ACCG FOIAs Any Behind the Scenes Communications with Connected Archaeological Insiders in Effort to Ascertain Whether Egyptian MOU is a Done Deal.

The ACCG has filed Freedom of Information Act requests to help ascertain whether as press reports suggest the Egyptian MOU has already been decided based on behind the scenes communications between State Department cultural bureaucrats and connected insiders associated with the archaeological community.

President Obama has promised transparency and ethical government decision making.   The ACCG is concerned that his State Department's decision making on an Egyptian MOU that will ban imports of antiquities of the sort widely and legally collected here and abroad may reflect neither.

The US State Department lectures Egypt and other developing countries constantly about the need for the rule of law, so concerns that CPAC review and the opportunity for public comment may have been eliminated or will be treated as mere window-dressing should be a concern not only to the ACCG, but to us all.