension of that experience can speak universally and how we can think about these proposals coming forward. The most important thing is from the beginning to say this is not a museum by a community aithat we said an opportunity to understand america through the africanamerican communities so that became the story for us all. Everybody to find themselves whether they are interested with the notions of citizenship and the major contribution any museum created whether latino or other that we are not trying to create that ancillary that this is another way to understand america and that makes it not something that is separate but helps to understand our identit identity. On and to achieve that vision in a remarkable way is a vision into American History to deepens everyones appreciation of what america is. I hope its on wee can continue to realize with other projects in the future. As a space bar special event that just opened what is your longterm plan for the arts and Industries Building questionnaire this is one of my favorite buildings in the smithsonian. What we want to do now is work on the longterm future for that building. Right now we are committed to y ing exhibition for the 175th anniversary 2021. In the meantime what does it mean to rethink the words of the Castle Building to see how we will use those. At this stage we will be briefed inside of my priorities to figure out the use of the ai building and the castle. You are getting input from other stakeholders. Not only look at the board of regents and the staff that we will do as i always do to take longterm use and reachch out to a variety of communities and stakeholders to get an understanding of what they want. It is crucial to recognize the history of the smithsonian is tied up at those two buildings to make sure they are always there to serve the American Public. S. Ts what other major facilities projects do you foresee quick. With the arts industry in the castle. And then to make a determination to look at those questions. Also to look at a Sculpture Garden to thinkr about how we make sure the mall is Visitor Friendly and that it serves as an entrance for the museums. Thats we looked at one what were looking at the next excouple ofve years. Thinking that of chairman for being here weve always been a huge fan of the smithsonian so that we can engage with you to make sure that we have plans and policies in place for longterm sustainability is a national asset. Of course there is always concerns that rise in the challenges we must face so i appreciate your willingness to stand up and take the lead to resolve the issues that are out there. But i do have some specific questions of those challenges specifically the deferred maintenance backlog. It is a significant challenge at this point. What is the current cost in dollars without deferred maintenance backlog quick. I believe fiscal year 2017, it was approximately 937 million. Thats close. To 1 billion. Newith the timeline, how far bac back, how long have they been out there quick. The deferred maintenance backlog has been around for a long time. And it is created by the fact that a notch National Research Council Recommends Government Agencies spend between two and four replacement value of their building and the smithsonian budget has been about 1 percent. So each year the backlog just continues to grow. If i was to look at the list of the backlog what is the old estate quick. I do not know that. A decade . Five years quick. I can get that information for you. Secretary bunch what is your plan to go after the backlog . Are you looking to get between the two and 4 percent quick. My goal is to be at least 2 percent i would like to have at least 3 percent but the challenge is to figure out how do we make sure we are looking at the congressional appropriation to make sure we have money to allow us to grow in thatt direction and also think creatively are there opportunities when we are fundraising for the projects people are excited about is there a way to get a support for a backlog . That is what we are lookingng at but will have an answer yet but i will have that soon. I appreciate anything you do because from a Business Owners perspective you have to clean the house before you expand it due to the discussion of new museums itsy important we get the house clean before you look at expanding more because the concern would be further expansion creates more of a backlog so i appreciate anything you can provide us with plans to move forward because as this goes from the funding mechanism and then to appropriate and afford that. But that 900 milliondollar cost for renovation i thought i had to be a mistake so i had to goo back and look at it again. That is the cost but that seems very high to me because the cost to build the africanAmerican Museum was o 540 billion the Nationals Park construction was only 701 million trump tower was 300 million so why such a high cost of almost 1 billion quick. First of all its often cheaper to build new then refurbish. Part of this is that this was also the opportunity to upgrade all the systems to make sure this is an effective green light using them. Even though the building was opened in 1976 in terms of the life of the constructionf this has been around a long time. So essence we are trying to do what you said about deferred maintenance we dont want totp postpone so that the next who follows me has to wrestle with this. I appreciate that i am out of time i also have questions for Information System security for the record byat appreciate all you are doing air and space museum as an aviator that is my favorite and thank you for what you are doing. Thank you very much madame chair and secretary bunch. Thank you for your leadership as well. I am so glad you had an opportunity to talk abouthe how the experience of delivering the culture informs what you are doing today i still