[United States Government Manual] [June 01, 1999] [Pages 694-701] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY 301 Fourth Street SW., Washington, DC 20547 Phone, 202-619-4700. Internet, http://www.usia.gov/. Director Penn Kemble, Acting Chief of Staff Joyce Kravitz Deputy Director Harriet L. Elam, Acting Counselor Harriet L. Elam Chairman, U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Harold Pachios Diplomacy Vice Chairman, U.S. Advisory Commission on Charles Dolan, Jr. Public Diplomacy Director, Office of Civil Rights Hattie P. Baldwin General Counsel Les Jin Director, Office of Congressional and Ronna A. Freiberg Intergovernmental Affairs Director, Office of Public Liaison Marthena Cowart Director, Office of Research and Media Reaction Ann T. Pincus Deputy Director Stephen M. Shaffer Associate Director for Broadcasting Evelyn S. Lieberman Director, Voice of America Evelyn S. Lieberman Director, Office of Public Affairs Mary Ellen Glynn Director, Office of Budget and John Sholhead Planning Director, Office of Affiliate Myrna Whitworth Relations and International Media Training Director, Office of Personnel and John S. Welch Administration Director, Office of Policy Steve Munson Director, Office of Program Review Oksana Dragan Director, Office of Engineering and George Woodard Technical Operations Director, Office of WORLDNET John Lennon, Acting Television and Film Service Director, Office of Cuba Herminio San Roman Broadcasting Director, Radio Marti Rolando Bonachea Director, TV Marti Antonio Dieguez President, Radio Free Europe/Radio (vacancy) Liberty, Inc. (RFE/RL) [[Page 695]] Broadcasting Board of Governors: Chairman Brian Conniff Members Cheryl Halpern, Edward E. Kaufman, Penn Kimble, Tom C. Korologos, Bette Bao Lord, Alberto J. Mora, Marc B. Nathanson, Carl Spielvogel Chief of Staff Kathleen Harrington Director of Evaluation and Analysis Anthony Scardino Legal Counsel John A. Lindburg Budget Officer Carley Ford Program Review Officer Bruce Sherman Confidential Assistant Brenda Hardnett Associate Director for Information Jonathan Spalter Deputy Associate Director John Dwyer Director, Geographic Liaison J. Davis Hamell Director, Thematic Programs Rosemary Crochett Director, Foreign Press Centers Marjorie Ransom Director, Support Services C. Anthony Jackson Executive Officer Stephen Sinclair Associate Director for Educational and Cultural William B. Bader Affairs Deputy Associate Director Judith S. Siegel Executive Director, Cultural Marie Papageorge Property Staff Kouroupas Staff Director, J. William Fulbright Beverly Lindsey Foreign Scholarship Board Director, Office of Citizen Brian Sexton Exchanges Director, Office of International Leslie A. Wiley Visitors Director, Office of Academic Keith Gieger Programs Director, Office of Policy and Van S. Wunder Evaluation Executive Officer J. David Whitten Associate Director for Management Henry Howard, Jr. Deputy Associate Director John Baker Director, Office of Administration Eileen Keane Binns Director, Office of Technology Daniel S. Campbell Director, Office of Human Resources Jan Brambilla Comptroller, Office of the Stanley M. Silverman Comptroller Director, Office of Security Larry W. Smith Director, Office of Contracts Edward G. Muller, Acting Executive Officer Daniel D. Dunning Director, Office of African Affairs Marilyn Hulbert Deputy Director Patrick J. Corcoran Director, Office of Inter-American Affairs Linda Jewell Deputy Director Joe Johnson Director, Office of East Asian and Pacific William Maurer Affairs Deputy Director Greta Morris Director, Office of West European and Canadian Brian Carlson Affairs Deputy Director Richard Virden Director, Office of East European and NIS Robert E. McCarthy Affairs Deputy Director Paul R. Smith [[Page 696]] Director, Office of North African, Near Eastern, David P. Good and South Asian Affairs Deputy Director Daniel Sreebny [For the United States Information Agency statement of organization, see the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 22, Part 504] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The mission of the United States Information Agency is to understand, inform, and influence foreign communities in promotion of the national interest; and to broaden the dialog between Americans, their institutions, and counterparts abroad. In support of that mission, the Agency conducts academic and cultural exchanges, international broadcasting, and a wide variety of informational programs. The Agency is known as the U.S. Information Service overseas. The legislative mandates of the United States Information Agency (USIA) derive from the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. 