More recently, the Commission has developed an action plan in cooperation with the National Forum on Information Literacy, a key component of which is to explore with the National Governors Association how the Commission and the Nation's library systems can assist in achieving the key national goal on Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning. It is anticipated that from this initiative will emerge a second National symposium on libraries and literacy, involving the public and private sectors and various professional societies. Further, Commission staff is in the process of identifying the gamut of Federal legislation on literacy to determine implications for libraries and possible areas of contribution and coordination.

Services for Native Americans

MR. HARKIN: I understand that the Commission has formed an interagency task force to hold hearings and address some of the concerns among Native Americans about the lack of library services in tribal communities.

Will the Commission be holdings its fourth hearing in the Northwest this spring as planned?

MR. REID: The fourth hearing will be held in the Pacific Northwest as planned, but because of time and planning constraints, as well as the efforts devoted to planning for the White House Conference this July, this activity has been rescheduled for Friday, August 16 in Seattle, Washington. It will be preceded by four days of selected site visits to Native American reservations in Montana, California, Washington, and Alaska.

MR. HARKIN: How are the statistics and information collected through this hearing process being used to generate a plan for improving services to tribes and underserved populations?

MR. REID: The data collected through the hearing process and other sources have been carefully studied by Commission staff and consultants and a draft long-range plan was recently developed with considerable input from the Native American library community and others concerned about the needs of Native American reservations and underserved populations. The draft long-range plan, titled Strategic Plan for the Development of

Library and Information Services to Native Americans, was distributed to all delegates to the Native American pre-White House Conference on Library and Information Services held in Arlington, Virginia, February 28 March 3, 1991, and was favorably endorsed through the resolution process. It is expected that this publication will become the cornerstone for the planning and improvement of Native American library and information services through the decade of the 1990's and beyond. A copy of the draft plan has been submitted for the hearing record.

Information Transfer

MR. HARKIN: Mr. Reid, I've spoken to a lot of individuals, both in my state and others, who are certain that quick access to verifiable information is one key component to improving our international competitiveness. The Federal government and our public university system are two of the main producers of this "cutting-edge" information, whether it is in the area of agriculture, biotechnology or business statistics.

What is the Commission doing to study and prescribe better ways of distributing information electronically from government to the private sector using the latest technology?

MR. REID: The Commission has been integrally involved in programs, plans, and discussions concerning the emerging National Research and Education Network (NREN). Working closely with the Association of Research Libraries, EDUCOM, and CAUSE in the newly formed Coalition on Networked Information, NCLIS has been discussing how libraries and information service providers can use the new electronic network technology to better support the research and development needs of the Nation's industries. Hearing from those engaged in research and policy studies in the areas of telecommunications, satellite transmission of educational programming, and network technology researchers, the Commission has identified areas of policy concern which are central to the effective development and implementation of the new National "digital highway."

In addition, Commission staff has been in close touch with other Federal agencies involved with developing and revising regulations concerning electronic information, especially digital databases containing records produced at public expense. The issues of ownership, access, economics, and technical

standardization are complex and challenging as we continue to progress towards a more electronic information age in the near future.

The Commission is planning for future programs in this area which build on those which resulted in the formulation of "Principles of Public Information." That effort involved hearings with representatives from the Federal, private, and public sectors concerned with the policy implications of information technology for government information.

Finally, the Commission is planning to address the global issue of information economics and the importance of information resources for internatioal economic competitiveness in the next round of tri-lateral meetings which resulted in the Glenerin Declaration.

U.S. INSTITUTE OF PEACE

STATEMENT OF AMBASSADOR SAMUEL W. LEWIS, PRESIDENT

ACCOMPANIED BY CHARLES E. NELSON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

BUDGET REQUEST

Senator HARKIN. Next is the U.S. Institute of Peace and Ambassador Samuel Lewis, President of the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The Institute is requesting $11.9 million for fiscal year 1992, an increase of $3.5 million over last year's level.

