Rep. Terry Everett Congressional Office Records

Record Group 329

Table of Contents

Biography Scope/Content Note Series 1  Subject Files Series 2  Constituent Files Series 3  Media Files Series 4  Publications Series 5  Miscellaneous

Abstract

Member of the U.S. House 
of Representatives 
from Alabama's 2nd district 

In office
January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2009 
Born: February 15, 1937, Dothan, AL
Political Affiliation: Republican
Spouse: Barbara Pitts Everett
Military Service: USAF, 1955 - 1959
This collection documents the activities of Congressman Terry Everett (R-AL2) who represented southeast Alabama, 1993-2009. A conservative Republican, Mr. Everett was particularly interested in national security, armed forces, intelligence, agriculture, and veterans' affairs as demonstrated by his membership on House Committees and Subcommittees. He was also an active participant in the policy and politics of the era including the nation’s debt, annual deficits, the impeachment of President Clinton, the War in Afghanistan, the War in Iraq and the September 11, 2001, attack on American soil. The collection contains ca. 195 cubic feet of files from Mr. Everett's Washington, DC office, divided into five series, the most important of which are the Subject Files and the Constituent Files. 

Biographical Note

Table of Contents

1. Service in USAF
2. Journalist & Businessman
3. Congressional Career
4. Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
5. Retirement
6. Everett Committee Assignments
7. References

Congressman Robert Terry Everett served as the representative of Alabama’s Second Congressional District from 1993 until 2009.  On September 26, 2007, Everett announced his intention to retire at the end of the 110th Congress after the 2008 elections. Everett was born on February 15, 1937, in Dothan, Alabama, the son of Bob and Thelma Everett.  He lived and attended school in Midland City, Alabama.

Service in USAF
Upon graduation from high school, Everett joined the U.S. Air Force May 31, 1955, and was assigned to the 6901st Special Communication Group of the U.S. Air Force Security Service (USAFSS) from 1955 to 1959.  He served as intelligence analyst for reconnaissance aircraft flights including the U-2 which, as a congressman, he protected from defunding.  Wikipedia notes that the “USAFSS was essentially the United States Air Force's cryptographic intelligence branch . . . It was created in October 1948 and operated until 1979 . . . and is currently called the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency.  USAFSS was composed primarily of airmen culled from the cream of the Air Force's enlisted recruits (the top 1/2 of 1 percent), the USAFSS was a secretive and tight-knit branch of Air Force cold warriors tasked with monitoring, collecting and interpreting military voice and electronic signals of countries of interest.”1  These jobs required a top secret codeword clearance and Everett serving as an USAFSS analyst received his Top Secret clearance on February 14, 1956, and on December 15, 1958, his Crypto Codeword clearance.

The information collected in the field was usually sent via encrypted land-line and radio systems to USAFSS analysts who would interpret the data, format reports and send them on to the newly formed National Security Agency (NSA) or other recipients. The NSA shared these reports with all the government agencies involved in intelligence including every branch of the Armed services, the FBI, the CIA, and others. Many feel that if this kind of inter agency cooperation had existed in 2000, the plans for the 9/11 attacks would have been detected and the attacks prevented.

Journalist & Businessman
Everett began his three-decade career in journalism after leaving the Air Force.  He began as a reporter for The Dothan Eagle then became publisher and editor of The Graceville News and The Hartford News Herald.  In 1966, Everett and Barbara Pitts of Dothan pooled their resources to start weekly newspapers Down Home Today in Dothan and Daleville Today in Daleville.  The Everetts expanded their weeklies to include The Enterpriser and The Army Flier at Fort Rucker.  He later expanded into publishing dailies with The Daily Ledger in Enterprise and The Aurora Advertiser in Aurora, Missouri.  In 1983, the Everetts' business reached its peak when they founded Gulf Coast Media, and he became owner-publisher of The Baldwin Times, The Robertsdale Independent, The Fairhope Courier, The Foley Onlooker, The Gulf Shores Islander, The Spanish Fort Bulletin, and The Union Springs Herald.

