This entry from the "What's New" section of the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs website was recently brought to my attention.
It states,
Advisory Committee to Convene to Consider the MOU with Bolivia
The Cultural Property Advisory Committee will convene on June 27-28, 2011, to consider the proposal of Assistant Secretary Ann Stock to extend the existing Memorandum of Understanding with Bolivia, which entered into force in December 2001. The Federal Register Notice about the meeting contains details on how to submit written comments for the Committee, and how to reserve a seat at the open session of the meeting on June 27, 2011. Please read the information carefully, as the procedures have changed. (emphasis added)
http://exchanges.state.gov/heritage/whatsnew.html
Silly me. I thought Bolivia was asking for an extension of the current agreement, and Ann Stock, the decision maker, was not supposed to prejudge the issue.
One would hope that this was just a poorly drafted news item, but since agreements are typically renewed without much thought, perhaps the item may be more accurately characterized as a bureaucratic Freudian slip.
This reminds me of their Freudian Slip during the Cyprus MOU coverage when candid comments were inadvertently published in an ECA web page video and then quickly removed after being cited in a private blog. For most agencies, these kinds of slips would be an embarrassment, but not for the teflon-coated DOS. These little bloopers are nothing compared to ECA's blatant disregard for law that goes unchecked as well. On second thought, maybe they are indeed a reflection of that disregard.
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