Washington DC and Lindon, UT - March 26, 2008- Footnote.com and the National Archives and Records Administration held a press conference at the Archives in Washington DC to announce the release of an online interactive photo of the Vietnam War Memorial. In addition to releasing
this unique version of the Wall, Footnote.com enables visitors to search the Wall for people they know and pay tribute by adding photos, comments and stories of those who lost their lives during the Vietnam conflict.
"The Wall is more than just 58,000 plus names," explains Richard Schroepfer, a Vietnam War Veteran. "Many of these people were my friends. And now Footnote.com helps me create a remembrance of these fine gentlemen."
To view a video of Richard Schroepfer and his experience with the Wall on Footnote.com, go to:
http://go.footnote.com/screen-cast.php?vid=Footnote_Wall_1.6_480x270.
Footnote.com started the project by contracting the expertise of Peter Krogh, a National Geographic photographer, who was given the challenge to photograph the entire wall. Creating this online version of the Wall required almost 1,500 individual photos that were stitched together to create one single image. The process took over five months and resulted in an image that is nearly five gigapixels in size. Despite the immense size, just about anyone can view the image on Footnote.com via an Internet connection.
Footnote.com partnered with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to link the service records and casualty reports to each name on the Wall. "The records of the Vietnam War in the National Archives are essential resources for veterans to revisit their history and establish their rights," explains Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein. "These extensive files are mined by scholars every day as they continue to interpret and understand this pivotal
period in American history." Footnote.com will also be digitizing National Archives photos from the Vietnam War.
Finding someone on the Wall is as simple as typing a name into a search box and letting Footnote.com quickly locate and zoom into the area of the Wall where the individual name can be viewed. Once the name is located, visitors can see the soldier's service record and view comments, stories and photos that have been contributed by other visitors.
"Footnote.com is about discovering, discussing, and sharing the stories of our past," says Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. "We know that there are many untold experiences represented on that Wall, and we hope that this interactive version of the memorial helps those
affected by the war by sharing their stories."
Footnote.com also provides a way for visitors to create a tribute page dedicated to the brave men and women who served in Vietnam, who may not be on the Wall. These pages become a way for veterans, family and friends to share experiences and feelings about this event that has had a great impact on so many. Footnote.com hopes that this interactive Wall becomes a means for healing and paying tribute to those whose sacrifice and service have been underappreciated for so long.
To view the Interactive Wall on Footnote.com, go to: http://footnote.com/thewall.
About Footnote, Inc.
Footnote.com is a subscription website that features searchable original documents, providing users with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world.
At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit www.footnote.com.
3/26/08
Vietnam
3/23/08
Wilders genealogy
For the International press! The pedigree of the Geert Wilders.He leads a small and not important political party in the Netherlands. Read text Al-Jazeera. I have much more information about his family and other wellknown people in the Netherlands.
Genealogy Geert Wilders
Generation 1
1 Geert Wilders, born on
| | | | | [Source: CV Parlement & Politiek: www.parlement.com/9291000/biof/02258] |
Geert married, 28 years old, on
Generation 2
2 Johannes Henricus Andreas Wilders, born on
| | | | | [Source: Patentens registration for Oce: www.wikipatents.com/gb/953908.html |
He married, 29 year old, on
3 NN (maybe still alive?), born in Soekaboemi (
Generation 3
4 Mathijs Wilders, born on
| | | He work as schoemaker | |
He married, 31 year old, on
5
6 Johannes Hendrikus Ording, born on
He married, 27 years old, on
7 Johanna Magdalena Meijer, born on
Generation 4
8 Willem Gisbert Wilders, born on
He married, 22 years old, on
9 Christina Anna Janssen, born on
10 Johannes Kloosterman, born on
He married, 28 years old, on
11 Wilhelmina Wensveen, born on
12 Wilhelmus Henrikus Ording, born on
He married, 24 years old, on
13
14 Levinus Francois Meijer, born on
He married, 30 years old, on
15 Johanna Maria Canter Visscher, born on
Generation 5
16 Pieter Mathijs Wilders, born on
He married, 29 years old, on
17 Petronella Janssen, born in Sevenum.
18 MatHes Janssen.
He married with
19 Hendrina Hanraets.
20 Andries Kloosterman, born on
He married with
21 Jacoba van der Kleij, born on
22 Pieter Wensveen, born on
He married with
23 Helena van der Drift, born on
24 Johannes Henrikus Ording.
He married with
25 Anna Christina Konpers.
26 Johannes Mattheus Adolphus Hoolhorst.
He married with
27 Lena Maat.
30 Albert Johannes Canter Visscher.
He married with
31 Elisabeth Bachet.
Generation 6
32 Joannes Wilders, born in Blerick.
He married on
33 Willemina Joosten.
34 Gijsbert Janssen.
He married with
35 Geertrui Billekens.
Generation 7
65 Maria Catharina Wilders.
66 Joseph Josten.
He married with
67 Gertruid Gijssen.
3/18/08
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's Schedules Open on March 19
WHAT: The William J. Clinton Presidential Library and the National Archives will open 11,046 pages of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's White House schedules. These Presidential records will be made available in the Clinton Library research room and to the press on CDs on the day of the opening. These records will also be posted on the Clinton Library website http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/ as soon as possible.
