Presidential Commissioners Release Global Communications Recommendations

For Immediate Release Contact: Matt Lauer, (202) 619-4457

Report  advances "realistic and tangible" approaches to improve the government’s
information campaign directed at foreign audiences

WASHINGTON, Wednesday, September 18 – The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy today released a series of recommendations to improve the U.S. government’s public diplomacy efforts – how the nation informs and influences foreign audience.

"This report puts forth realistic and tangible approaches to improve the government’s communications efforts directed at citizens of foreign countries," said Chairman Harold C. Pachios at a State Department press conference today. "By taking the Commission’s recommended steps to reform public diplomacy’s structure and build its resources, our foreign communications initiatives will achieve greater efficacy."

The Commission’s report, Building America’s Public Diplomacy through a Reformed Structure and Additional Resources, is divided into a structural reform section, which includes leadership models and suggestions on private initiatives, and an allocation of resources section, which makes recommendations on funding levels.

Structural Reform

Issue a Presidential Mandate – The Commission calls on the President to immediately issue a Presidential Directive on public diplomacy. The Commission urges that the directive make clear public diplomacy is a strategic component of American foreign policy and that significant reform is needed.

Fully implement the White House Office of Global Communications – The Commission strongly supports the recently announced White House Office of Global Communications. The Commission believes this office should provide Presidential leadership to the departments and agencies that carry out public diplomacy, along with allies and private sector partners. For the office to be fully functional, the Commission recommends that it work closely with the Department of State, particularly the office of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Review the consolidation of the United States Information Agency into the State Department – The Commission has found that the Secretary of State is taking steps to strengthen the Department’s information, educational and cultural programs and upgrade the rank and status of those responsible for public diplomacy. But it recommends further review to ensure that public diplomacy is brought into all aspects of foreign policy decision-making.

Integrate Congress into public diplomacy efforts – The Commission recommends including lawmakers in publicdiplomacy planning and implementation at all stages. The Commission has observed that members of

Congress communicate, directly and indirectly, with foreign audiences in ways that can reinforce or undermine public diplomacy messages.

Involve the private sector – The Commission recognizes that important steps by the White House and State Department have been taken to involve private sector communication experts. However, the Commission believes that the government should further engage and contract with America’s advertising, public relations and entertainment industries for insight, creative concepts and critical judgment.

Allocating Resources

Recognize that money alone will not fix the problem – The Commission urges that any increase in public diplomacy resources must be tied directly to short- and long-term objectives and strategies and should be phased in over an appropriate time frame. The Commission recognizes many organizational changes do not require substantial additional funding.

Assess America’s readiness worldwide – The Commission advocates that the State Department and Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Voice of America, establish public diplomacy standards to include country-specific program and staffing requirements to address priorities and optimal spending on core elements of public diplomacy.

Examine the nation’s public diplomacy investment relative to other areas – The Commission notes that the $1 billion spent annually on the State Department’s information and exchange programs and U.S. international broadcasting represents just 1/25 of the nation’s international affairs budget. It believes new thinking and additional resources are required, not just for military and intelligence functions but for the propagation of information as well.

"The Commission’s recommendations present powerful new opportunities, while not relying exclusively on additional resources," Pachios said. "If we harness the potential of public diplomacy, integrate it into planning and implementation at the highest levels, and invest in its value as a strategic instrument, the government will achieve more in public diplomacy in the next few years than it has in the past decade."

The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy is a bipartisan Presidentially appointed panel created by Congress in 1948 to provide oversight of U.S. Government activities intended to understand, inform and influence foreign publics. The Commission reports its findings and recommendations to the President, the Congress, the Secretary of State and the American people. Current commission members include

Harold Pachios of Maine, who is the chairman; Charles Dolan of Virginia, who is the vice chairman; Penne Percy Korth of Washington, D.C.; Lewis Manilow of Illinois; and Maria Elena Torano of Florida.

View the report, or visit the Commission’s Web site