New archivist nomination stirs controversy.

On April 8, President Bush nominated historian Allen Weinstein to be archivist of the United States and head of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Weinstein currently serves as a senior advisor at the International Foundation for Election Systems and was a founder and former president of the Center for Democracy.

The move has garnered much controversy. The nomination caught the archivist community off-guard--current NARA head John Carlin had indicated his intention to serve until July 2005. Carlin, a former governor of Kansas, had said he wanted to complete an electronic records project initiated under his watch.

Archivist groups said they were not consulted about the nomination, as has been the custom. Some partisans claim the nomination of a new archivist is a defensive maneuver in an election year by the Bush administration. Some papers from the Bush presidency are due for release in January 2005.

"We were blindsided by this," Society of American Archivists (SAA) President Tim Ericson told Newsday. "In the past, it's been done by having either a call put out saying they are looking for a nomination for the archivist for the United States or a call to react to possible nominees."

On April 14, a coalition of archives groups, led by the SAA, released a statement relaying their concerns about Weinstein's qualifications to be the archivist of the United States, as well as questioning whether his nomination was politically motivated. The White House, however, released a copy of a December 19, 2003, letter from current Archivist John Carlin to the media indicating that the search for his successor should begin in the spring of 2004. In the letter, Carlin states that he would resign when a new archivist is confirmed and sworn in to ensure a smooth transition.

Best known for his 1978 book on Alger Hiss, Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case, Weinstein previously served on the faculty at Smith College, Boston University, and Georgetown University. Some fellow historians have accused Weinstein of paying his sources for several books he wrote on Soviet espionage. He has also come under attack from other historians for refusing to release notes that form the basis of his scholarship. Weinstein previously served as an advisor to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.).

Weinstein's nomination has been sent to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee for consideration. His critics have demanded that the committee hold a hearing on the nomination. Conversations with senior committee staff indicate that hearings are always held on all nominations and that the committee has only begun the process of reviewing the Weinstein nomination. Weinstein must first submit to routine background checks, after which the committee will submit a list of policy questions to him for completion. The process could take some time, depending on how long it takes Weinstein to return the information.

Senior committee staff said it is too early in the process for any senators to have formed an opinion of Weinstein. "We'll scrutinize this nominee as we scrutinize all nominees, but it's too early to pass judgment," Leslie Phillips, spokesperson for Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), told The New York Times.

Weinstein told The Washington Post that he feels the "the archivist of the United States works for the American people, not for any administration. Assuming the Senate will confirm me, I will hope to sit down with any archivist who wants to talk with me."