Ambassador Lewis, it is a pleasure to welcome you here. I want to commend you and the Institute staff for all of your ongoing efforts, especially to educate the Nation during the recent crisis.

Now, more than ever, the Institute has a critical and lasting role to play in shaping the future debate about conflict, conflict resolution, cultural barriers, and successful conflict resolution in the Mideast. Your work at the Institute has been vital to understanding these issues in the past, and I look forward to hearing your plans for the Institute in this and other areas during our time together today.

I yield to Senator Specter.

Senator SPECTER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I join the Chairman in welcoming you gentlemen here. Ambassador Lewis has done outstanding work in the public and private sector and is a very forceful advocate for the U.S. Institute of Peace. I have participated with Ambassador Lewis and had occasion to visit him when he was Ambassador in Tel Aviv. I had a chance to meet with him very briefly yesterday, and I expressed the regret to him that we couldn't offer him more money in the public sector. I would like to see him back in public life, and he commented that he could do more good on his private pursuits, and I will defer to his judgment on that.

I express my regret that I cannot stay. We are moving on a Desert Shield package today and I am ranking Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee, and I have to go to the floor shortly. But I did want to come by especially to comment here and to express these words of admiration for the U.S. Institute of Peace and Ambassador Lewis.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator HARKIN. Thank you, Senator Specter.

I associate myself with the words of Senator Specter. Thank you. Please proceed.

Ambassador LEWIS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you very much, Senator Specter.

Mr. Chairman, I first would like to start by expressing again our tremendous admiration and gratitude for the support that this subcommittee has given to the Institute of Peace. This is the fourth

time that I have had the privilege to appear before this subcommittee, and you and your colleagues have helped us to grow from a very tender and not very well established plant as a new institution to a strong adolescence. And we have matured a great deal in these 4 years with your support and encouragement to the point where we have now great breadth of capacities to contribute to our Nation's vocation of being a more effective peacemaker in this world, and not just a more effective warmaker when the occasion requires.

We are presenting our budget this year at a very special time in world history. Kuwait is liberated and the war in the gulf is over, but the stable peace in that region is not by any means assured. In Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union the cold war has ended, but the political wars remain unabated and, indeed, perhaps are intensifying. And in other parts of the world there are many intrastate and international conflicts that continue to bedevil nations from Southeast Asia to Central America.

There are also some constructive trends. Democracy is beginning to take fragile hold in a lot of countries where it has not been common. And certainly out of the gulf crisis, it is clear that the United Nations may now be able to play more of the peacemaking and peacekeeping role that the charter framers originally planned for it, if we are smart enough to build on the experience of the gulf United Nations effort. All of these trends suggest that our work at the Institute, as you have just said, is honestly more timely and more needed than ever.

FUNDING REQUEST

We are seeking, as you said, an appropriation of $11.918 million for the next fiscal year. That has two major components; $10.243 million is for the programs we had planned before the military engagements began mid-January in the gulf, and that figure includes the funding necessary for the new Spark M. Matsunaga Medal of Peace which Congress authorized right at the end of the last session in 1990.

It also includes $1.675 million for the Institute's new special program in Middle East peacekeeping and conflict resolution, which we have established to respond to the extraordinary challenge of turning this region so riven by war into a more stable and enduring arena of peace in the years immediately ahead. With a victory in the gulf war, I believe that the next 18 to 24 months will be a very critical time for the United States and for some other countries who seek along with us a more peaceful, prosperous, just and stable Middle East order. But the obstacles are enormous, and I will not repeat them here. My statement goes into the details, and I assume that my full statement, Mr. Chairman, will be entered in the record. So, I do not want to take a lot of time reading it, but I do want to continue by hitting a few of the highlights, if I might.

SPECIAL MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM

The war has changed so much in that region that major diplomatic initiatives-which President Bush and Secretary Baker have already begun to launch, and initiatives by others in our allied coa