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[[preprinted]] 
UNITED STATES SENATE
WASHINGTON, DC 20510

E.J. (JAKE) GARN
UTAH

SD 505 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
TELEPHONE: 202-224-5444

JEFF M. BINGHAM
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

COMMITTEES:
APPROPRIATIONS
BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS
RULES AND ADMINISTRATION
[[/preprinted]]

January 28, 1988

The Honorable
Robert McCormick Adams
Secretary
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D.C. 20560

Dear Bob:

I was pleased to learn of your recent conversation with Chairman Yates, in which he indicated that he would not object to the Smithsonian proceeding with a planning process with respect to expansion of the National Air and Space Museum. That was very welcome news, and clearly a major step forward in the direction of formal authorization which, as you know, is embodied in legislation that I introduced last year, along with my fellow Senate Regent colleagues, and which is pending in the Senate.

I have reviewed the proposed Motion for the Board, to be considered at its meeting on Monday, February 1st, which is intended to formally initiate that planning process. I appreciate and applaud the description of the role of the National Air and Space Museum, and the desire to evaluate it's mission in the light of current and future needs and the evolution of the Museum's purpose. However, I do have some concerns about the impact of the Motion as proposed, and some aspects of the proposed planning process.

Unfortunately, due to a long-standing commitment in Utah the night of January 31st, I am not going to be able to attend the meeting of the Board of Regents on Monday. My purpose in writing is to outline to you what my concerns are and to request that you bring them, through this letter, to the attention of the Regents before they vote on the proposed motion.

Simply put, I strongly object to the proposal to reopen the issue of a general site selection for the NASM expansion. I refer to it as a "reopening" because, in my view, the decision has long since been made to locate the expanded facility at Dulles International Airport. The very genesis of the notion of an expansion to a facility adjacent to an active airfield envisioned Dulles as that location. The record is very clear that, since the issue has been under consideration by the Institution since 1983, it has been in he context of a Dulles location. At the Regents' meeting on September 16, 1986, the Board adopted a motion which stated: "...the Board of Regents supports the facility for the National Air and Space Museum [[underlined]] at Dulles International Airport...[[/underlined]]" (My emphasis). The motion went on to endorse the legislation which would authorize planning and design of that facility (S.1311), which was subsequently passed by the Senate.