The National Archives is on the hunt for a new director of the Federal Register — one with a top-secret security clearance.
The director would administer the Federal Register as well as other legal publications that come out of the office. Considered the newspaper of the federal government, the Federal Register posts proposed and final federal regulations, notices, and executive orders. In addition, the director would coordinate voting within the Electoral College, and would plan and direct “the establishment and maintenance of emergency systems and facilities for the dissemination of laws and regulations of the Government in the event of a national emergency,” according to the USA Jobs posting announcing the position.
According to Amy Bunk, director of the National Archive’s Legal Affairs and Policy Division, the director needs the high-level clearance because “[u]nder 44 U.S.C. 1505, the Office of the Federal Register continues [to] publish even in emergency situations.”
Former Office of the Federal Register Director Charley Barth left the agency at the beginning of the month to take a job as executive director of enterprise content management at Cummins Inc., which designs, manufactures, distributes and services diesel and natural gas engines, agency staff said. According to a Federal Register blog post announcing his departure, Barth administered the Electoral College process for the 2012 presidential election while chief of the office. He also worked with the Government Printing Office to deploy a mobile app for the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents.
Under Barth’s direction, the agency received a Bright Idea award from Harvard University for its work on federalregister.gov.
“Federal Register 2.0, developed with free, open-source software, makes federal regulatory information available to the public in a web newspaper format,” the school said in a 2012 release.
Barth began his government career two decades ago as an intern for Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), according to his bio on NARA’s website. He also was the chief information officer for the U.S. Navy and Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act officer for the Department of Homeland Security. Before he took the directorship in 2012, Barth was director of records for the Navy.
Bunk is serving as acting director of the Office of the Federal Register until the agency fills the position. The position closes Nov. 21.
