Marc J. Susser was appointed to the historian job in 2001 by President George W. Bush, and proceeded to take over the task of producing the voluminous “Foreign Relations of the United States” series. Over the next several years, morale began to plummet within the Office of the Historian, and an investigation by the State Department’s inspector general found that 75% of employees interviewed were critical of how the office was being managed. Allegations were reported of favoritism, cronyism, a lack of transparency, and lack of interest in the “Foreign Relations” series.

 

The IG investigation followed a warning letter last December from the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, which monitors the historian’s office and the foreign relations volumes, to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying, “The Historian’s Office has become an intolerable place to work; the exodus of experienced historians is significant; and the future of the Foreign Relations series is at risk.”

 

Apparently the committee took issue with Susser’s plans to prepare only 38 volumes covering U.S. foreign policy during the Reagan years—compared with the 57 volumes that were produced for the Nixon and Ford administrations combined. That series was produced despite having 2.5 million classified pages of information to draw from, while Susser had access to 8.5 million pages from Reagan’s two terms in office.

 

With Susser out, the Office of the Historian is now being led by acting director John Campbell, a former ambassador to Nigeria.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

After Critical Report, State Dept.'s Historian Is Reassigned (by Walter Pincus, Washington Post)

Management Review of the Office of the Historian Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State (Office of the Inspector General) (PDF)

State Dept. Crisis in the “Foreign Relations” Series (Secrecy News, Federation of American Scientists)