The Everetts sold all of their newspaper holdings except The Union Springs Herald in1988, the same year Mrs. Everett received her MS in Counseling and Psychology from Troy State University Dothan.2   From 1986 to 1990, Mrs. Everett directed the Career Training Program for Displaced Homemakers and the Tutorial Assistance Program for High Risk College Students at Enterprise State Community College.  Later, the Everetts owned and operated Premium Homebuilders a residential construction company in Enterprise.3

By the late 1980s, Mr. Everett had become a prominent businessman and community leader in the Wiregrass.  He established Everett Land Development and served as president and chairman of the board of the Alabama Press Association, chairman of the board for Dothan Federal Savings Bank, president of the Daleville Chamber of Commerce, and member of the Environment Protection Commission for the Southeastern Region of the United States. 4

Congressional Career
In 1992, Everett ran as the Republican candidate for Alabama’s Second Congressional District, which includes part of Montgomery and stretches down to Dothan and the Wiregrass region.  After winning a rare Republican primary, he edged out his opponent, George C. Wallace Jr., by a margin of fewer than 4,000 votes.  Everett was reelected to seven terms after that, serving as congressman from 1993 to 2009.  Although his initial victory was narrow, he won later races with a high average of almost seventy percent.5

Agriculture is a major industry for Alabama's Second Congressional District, which is also home to three significant military installations – Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Air Force Base, and Fort Rucker.  As a new member of Congress, Everett won seats on the Armed Services, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs Committees.6  Later he was one of a few members of the House of Representatives to serve on four full commit- tees when, after September 11, 2001, he was appointed to the House Permanent Select Panel on Intelligence.  Representing both his Armed Services and Intelligence Panel positions, he was a member of the first congressional delegation to visit Bagdad, Iraq, during the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Much of Everett's effectiveness occurred because of his activities on various subcommittees.  He chaired the Agricultural Specialty Crops Subcommittee that sought to protect the nation’s low cost food supply and to increase crop options for Wiregrass farmers.  He encouraged farmers to look beyond traditional row crops for additional income by growing such crops as Satsuma oranges, pecans, and blueberries.  He also chaired the Veteran Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee that exposed abuse of burial wavers by politically-connected individuals to gain illegitimate interment at Arlington National Cemetery. 7

Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
Congressman Everett's most compelling assignment came in 2005 when he became the first chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, created to place national strategic assets — nuclear weapons, intelligence, satellites and missile defense systems — under one authorizing Subcommittee with an annual budget of fifty billion dollars.  He focused on improving space acquisition and procurement programs and beginning a national debate on space protection.  Everett spearheaded key legislative initiatives in national security space, including development of a space protection strategy, management of the space cadre and space acquisition personnel, and establishment of the Operationally Responsive Space Office.

His tenure as chairman of this subcommittee demonstrates his interests, focus, and method of operation, particularly as national security issues took prominence in the last four years of his terms.  Everett held frequent hearings and classified briefings on space control, threats, acquisition and procurement challenges, space cadre, and space policy.  Projects and concepts that he promoted included missile defense systems; improved global position systems (GPS); intelligence collection systems; nuclear security policy; Cobra Judy, a ship-based ballistic missile and space-tracking radar; Trans- formational Satellite Communications System (TSAT); the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) to replace aging and expensive-to-maintain Cold War-era nuclear weapons; the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), an effort to reach deeply buried fortified missile launch sites; and the National Space Studies Center.  Congress did not enact TSAT, RRW, or RNEP legislation.

Everett was particularly interested in maintaining the nation's superiority in high- altitude reconnaissance.  When the Air Force attempted to replace the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft with the RQ-4 Global Hawk in 2005, Everett inserted language in both the House Defense authorization bill and the House Select Intelligence Panel authorization bill which prohibited the Air Force from retiring the U-2 aircraft unless the Secretary of Defense certified there would be no loss of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.  This legislation proved prescience as the Global Hawk experienced development challenges and schedule delays, and the Air Force realized it needed to continue relying on the U-2 to support its worldwide intelligence needs.  When Republicans on the House Intelligence Panel attempted to de- fund the classified spacecraft X-37B program, Everett led the panel's Democratic members and two of his fellow Republicans to kill the defunding amendment.  He also defeated a Republican amendment to halt funding for Cobra Judy in the Intelligence Committee.

In October 2006, the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance honored Congressman Everett for his support of missile defense overall and for funding research and development of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system.  In September 2008, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) presented him its Gold Medal for his support of Nuclear Security.

Retirement
Mr. Everett's retirement was brief.  Within weeks after he left Congress, he was invited to the White House to discuss the Schriever V Space War Games 8   with members of the White House National Security Council, Air Force Space Command and the intelligence community.  Subsequently, Everett became the first active or retired member of Congress to participate in an Air Force space war game, and was appointed to the role of President of the United States (POTUS).  Over five hundred experts from the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia were involved in the different working cells, each of which used a “whole of government” approach to strategize about how to posture against possible attacks on America’s space systems.  Everett’s role as POTUS was to rule on final decisions made in the executive cell.

