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every attempt should be made to accommodate those staff within the normal hiring plans of the receiving units. This would depend in large part, of course, upon the rate of attrition in comparable jobs within those units and upon the qualifications of the respective Museum of African Art staff members. The committee believes that over the course of the first several years some portion of the staff could in fact be absorbed elsewhere within the Smithsonian, thus reducing the budget of the Museum of African Art.

[[underline]] Authority of the Regents and Secretary for Policies and Administration [[/underline]]

In his conversations with Smithsonian staff, Warren Robbins has made clear that his position is considerably flexible as to the specific arrangements that might be made for the Smithsonian's acquisition of the Museum, as well as the conditions that would prevail after the fact. A general outline of what he originally proposed is that legal ownership of all real property and other assets of the Museum of African Art (as well as its debts and liabilities) would vest in the Smithsonian; that as many of the Museum's staff as may be deemed desirable would be converted to Smithsonian employment; that the Museum would be maintained as an identifiable entity within the Smithsonian; that its Board of Trustees would be converted to an advisory (rather than