{"id":22384,"date":"2026-07-30T21:12:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22384"},"modified":"2026-07-30T21:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:12:26","slug":"smithsonian-secretary-earned-4-4m-in-salary-benefits-since-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22384","title":{"rendered":"Smithsonian secretary earned $4.4M in salary, benefits since 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/30\/AP22284624957555_s718x929.jpg?cfc882c3688337d289c2dfe6f23850990af84f87\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch III collected more than $4.4 million in salary and added benefits between 2020 and 2024, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/smithsonian-exec-said-dei-must-be-at-center-institutions-raking-eye-popping-salary\">a Fox News Digital review<\/a> of the Smithsonian\u2019s tax filings. Mr. Bunch has also made diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion policy central to his tenure.<\/p>\n<p>The Smithsonian pays the secretary from private trust funds, making the position exempt from federal executive pay caps \u2014 though the arrangement could draw scrutiny given that roughly two-thirds of the institution\u2019s overall budget still comes from federal appropriations, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/about\/smithsonian_fy2025_mda.pdf\">its own 2025 management report<\/a>. Mr. Bunch\u2019s compensation, per the Smithsonian\u2019s 990 filings, hit $915,469 in salary plus $74,090 in benefits in 2024, with prior years ranging from $726,156 to $861,379 in salary and up to $68,391 in additional benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Bunch, the Smithsonian\u2019s 14th secretary, has made diversity policy central to his tenure. In a 2019 interview, he described the Smithsonian\u2019s role in elevating contested public debates, saying \u201cwe\u2019re really a great legitimizer,\u201d and cited his hope that the institution would help engage issues such as the \u201c1619 Project\u201d and climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Bunch also co-chaired the American Alliance of Museums task force behind a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aam-us.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/AAM-Excellence-in-DEAI-Report.pdf\">policy framework<\/a> urging museums to build DEAI requirements into job descriptions and performance reviews \u201cfrom the board of directors\u201d down to junior staff. In the document, he wrote that \u201cDEAI is integral to excellence in museum practice. FULL STOP.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The compensation disclosure comes as the Smithsonian faces pressure from the Trump administration over its handling of American history. A Domestic Policy Council <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Smithsonian-Report-Saving-Americas-Story.pdf\">report<\/a> alleged the National Museum of American History has undergone \u201cideological capture,\u201d arguing museum leadership\u2019s own statements show a shift toward \u201can extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.\u201d The report focused primarily on NMAH Director Anthea Hartig, who has said she wants history to function as \u201ca prime tool of social justice,\u201d but the White House review also noted that Ms. Hartig reports to Mr. Bunch, whose annual compensation the report cited at more than $989,000.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times&#8217; AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times&#8217; original reporting, wire services, and\/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/ai-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">AI policy<\/a> or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/jul\/30\/smithsonian-secretary-earned-44-million-salary-benefits-since-2020\/mailto:sfink@washingtontimes.com\">sfink@washingtontimes.com<\/a><br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/jul\/30\/smithsonian-secretary-earned-44-million-salary-benefits-since-2020\/mailto:aispotlight@washingtontimes.com\">aispotlight@washingtontimes.com<\/a>.<br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch III collected more than $4.4 million in salary and added benefits between 2020 and 2024, according to a Fox News Digital review of the Smithsonian\u2019s tax filings. Mr. Bunch has also made diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion policy central to his tenure. The Smithsonian pays the secretary from private trust&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/30\/AP22284624957555_c0-586-1932-1713_s1200x700.jpg?ffef8a363d295b37600ebea63ac0695760781013","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}