Following Schriever V, Everett was appointed as one of the four senior advisors to the Air Force Space Command’s Space Protection Program in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Then in 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed him to the Department of State’s International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) where he was a member of the Pakistan/South Asia study group.  When Secretary Clinton resigned in 2013, Everett resigned from ISAB, but newly-appointed Secretary of State John Kerry “respectfully declined” Everett's resignation.  Kerry urged Everett to continue serving as a member of the Board working on “some of our most important diplomatic and international security challenges.”    9

Terry and Barbara Everett, who were married in 1969, currently live on their farm located between Rehobeth and Malvern, Alabama.

Original research by Autumn Faulkner, 2011 
Written and edited by R. Terry Everett and Martin T. Olliff , Sept. 2012- Oct. 2013

Everett Committee Assignments

References

1 ^ “United States Air Force Security Service,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ United_States_Air_Force_Security_Service (accessed October 25, 2013).

2 ^ The Everetts sold T he Union Springs Herald in 2003. Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, “Everett, Robert Terry,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, U.S. House of Representatives, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?
index=E000268 (accessed November 30, 2011); “Terry Everett,” Wikipedia, http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Everett (accessed November 30, 2011).

3 ^ “Barbara Everett: A Biography,” March 1993, in Everett Congressional Papers, File 329-08-0226- 011-026, Wiregrass Archives, Troy University Dothan Campus, Dothan, AL (hereafter Everett Collection, Wiregrass Archives)

4 ^ Office of the Clerk, “Everett, Robert Terry.”

5 ^ “2 Terry Everett: of Enterprise—Elected 1992, First Term,” Photocopied pages from unknown publication, published 1993, pages 24-25, in File 329-08-0226-011-026, Everett Collection, Wiregrass Archives.

6 ^ “2 Terry Everett (R) of Enterprise—Elected 1992, Second Term,” unknown publication, published 1995, pages 12-13, in File 329-08-0226-011-026, Everett Collection, Wiregrass Archives.

7^ In a most telling incident, Ambassador M. Larry Lawrence had gained burial at Arlington illegitimately. As a result of Everett's hearings, Lawrence’s body was disinterred, others were forced to relinquish wavier-awarded burial plots, and Congress passed tighter restrictions on burial waivers for Arlington.

8 ^ Eight-day war games held annually at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

9 ^ Letter, Secretary of State John Kerry to Mr. Everett, Wiregrass Archives.

Scope and Content Note

The Everett Congressional Records contain approximately 195 cubic feet of material that document Rep. Everett's activities as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the Second District of Alabama, 1993-2009.  His records cover the committees on which he served, his work on bills concerning agriculture, defense, veteran's affairs, appropriations, and other political and policy issues of his tenure in office.  Also documents his interaction with and advocacy for his Alabama constituents, and those political activities required of his office.  In addition to office records, this collection includes personal and administrative correspondence, legislation, records of interaction with the White House, campaigns, text of bills, books and reports, media interaction, and news- paper articles / op-ed pieces penned by and for Mr. Everett.

Collection organized into 5 series:

1. Subject Files, 1993-2009
2. Constituent Files, 1993-2008
3. Sub-series: Correspondence from Constituents to Office
4. Sub-series: Correspondence from Office to Federal Agencies
5. Media Files, 1992-2008
6. Publications Received
7. Miscellaneous, 1992-2008

Arrangement Notes:  The office arranged Subject Files according to a key created and edited by Chief of Staff Clay Swanzy, and kept these files in the office filing system for one year past their date. After one year, the office delivered Subject Files to the National Archives.  The office arranged Constituent Correspondence, which staff called "Alphas," alphabetically by personal name and kept those files in the office filing system for two years.  All Washington, DC, Office files (except those for 2008 and 2009) were sent to the National Archives Record Center in Suitland, MD, then transshipped to the Wiregrass Archives after 2002.

Processing Notes: The processing staff at the Wiregrass Archives sampled some Subject Files to reduce bulk while retaining evidential value of the records.  The file-level inventory indicates which files were sampled.  The staff sampled Constituent Files to reduce bulk, protect privacy while enabling access, and retain evidence of how the office handled constituent business.  Series descriptions carry more information about how staff did this sampling.

