“With a board made up of august but potentially overextended public officials like the vice president of the United States, can the Smithsonian establish sufficiently rigorous day-to-day oversight? Does an organization with a $1 billion annual budget, 19 museums, 9 research centers and the National Zoo ultimately defy the effective leadership of a single executive at the top? Can the Smithsonian incorporate increasingly popular private-sector fund-raising strategies even as it receives 70 percent of its budget from Congress and has a board appointed by the government?”