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SMITHSONIAN REVISED INDEMNIFICATION RESOLUTION 

Secretary Adams gave a brief synopsis of recent developments in the matter of the Smithsonian's indemnification of Dr. Richard Mitchell. He reminded the Regents that last winter Under Secretary Turner had asked the General Accounting Office to render an opinion as to whether Dr. Mitchell's activities (for which he is under investigation) were within the scope of his Smithsonian employment and whether it is appropriate to use Federal funds for his legal defense (see the Minutes of February 4, 1991, pp. 3, 79-89). In late July, the Smithsonian received a "Decision" from the General Accounting Office, which included the following digest:

Appropriated funds of the Smithsonian Institution are not available to provide litigative services to federal employees unless the Attorney General determines that representation of the employee would be in the interest of the United States but cannot be provided by the Justice Department. Based on the record submitted to this Office, we conclude that the Smithsonian should not have used appropriations to finance the legal defense of a Department of the Interior employee detailed to the Smithsonian who became the subject of multiple federal civil and criminal investigations, and should not spend any additional appropriated funds for this purpose unless the Justice Department, based on evidence not made available to us, certifies that representing Dr. Mitchell is in the government's interest. 

As to whether Dr. Mitchell's activities which are currently under investigation were within the scope of his Smithsonian employment, the GAO opinion states:

Based on the submissions made to this Office by the Smithsonian, we have serious doubts that the Justice Department could properly conclude that the activities under investigation, including Dr. Mitchell's trip to China, were within the scope of Dr. Mitchell's duties, and, thus, that representation of Dr. Mitchell would be in the interest of the United States. The record includes substantial evidence to support the conclusion that Dr. Mitchell's activities were arranged primarily, if not wholly, to pursue personal business or research interests, and that any official Smithsonian business or interests served in the course of the trip were incidental, at best.

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