Series Descriptions

Series 1  Subject Files, 1993-2008,  Extent:  ca. 161 cubic feet

Documents Rep. Everett's committee and subcommittee service and his interaction with offices in the federal bureaucracy.  Also documents his interests in political and economic policy and issues.  Contains reports, research materials, white papers, legislation, correspondence, memoranda, etc.

Arranged by subject key provided by Chief of Staff (Clay Swanzy to 2005, thereafter Wade Heck).  Keys contain ca. 16-22 subject areas further divided into sub-areas.

Series 2  Constituent Files, 1993-2008  Total extent:  ca. 11.5 cubic feet

Documents interaction between Rep. Everett's Washington DC office and his constituents in AL-2.  These are individual letters, usually asking for Mr. Everett's assistance with a federal office as well as Everett's office correspondence with appropriate federal agencies to resolve constituent issues.

Organized  into 2  subseries:

• Correspondence between Constituents and Mr. Everett's office. 1993- 2009. Ca. 6 cubic feet.
• Arranged alphabetically by senders' name. Files (rather than letters) sampled at 20 percent to reduce bulk and protect privacy while maintaining evidential value of subseries.
• Correspondence between Mr. Everett's office and Appropriate Federal
  Agencies.  1998-2005.  Ca. 5.5 cubic feet
• Arranged by name of agency (though files are not always alphabetized). 
  Not sampled.

Series 3  Media Files, 1992-2008  Extent:  ca. 8.4 cubic feet.

Documents Mr. Everett and his positions on issues of the day.  Contains materials issued from Mr. Everett and his office (e.g.: interviews on VHS and press releases) as well as information about Mr. Everett (e.g.: newspaper clippings).

Contains newspaper columns and press releases written by Mr. Everett's office, VHS and audiotapes of news interviews with and stories about Everett, and an extensive set of newspaper clippings about Everett, gathered by Magnolia Clip- ping Service.  The clippings cover 1992-2008, and are identified by newspaper , place, and date. 
Columns and releases arranged by year.  Clippings arranged chronologically, often by month.  VHS and audiotapes arranged by date.

This series appears primarily in Accessions 329-08-1117 and 329-08-1208.

Series 4  Publications received by Everett's office.  Extent:  100 items

Published reports on a wide variety of Congressional and policy topics such as

NAFTA, veterans' affairs, military issues, and national security issues.  Includes Hearings, Reports, House Resolutions, mostly from the House Armed Services Committee and House National Security Committee of the 103rd – 110th Congress.

Specific topics covered include Veterans Affairs, military branches, Defense Reauthorization Acts, China, Iran, Iraq, Atomic Energy Defense, Space Power, Hurricane Preparedness, the attack on the USS Cole, Operation Iraqi Freedom.

This series appears almost exclusively in accession 329-08-0226.

Series 5  Miscellaneous, 1992-2008 Extent:  ca. 12 cubic feet.

Much of this material appears to parallel the Subject Files, though the folders themselves are not labeled according to the keys for that series.  Almost all of this series came from Mr. Everett's personal office in his Washington DC congressional office, and are either his personal reference files or are files from the subject file series that he pulled for research purposes.  Topics covered are of great interest to Mr. Everett and include Republican Party politics, Republican campaign and legislative initiatives, information on Alabama state politics, agriculture (particularly farm bills and peanuts), veterans' affairs, and the military.

Contains correspondence, speeches, reports and background information sent to Mr. Everett, research files, bill mark-up, and hearing transcripts.

Arranged roughly by topic, though files are not necessarily sequential.  These files appear mostly in accessions 329-08-1202, 329-08-1208, and 329-09-0056

Series 1 Subject Files (1993-2008)  Extent:  ca. 161 cubic ft

Documents Rep. Everett's committee and subcommittee service and his interaction with offices in the federal bureaucracy.  Also documents his interests in political and economic policy and issues.  Contains reports, research materials, white papers, legislation, correspondence, memoranda, etc. 
Arranged by subject key provided by Chief of Staff (Clay Swanzy to 2005, thereafter Wade Heck).  Keys contain ca. 16-22 subject areas further divided into sub-areas.

Files denoted as “[Sampled X%]” were randomly sampled, leaving ten or twenty percent of the total number of items, to reduce bulk.  These files contained multiple copies of issue campaign postcards and other communications, with hard copies of Everett office replies.  Staff retained twenty percent to provide evidence of how the office handled issue-related mass mailings.

Files denoted as “[Limited Access]” contain sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers.  Access requires special permission of the Archivist.