These schedules are from the First Lady's Staff files of Patti Solis Doyle, Special Assistant to the President and Director of Scheduling for the First Lady. Doyle was responsible for the First Lady's schedule from 1993 to 1998, and then assumed additional responsibilities as Director of Advance for the First Lady throughout the rest of the Clinton Administration. Arranged chronologically, these records document in detail the activities of the First Lady, including meetings, trips, speaking engagements and social activities for the eight years of the Clinton Administration.
This file series includes schedules for 2,888 days. Clinton Library archivists processing these records subsequently determined that schedules for 32 days were not included in this series; however, schedules for 27 of those days have now been located, and will be processed as soon as possible.
Of the 11,046 pages of schedules that are being opened, 4,746 have redactions. The majority of the redactions pertain to the privacy interests of third parties, including their social security numbers, telephone numbers, and home addresses. In addition, schedules for the first 19 days in January 1993, prior to the inauguration of President Clinton and prior to Mrs. Clinton's tenure as First Lady, have been closed in full in accordance with the Presidential Records Act. Researchers will find occasional unusual text formatting and in some cases final schedules as well as "revised final" schedules. Specific dates can be viewed on the CD by selecting view and bookmark on your Adobe toolbar.
WHEN: 9:00 AM CST/10:00 AM EST
Wednesday March 19, 2008
WHERE: The CDs and a finding aid will be available simultaneously at:
*Clinton Presidential Library, 1200 President Clinton Avenue, Little Rock, AR (Textual copies of the schedules will also be available for review in the Clinton Library research room.)
*National Archives Building, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
Please note: The National Archives will issue only one CD per organization.
A finding aid of these materials will also be available on the Clinton Library website http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/textual-foia.html#0198.
BACKGROUND: The Clinton Presidential Library is one of 12 Presidential libraries administered by the National Archives. The requirements for review and release of Presidential records are established by the Presidential Records Act of 1978 and Executive Order 13233. This process is very labor-intensive and time-consuming and requires that National Archives staff conduct a page by page, word for word review of all records in order to protect sensitive information such as national security, personal privacy and law enforcement. Following the National Archives review, by law, both the former and the incumbent Presidents or their designated representative must have an opportunity to review all of the records, in order to consider if any of them may be subject to a constitutionally-based privilege.
(source: National Archives Public Affairs Staff )
3/17/08
Two Years Later, Freedom of Information Order
Two Years Later, Freedom of Information Order
Still Has Not Produced All That It Promised
Knight Open Government Survey shows lack of resources or enforcement
inhibited order's effectiveness at 90 federal agencies; some customer service gains
Washington, D.C., March 16, 2008 - President Bush's executive order for a "citizen-centered" and "results-oriented" Freedom of Information system did improve customer service at federal agencies, but has failed to make consistent progress on backlogs and has not significantly improved compliance with electronic FOIA requirements, according to the Knight Open Government Survey released today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.
"Many of the same old scofflaw agencies are still shirking their responsibilities to the public," said Tom Blanton, director of the Archive. "I'm reminded of how many psychiatrists it takes to change a light bulb - only one, but the light bulb has to really want to change."
The order set up Chief FOIA Officers at each of 90 federal agencies and asked for FOIA improvement plans from each agency. The Archive's Survey, the seventh in a series of unprecedented government-wide audits of FOIA performance, analyzed all the agency improvement plans, sent FOIA requests to all 90 agencies (plus 18 major agency components), and queried agency FOIA Service Centers and public liaison offices to test responsiveness.
The Knight Survey found across-the-board improvements in customer service for FOIA requesters based on the establishment of FOIA service centers, public liaisons, and chief FOIA officers as readily identifiable contacts for requesters across agencies.
But the survey found uneven progress and outright shortfalls on the problem of backlogs, because the order lacked any enforcement mechanisms or funding, and left goal-setting up to the agencies themselves. Two years into implementation of the order, the number of pending FOIA requests government-wide remains in the range of 200,000, with large variations between agencies, according to the Survey's analysis of agency plans and reports.
President Bush's order also prompted only limited improvement in compliance with the 1996 E-FOIA amendments, which require federal agencies to post certain records and FOIA guidance online.
"The order was only a small step for open government," remarked Meredith Fuchs, general counsel of the National Security Archive. "There are certainly mixed messages when the President asks for results under the Freedom of Information Act, and at the same time refuses to support funding of technology or personnel, opposes improvements to the law, and exempts parts of the Executive Office of the President from the law." In FOIA litigation involving the White House Office of Administration, the Office of Administration in 2007 began to claim that, despite processing FOIAs in the past, filing FOIA reports for Congress, and writing a FOIA improvement plan, it is not subject to FOIA.
"Freedom of information laws exist to provide American citizens with the facts they need to run their governments and their lives. Information may seem more plentiful these days, but that doesn't mean it's less important. Strong democracies are held together by the force of their facts," said Eric Newton, vice president of the journalism program at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, funder of the Knight Open Government Survey.