remember that day. It was extraordinary. And im very hopeful that really makes a difference for all of us and we appreciate that you are there. So a few more thoughts about the importance of the treasures we have on our mall for the young people of our country. I often ask if theyve been to washington dc before virchow may be by eighth grade they have come but most often it is not the case i was at the class the other day and while thats a local effort it is incredible to me that a large number of our children throughout the country never make it here to the capital. Were to see these treasures that we have. If we can think more about that to collaborate with local communities that would be helpful and with as teachers to translate that experience as well if you have any thoughts about that. Also talking about the pressure and the need for more museums there is so much more representative how much more space do we have for that . How do you see that . As you look at the entire mall are there areas we could be developed . It is clear there is very little space left on the mall. One of the questions to think about what is the best use of what we have w left. Are there other spaces near the mall that could spread the influence of the smithsonian . I understand the power of the mall. It was important to me the National Museum be on the mall. So the key is to look at the spaces of what we can do with what we have tove recognize there is limited space on the mall. From an education point of view the smithsonian is amazing. I think about in my career holding the compass lewis and clark carried going across the country or the apollo 11 capsule. We have to find ways to get this around the country that is to the traveling alexhibitions but also what can we do virtually . There should be a way virtually he can get into every classroom in the United States. Even simple ideas to have the virtual top hat oras the compass or make a three d printer to allow the teachers in the classrooms to talk about the importance of citizenship or exploration. So the goal i challenge the educational staff is to say how can we touch every classroom and share the wonders of the research and thats a major commitment to me because i want people and children to be better by the wonders of the smithsonian. I appreciate that. The chairman for north carolina. Thank you for your testimony today and we went to talk to about your service i need to get use on use to calling you secretary. But i have followed your career over the years so thank you publicly. You have a great challenge in front of you sure the committee will join hands with you that you will leave it better than it is. So let me spend a couple of minutes talking about diversity you know how strongly i feel about that we talk about it over the years. So give me some appreciation for the work force and the size of the workforce that is under your jurisdiction. There are approximately 7000 people working for the smithsonian all over the country whether at the fiscal observatory in boston, the Research Institute in panam panama, new york city federal employees on our payroll and in essence the goal is to make sure that these staff reflect the diversity of america and we are not there yet. Ivespecially at the senior positions. I want to make sure were not just looking at the lower introductory positions but that the Senior Leaders of institutions, it is a very good job of issues of gender and leadership many Museum Director directors, we have done a less successful job to embraceri diversity of ethnic minorities in leadership positions. Senior leadership lowerlevel leadership the entrylevel type jobs . We are talking career staff. Do you collect data on the demographics quick. Yes prick i can make sure we can present that to you. Which is the strongest in theel weakest. Racial diversity quite candidly is at the lowest level. So iev think within the levels where it fundamentally shapes the smithsonian like the curators, scientists, that is where we are working to that. E we do very well with our strong Supplier Diversity Program even if we built the National Museum of africanAmerican History and culture that minorities with their own businesses received a higher percentage than ever before so i am pleased with that part with the vendor work reaches broad andbr diverse. That is crucial to our success to build upon that. You mentioned talking about what shaped the institution i dont understand what that means. Each Smithsonian Museum has its own board they help with fundraising, guide the institute perk i want to make sure we dont forget they need to be made more diverse that there are opportunities for people of color and women to play a leading role on those boards some Research Entities have their own boards. Is that data available. You can get that data. To provide Technical Resources to want to preserve the history . I wont ask you about Financial Resources but technical quick. Te we do on several Different Levels differ museums doing it in different ways i actually created a youth whose job it was to work with local museums to provide training and expertise. Im hoping thats a model to be pickedd up by other museums in the smithsonian but we do a fair amount of training to some of the programs through sites exhibitions reaching out to local communities so in essence we want to do a much better and a more formal job to see how much do we emulate the model. Mister secretary its nice to see you again thank you for your testimony i do want to madam clerk has join us. So let me also say it is refreshing to have both the secretary and Inspector General on the same page we dont hear that a lot so thank you. [laughter] you talk about the cost of deferred maintenance. Beyond cost or any collections at risk click. It is important we protect those collections that is whats at the heart of themi