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for competition every ten years. Mr. Acheson added that the Committee's consensus on this recommendation would serve as guidance to the staff; no action by the Board of Regents was necessary at this time.

* * * * *

The Audit and Review Committee of the Board of Regents met on Wednesday morning, March 16, 1988, in the Director's Conference Room of the National Air and Space Museum. Mr. Acheson called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. Members present were:

David C. Acheson, Chairman
Jake Garn
Norman Y. Mineta
Jeannine S. Clark
Charles McC. Mathias, Jr.

Also present were Secretary Robert McC. Adams; Assistant Secretary for Administration John F. Jameson; Assistant Secretary for Research Robert S. Hoffmann; Treasurer Ann R. Leven; General Counsel Peter G. Powers; Executive Assistant to the Secretary James M. Hobbins; Comptroller Shireen L. Dodson; Director of the Office of Audits and Investigations Patrick J. Stanton; Director of the National Air and Space Museum Martin O. Harwit; Partner John D. Strom and Audit Manager Kathy Raffa, both of Coopers and Lybrand; Assistant to Mr. Mineta, Phyllis A. Guss; and Assistant to Senator Morgan, Carroll Leggett.

At Mr. Acheson's request, Dr. Harwit first presented an overview of research currently being conducted in three curatorial departments of the National Air and Space Museum. In the Department of Space Science and Exploration, research has generally focused on the history of space flight, but in trying to strike a balance with the technology of space flight the Museum finds it can attract important assistance from elsewhere in the scholarly community. In the Aeronautics Department significant work is being done in the history of aviation, and in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies researchers have been using satellite photography to investigate major topics in geophysics and comparative planetology. In future research and exhibitions Dr. Harwit foresees a fundamental shift from the purely technical aspects of air and space craft toward the important questions about what those vehicles reveal about the biosphere and geosphere. Questions such as these, and the social consequences of technologies related to air and space, will draw the Museum into closer scholarly cooperation with other Smithsonian museums (and the Zoo) and will become an integral part of the mission of the proposed Extension at a nearby airport. Dr. Harwit went on to point out, however, that one of the Museum's most significant challenges as it moves into the twenty-first century is how to preserve and effectively utilize the world's largest collection of air and space craft. In that context the Museum will need to face squarely the highly complex