Source and more information: http://www.nsarchive.org
2/29/08
The Making of the Cheney Regional Defense Strategy, 1991-1992
Declassified Studies from Cheney Pentagon Show Push for U.S. Military Predominance and a Strategy to "Prevent the Reemergence of a New Rival"
Washington D.C., February 29, 2008 - The United States should use its power to "prevent the reemergence of a new rival" either on former Soviet territory or elsewhere, declared a controversial February 18, 1992 draft of the Defense Planning Guidance (DPG) prepared by then Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney's Pentagon and leaked to The New York Times in March 1992. Published in declassified form for the first time on the National Security Archive Web site, this draft, along with related working papers, shows how defense officials during the administration of George H. W. Bush, and under the direction of Principle Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Resources I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, tried to develop a strategy for maintaining U.S. predominance in the new post-Cold War, post-Soviet era.
Remarkably, these new releases censor a half dozen large sections of text that The New York Times printed on March 8, 1992, as well as a number of phrases that were officially published in January 1993 when Cheney released the public version of the guidance. "On close inspection none of those deleted passages actually meet the standards for classification because embarrassment is not a legal basis for secrecy," remarked Tom Blanton, director of the Archive. The language that the Times publicized can be seen side-by-side with the relevant portions of the February 18, 1992 draft that was the subject of the leak.
Public debate over the leaked Guidance--Sen. Joseph Biden (D-De) criticized it as "Pax Americana" thinking--led Libby and Undersecretary for Policy Paul Wolfowitz to tone down the draft to avoid controversial language. Nevertheless, the "Regional Defense Strategy" that was published under Cheney's name in January 1993 used different wording to affirm the same policies and the same purpose: to "preclude any hostile power from dominating a region critical to our interests."
In response to the Archive's original mandatory review request, the Department of Defense exempted from declassification all of the documents on the grounds that they were "pre-decisional" in nature. On appeal of the denials, the Archive sent copies of The New York Times coverage of the leaked DPG, including the extensive excerpts from the February 18, 1992 draft. The appeal was successful because the Defense Department released considerable material on the Guidance; nevertheless, Pentagon officials blacked out much of the information that the Times had already published. The documents are now before the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) for a final declassification review.
Visit the Web site of the National Security Archive for more information about today's posting.
(bron/source: persbericht NSA)
2/17/08
Colombian Paramilitaries and the United States
Colombian Paramilitaries and the United States: "Unraveling the Pepes Tangled Web". Documents Detail Narco-Paramilitary Connection to U.S.-Colombia Anti-Escobar Task Force. CIA Probed Whether U.S. Intelligence Was Passed to 'Los Pepes' Terror Group. Colombian Government Both Recipient and Target of U.S. Intelligence.
Washington D.C., February 16, 2008 - U.S. espionage operations targeting top Colombian government officials in 1993 provided key evidence linking the U.S.-Colombia task force charged with tracking down fugitive drug lord Pablo Escobar to one of Colombia's most notorious paramilitary chiefs, according to a new collection of declassified documents published today by the National Security Archive. The affair sparked a special CIA investigation into whether U.S. intelligence was shared with Colombian terrorists and narcotraffickers every bit as dangerous as Escobar himself.
The new documents, released under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, are the most definitive declassified evidence to date linking the U.S. to a Colombian paramilitary group and are the subject of an investigation published today in Colombia's Semana magazine.
The documents reveal that the U.S.-Colombia Medellín Task Force was sharing intelligence information with Fidel Castaño, paramilitary leader of Los Pepes (Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar), a clandestine terrorist organization that waged a bloody campaign against people and property associated with the reputed narcotics kingpin. One cable describes a series of meetings from April 1993 where, according to sensitive US intelligence sources, Colombian National Police director General Miguel Antonio Gómez Padilla said "that he had directed a senior CNP intelligence officer to maintain contact with Fidel Castano, paramilitary leader of Los Pepes, for the purposes of intelligence collection."
The new collection also sheds light on the role of U.S. intelligence agencies in Colombia's conflict--both the close cooperation with Colombian security forces evident in the Task Force as well as the highly-sensitive U.S. intelligence operations that targeted the Colombian government itself. Key information about links between the Task Force and the Pepes was derived from U.S. intelligence sources that closely monitored meetings between the Colombian president and his top security officials.
"The collaboration between paramilitaries and government security forces evident in the Pepes episode is a direct precursor of today's 'para-political' scandal," said Michael Evans, director of the National Security Archive's Colombia Documentation Project. "The Pepes affair is the archetype for the pattern of collaboration between drug cartels, paramilitary warlords and Colombian security forces that developed over the next decade into one of the most dangerous threats to Colombian security and U.S. anti-narcotics programs. Evidence still concealed within secret U.S. intelligence files forms a critical part of that hidden history."
Visit the Web site of the National Security Archive for more information.
(bron/source NSA)
2/11/08
Search in the 44 best German sites
Search with special Google site in 44 German archivessites.
Go to: Archivisches - Archivalia .
Good tip from Klaus Graf from Germany on his site Archivalia