smithsonian. We have really worked hard to make sure that collections are not at risk and to make sure to identify areas of concern and will continue to do that but we know there are collections at risk then we move quickly to protect them to give them the proper housing that they need. Is we need the resources to continue to build new storage pods near the other museums and this is what will allow us to provide the quality care thats at the heart of the smithsonian. Do you agree quick. Yes. There are plans that do have that goal. There are facilities that have been identified to be at the unacceptable level but i am not aware of collections to be atat risk of immediate harm or anything like that. Let me ask this question. Not talking about the revitalization of the nasa space museum what you do with those large pieces . The goal is to try to give the public as much access to those collections as possible. Some of the large piecesofce get moved out to the new Storage Places but we try to make sure there is enough on display so public is engaged to get that history we also encourage people to go out to the center at dulles which is where the larger m one airplanes are and then we can continue that story with a history of toiation the Digitization Initiative what about storage at that point quick. It is d about protecting the collections by reducing the use on them it also gets the collections out to a broader possible audience for court does not reduce the collections we have. The challenge for the smithsonian is to realize we will always grow the collections but we want to make sure we havethrt got the process to make sure its crucially important that we have the space in the resources to protect it. There is one thing you would ask us as a top priority what would it be quick. Can i have two . [laughter] the top priority has to be making the smithsonian accessible virtually to really make sure we can educate people around the country and dround the globe. The second priority is to find ways to address the backlog to make sure these amazing facilities are protected to make accessible to the American People. I yelled back to the gentleman from california. Secretary bunch talking about the National Creation you are familiar with the history when president bush created a commission and it was completed in 2011 gave a projected cost 600 million to identify future challenges if congress was to move forward and give you guidance. As the chair mentioned 179 members. I know the sponsor has worked on Public Private partnership piece to make sure the language was sufficient for your needs but what is the timeline for when the bill is signed into law with the next steps to c completion . If history is our guide quick. It took 11 years to build the hiss Modesto Museum once we had leadership. So i think thats a good framework. Can do some things with the ideas of that but the challenge of buildingff staff and raising a mechanism that allows us to raise the money to get a better sense of what the content will be to bring people to help think about the building itself and ultimately looking at longterm resource needs to make sure when it opens that is the beginning, not the end it is a decadelong process when she began by bringing on the director. This year we are working on language on the appropriations bill to encourage the smithsonian to continue to support the creation of museums and look to programs liand exhibits and collections do you see any problems inmplying with this language that gives you guidance . Not at all. In fact i would argue one of the ways you could shorten the period is to really have curators to do exhibitions that allow us to get the research. That gets peoplear excited thats part of the rekey to raise successful funds of one of the great challenges as if we can do work now that will foreshadow the collections to allow us to move this quicker. To follow up on what my colleague talked about, i know youre familiar 1994 the smithsonian task t force produced a report called willful neglect and since that report the latin export force has written just risen at 10 percent unfortunately the growth has not met the same numbers at the executive level c started to answer the question about the higher levels of curators and scientists and executives but talk about increasing diversity at the executive level. One of the things thats important to. Me is as i look at whatever challenges i bring to the senior level i need to make sure diversities at thehert heart of what im trying to do i would be unbelievably disappointed if i did not have a staff that is more diverse. Its a challenge because people never leave but to make sure the smithsonian is made better with those Diverse Voices around the table. Thank you so much. All members have had an opportunity to ask questions nd the record will remain open for five legislative days. Thank you for your testimony here today but i speak for the entire community how proud we are of the institution it is a tool that belongs to the American People. Just talking to the Ranking Member back in the 19 nineties when the congressman was the chairman of this committee he took the lead to insist we do the funding necessary to repair the library of congress repairs and maintenance are not sexy but this is held in trust for the American People and i think one of the things we need to do is to see if this is the time to work with our appropriators to make sure we are fulfilling our obligations to make sure these jewels are maintained for future generations and your leadership is very important in that regard. Thank you and we are adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] the president and first lady will host a second state dinner of his administration to record it on welcome the is still your Prime Minister and his wife. Larger bibles and toast on friday at 6 30 p. M. Eastern