1431) and the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2451). The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act's purpose is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. It prohibits, with certain exceptions approved by Congress, dissemination within the United States of materials produced by the Agency for distribution overseas. It also requires the Agency to make its overseas program materials available for public inspection at its Washington, DC, headquarters. The Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act authorizes educational and cultural exchanges between the United States and other countries, as well as United States participation in international fairs and expositions abroad. The executive level offices of the Agency are the Office of Public Liaison, Office of the General Counsel, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of Civil Rights, and the Office of Research and Media Reaction. Activities The activities of the U.S. Information Agency are based on the premise that government-to-government relations depend on public diplomacy strategies, because they affect individuals and institutions who influence their governments. Increasingly, foreign relations are not simply the prerogative of foreign ministries conducting communications along narrowly defined bureaucratic channels. On this basis, USIA has three established goals: --increased understanding and acceptance of U.S. policies and U.S. society by foreign audiences; --broadened dialog between American and U.S. institutions and their counterparts overseas; and --increased U.S. Government knowledge and understanding of foreign attitudes and their implications for U.S. foreign policy. To accomplish its goals, the Agency conducts a variety of activities overseas, including educational exchanges, international radio and television broadcasting, distribution of transcripts and official texts of significant U.S. Government policy statements, maintaining information resource centers overseas with online reference capabilities, assisting the mass media in bringing information about U.S. foreign policy to audiences around the world, and facilitating linkages between American and foreign nongovernmental institutions. Functional Elements The four major functional elements of the Agency are the International Broadcasting Bureau, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Bureau of Information, and the Bureau of Management. International Broadcasting Bureau The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) was established by the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994. While a part of USIA, IBB receives decisionmaking and operational [[Page 697]] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T185193.071 [[Page 698]] guidance from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The Bureau consists of the Voice of America, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and WORLDNET Television and Film Service. Two other U.S. Government entities, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia, are grantee organizations that receive annual grants of congressionally appropriated funds from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The Voice of America (VOA) is the International Broadcasting Bureau's functional element for worldwide radio broadcasting. VOA operates in accordance with the act of January 27, 1948, as amended (22 U.S.C. 1463), which requires that it serve as a consistently reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and comprehensive news source. It must present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions. VOA produces and broadcasts radio programs in 52 languages, including English, for overseas audiences, and to over 1,100 affiliate stations worldwide. Its programming includes world and regional news, reports from correspondents on the scene, analyses of worldwide events, feature programs, music, and editorials. The Office of Cuba Broadcasting oversees all programming broadcast for Cuba on Radio Marti and TV Marti programs. In keeping with the principles of the VOA charter, both services offer their audiences accurate and objective news reports and features on American culture and opinion. Radio Marti broadcasts on medium and shortwave frequencies. TV Marti is available on VHF (very high frequency) and international satellite. The WORLDNET Television and Film Service is responsible for organizing and directing the International Broadcasting Bureau's worldwide television and film activities. The areas of responsibility encompass: producing programs and interactive press conferences for the WORLDNET satellite delivery system; newsfiles in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Mandarin, Polish, Serbian, Ukrainian, and Russian; producing and acquiring films and videotapes for direct projection or placement overseas; providing facilitative assistance to visiting foreign television and film producers; operating television news bureaus at foreign press centers; providing assistance to foreign broadcasters in the production and telecast of cooperative television programs; serving as the Bureau's primary point of contact with American motion picture and television industries; and coordinating with other U.S. and foreign government agencies on the dissemination of information overseas through motion pictures and television. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc. (RFE/RL) is a private, nonprofit corporation funded by U.S. Government grants. It broadcasts more than 700 hours weekly of news, analysis, and current affairs in 23 languages to more than 25 million regular listeners in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. RFE/RL also reaches listeners from U.S. Government-funded shortwave stations in Spain, Portugal, Germany, Thailand, and the Philippines and via satellite to local AM/FM stations including national networks in Ukraine, the Baltic States, Bulgaria, the Czech and Slovak Republics, and Kyrgyzstan. Major AM/FM stations in Russia, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, the Caucasus, and Central Asia also carry RFE/RL programs. Radio Free Asia Established in 1996, Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation funded by U.S. Government grants. It provides news and commentary