Secretary and Salary: Deb Haaland $221,400
Fiscal year 2022 Budget Request: $17.6 Billion
Staffing: About 70,000 employees
Mission: The U.S. Department of the Interior protects and manages the Nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific and other information about those resources; and honors its trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated Island Communities.
Creation: March 3, 1849
Historical Facts:
1849- Thomas Ewing becomes first Secretary of the Interior
1872 Congress establishes Yellowstoneas the first National Park.
1879 Creation of the U.S. Geological Survey.
1916 President Wilson signed legislation creating The National Park Service.
1935 The Bureau of Reclamation completes construction of Hoover Dam.
1980 The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act is enacted adding 47 million acres to the National Park System and 54 acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System.
2001 Gale A. Norton is nominated the first woman to serve as Secretary of ...
I have enjoyed the previous books I read by Ben Macintyre. I picked this one up not knowing anything about Ursula Kuczynski. She grew up to be a very successful spy for the Soviet Union and received the code name Agent Sonya. I looked forward to reading this. Shortly after I began reading I was hoping I would read about when she would be caught.
Ursula lived a remarkable life. Born in Germany and coming of age in the 1920’s she was exposed to a world of turmoil. She became a committed communist early in life and would not be deterred from her ideology.
She traveled the world first leaving Germany for the United States partially to avoid marriage. She became a member of the Communist Party of the United States. After a stint in the USA she returned to Germany and married the man she had left behind. His career took them to China where her career as a spy began. From there she traveled to the Soviet Union for additional training and continued to work as a spy throughout Europe.
I found it ...
“The truth is sometimes a poor competitor in the market place of ideas – complicated, unsatisfying, full of dilemmas, always vulnerable to misinterpretation and abuse.”
George F. Kennan
