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executive) body; and that the Smithsonian would seek and secure appropriations from the Congress sufficient to finance the continued operation of the Museum -- in short a relationship between the Smithsonian and the Museum of African Art similar to that enjoyed by the Institution's current museum bureaus.

In turn, Smithsonian staff have made clear to Mr. Robbins that such a relationship is a total one within which the Regents and Secretary must have final authority for all actions taken.  In its meeting with Mr. Robbins of April 8, 1977, however, the committee found that Mr. Robbins, in an understandable desire to keep all the Museum's current physical plant available for its future use, was suggesting that Smithsonian assume responsibility for only that portion of the real estate it wished and that some other corporate entity, devolving from the Museum's current Board of Trustees, retain ownership of the remainder, making it available to the Smithsonian for the continued use of the Museum.  The committee does not feel that this suggestion comports with the intent to retain full and complete authority and responsibility for the Museum in the Smithsonian as stated in the third precondition above, and accordingly recommends that this approach not be followed.