§8617A United States Navy Museum System

Summary

The Secretary of the Navy must run and support an official group of Navy museums called the United States Navy Museum System. The system includes these museums by name: the National Museum of the United States Navy; the United States Naval Academy Museum; the Naval War College Museum; the Submarine Force Museum; the National Naval Aviation Museum; the USS Constitution Naval History and Heritage Command, Detachment Boston; the United States Navy Seabee Museum; the Puget Sound Navy Museum; the Naval Undersea Museum; the National Museum of the American Sailor; and the Hampton Roads Naval Museum. The Secretary can also add other museums that meet set rules. The Secretary must make rules for adding and for closing museums. To be added, a museum must be important to Navy history or technology or people, be open to the public with education programs, and match the Navy’s goal of preserving its history. A museum cannot close until the Secretary tells the House and Senate Armed Services Committees a plan for caring for the collections, how staff issues will be handled, any efforts to keep the museum running with public-private help, and a cost analysis for moving or storing the collections. The committees must have 90 days after getting that notice before the museum can close. The Secretary may work with partners, including nonprofits, to help pay for and promote the museums.