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SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS SEPTEMBER 1999 MODERATOR: ROBERT JOHNSON, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, U.S. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, LoWER COLORADO REGION I look forward to being the moderator of a very distinguished panel that can talk with some authority about the evolving role of the Secretary of the Interior in managing the Colorado River. I've been around the Colorado River for about 20 years. I've worked under a number of administrations and worked directly with a number of the people on this panel. AI; a career bureaucrat, I take the perspec- tive that, generally, the issues associated with the Colorado River are more geographical and, on a state basis, more subject to the pragmatic considerations of the day than the political considerations of the day. In fact, I theorize or hypothesize that there is not as great a practical difference in the decisions that are made by various Secretaries as we might sometimes think based on their political paro/. That, in fact, the decisions made are pragmatic. They're driven by the law, they're driven by the circumstances of the day o Panelists (left to right): Moderator Robert Johnson, Us. Bureau of Reclamation; John Sayre, Bush Administration; Guy Martin, Carter Administration; John Carver, Kennedyljohnson Administrations; and Joseph Sax, Clinton Administration. and not necessarily driven by Republican or Demo- cratic political considerations. Now, I'm willing to be proved wrong and I'm looking forward to hearing from the panel. We're going to follow in chronological order, starting with the Kennedy Administration. JOHN CARVER, FORMER AsSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION AND UNDER SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, JOHNSON ADMINISTRATION I want to make a couple of preliminary statements prompted by Major Powell's [actor/historian Clay Jenkinson] speech. AI; a member of an administration which began 38 years ago, I was struck with the point