[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 19 (Wednesday, February 3, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E130-E131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CONTINUE THE U.S. ADVISORY COMMISSION ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TIM ROEMER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 3, 1999

  Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to focus the attention of the 
House of Representatives on a short-sighted decision by Congress last 
year to terminate the United States Advisory Commission on Public 
Diplomacy, an oversight board of the U.S. Information Agency. The 
advisory commission expires at the end of this fiscal year as a result 
of a miscellaneous provision hidden inside the Omnibus Appropriations 
Act of 1999, which was enacted hastily by the 105th Congress before 
adjournment. Today, I am introducing legislation with the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Houghton) to continue the advisory commission.
  The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy is a highly 
distinguished Presidentially-appointed panel created by Congress to 
look broadly into the public interest of U.S. government activities 
intended to inform, understand and influence public groups in foreign 
countries. The advisory commission is responsible for assessing the 
public diplomacy policies and related programs of the United States 
Information Agency, other U.S. foreign affairs organizations, and U.S. 
missions located overseas. It has an excellent track record for helping 
the State Department and USIA achieve its foreign policy goals and 
giving the American people a meaningful return for their tax dollars.
  The advisory commission was created by Congress in 1948 and has 
remained an independent and bipartisan oversight board for more than 
half a century. The seven commissioners are appointed by the President 
with the advice and consent of the Senate. They are all private 
citizens who represent different professional backgrounds and who 
volunteer their own time as commissioners with the conviction that 
public diplomacy is indispensable to the national interest and to U.S. 
foreign policy. The advisory commission reports its findings and 
recommendations to the President, the Congress, the Secretary of State, 
the Director of USIA, and the American people. It meets on a monthly 
basis and has a full-time staff of four with an average annual budget 
of less than $450,000. Over the last three years, the advisory 
commission has returned an average of $75,000.
  Since its creation, the advisory commission has provided oversight of 
our international exchange programs, international broadcasting, and 
publicly-funded activities of foreign non-governmental organizations. 
Over the years, it has been chaired by many distinguished members and 
published several highly acclaimed reports. Recently, the advisory 
commission has arrived at serious conclusions regarding the training, 
promotion and spending policies of the State Department and USIA. 
Accordingly, it has also recommended insightful and intelligent new 
approaches to guide U.S. diplomats away from current methods that can 
render them ill-equipped to relate to foreign citizens, foreign news 
media and the nongovernmental organizations, which are increasingly 
influential in shaping international policy- and opinion-making. These 
recommendations are intended to help our diplomats communicate more 
effectively with people other than just their official counterparts and 
help them recognize and understand foreign attitudes and thinking.
  In 1996, for example, the advisory commission issued a series of 
recommendations under the publication ``A New Diplomacy for the 
Information Age,'' which called for the combination of the State 
Department's expertise in dealing with foreign states and USIA's 
expertise in dealing with foreign publics to maximize the ``edge'' we 
enjoy in information and communications technology. Subsequently, the 
advisory commission made additional recommendations in the report 
entitled ``Publics and Diplomats in the Global Communications Age,'' 
which called for more public diplomacy training for all diplomats and 
establishing a permanent interagency coordinating body to develop and 
implement diplomatic communication strategies.
  The advisory commission's reports illustrate how the increase in 
global communications and technology makes foreign publics far more 
important than ever and why we should use our advanced skills in these 
areas to inform, understand and influence those foreign publics. Last 
year's report, for instance, explains how Saddam Hussein used public 
diplomacy to his advantage when he shifted the focus of the world media 
from his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction to the tragic suffering 
of Iraqi children, a campaign that did nothing to help the United 
States build the same coalition in 1998 as assembled against Saddam's 
sinister regime in 1991. The advisory commission's report, which can be 
accessed via USIA's web page, also includes intelligent and thoughtful 
recommendations on how to deal with such problems in the future. I 
believe this represents one of the most important advisory functions of 
the commission, and I encourage my colleagues to read the report.
  While the State Department reorganization section of the omnibus 
appropriations legislation retained the advisory commission to the Arms 
Control and Disarmament Agency, it eliminated the advisory commission 
to USIA--a much larger agency. It is important to indicate that there 
was no provision for the elimination of the advisory commission in the 
bill as originally passed by the conference committee deliberating the 
State Department reorganization bill. However, since the omnibus 
appropriations legislation was not opened for amendments, it was not in 
order to vote on the advisory commission's continuance. That was not a 
fair consideration of its future, and

[[Page E131]]

it certainly does not represent good public policy concerning our 
diplomatic and foreign policy goals.
  Mr. Speaker, the State Department consolidation is an overdue 
reinvention of the U.S. foreign policy establishment for the 
information age. This reorganization can help us take advantage of our 
edge in information and technology by using public diplomacy. During 
the transition period involving USIA's merger into the State 
Department, the advisory commission's role would be significant as the 
two cultures learn to work with one another. The advisory commission 
has a proven track record in making recommendations to Congress and the 
Administration in support of this strategy and making it work. It is 
simply not enough to train our diplomats about the language and culture 
of a foreign country. Nor should they be trained as narrowly focused 
and secretive specialists who fail to grasp the extent to which the 
world has changed around them. Rather, we must help them take advantage 
of the ever-increasing breadth of information and technology in order 
to effectively reach out and express our message and principles 
concerning democracy, human rights, free markets and American 
traditional values. The advisory commission should be continued, and 
for these reasons I urge my colleagues to support this important 
bipartisan legislation.

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