January 26, 1970
Dear Dan:
If your proposition is correct, namely that it is the executive secretaries themselves that created and maintained a blacklist, then, clearly, I am quite wrong in proposing to allow these same executive secretaries to reintroduce formerly blacklisted names: And perhaps, as you say, my contacts with executive secretaries have exposed me only to those who would not have taken part in any blacklisting.   In fact, in a recent discussion with one such executive secretary, I had the clear impression that the blacklisting was occurring at a higher level; since he said that names he had submitted often were not processed for reasons that he could never fathom or discover.
In any case, I can see your point of view and if it takes pressure from Study Section members to get the executive secretaries to reintroduce a formerly blacklisted nomination, then I would be all for putting that pressure on.  My argument in the last letter was based solely on the assumption that it was in the bureaucracy of the NIH, perhaps even at the policy making level, that discrimination against certain people is being exercised.
With best regards,
Sincerely,
Paul Berg