about regional events, broadcasting in Mandarin Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, Korean, Lao, Khmer, and Vietnamese. Bureau of Information The Bureau of Information is USIA's primary source of information products for its posts and publics abroad. It is moving into new electronic communications media as fast as technology permits, while maintaining an extensive line of print products, operating a specialized wire service, facilitating the activities of foreign media in the United States, and operating a worldwide speakers bureau on significant issues in foreign affairs. [[Page 699]] The Bureau has created an interactive CD-ROM on student counseling and a weekly series of Internet-based electronic journals covering major issues to complement its wide range of electronic media. These products focus on representing enduring American values, particularly individual freedom and equality under the law, and on promoting democratization, market economics, human rights, the rule of law, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. The Bureau's offices and teams are organized around major themes in public diplomacy, regional concerns and interests, and media specialties. Its products and services are produced in response to requirements set by USIA field posts and U.S. foreign affairs priorities. The Office of Geographic Liaison serves as the primary point of contact with the field. In addition, it provides comprehensive research and bibliographic assistance and editing and distribution for time- sensitive texts. The Office functions as a regional news service, providing operational support and advice to more than 100 USIS documentation and information resource centers and libraries overseas, and managing regional operations of the Bureau's international wire service, the Washington File. The Office responds to the special needs of each of the Agency's overseas posts. The Office of Thematic Programs creates information products keyed to themes in American foreign policy that have been identified as vital: Economic Security, Political Security, Democracy and Human Rights, U.S. Society and Values, and Global Issues and Communication. Equally important is the Office's active speakers program, in which physical travel by the Nation's leading experts on identified issues is supplemented by video and audio conferencing with their counterparts abroad. Foreign Press Centers have been established in Washington, DC, New York City, and Los Angeles to give foreign journalists visiting or residing in the United States information about U.S. policies and access to policymakers. The Centers are affiliated with a network of locally initiated and funded International Press Centers in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Miami, and Seattle. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administers programs authorized by the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (the Fulbright-Hays Act), including academic exchanges, short-term professional exchanges, youth exchanges, cooperative projects with private organizations, and English- teaching programs. It also provides staff support for the Presidentially appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and for the Cultural Property Advisory Committee. The Bureau consists of the following offices: The Office of Academic Programs develops and coordinates a wide variety of academic educational exchange and English language-teaching programs. It oversees the administration of more than 7,000 grants each year to U.S. citizens to study, teach, and conduct research abroad, and for foreign nationals to conduct similar activities in the United States. The best known of the exchanges supported by this office is the Fulbright Program which operates in more than 120 countries. The Office of Academic Programs maintains a worldwide information network about educational opportunities in the United States, and supports programs which enhance the experiences of foreign students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities. The Office also encourages and supports U.S.- based studies at foreign universities and other institutions of higher learning. Worldwide support for English language training is provided through overseas-based language consultants, development of English language teaching materials, and a variety of teacher training seminars and fellowships. The Office of International Visitors arranges informative visits to the United States for almost 5,000 influential foreign leaders each year in such fields as government, economics, labor, journalism, the arts, and education. [[Page 700]] Selected individuals, who are nominated by United States Information Service posts, travel throughout the country meeting counterparts in their fields of interest. They also meet with Americans in their homes or other informal settings. The Office also manages the Agency's New York reception center; serves as the Agency's liaison with the large network of public and private organizations involved in the international visitor program; and arranges programs in the United States for United Nations fellows and foreign government trainees. The Office of Citizen Exchanges provides funding to American nonprofit institutions for international exchange and training programs which support agency goals and objectives. Nonprofit institutions may submit proposals only in response to requests for proposals (RFP's) published by the Office, and these proposals are judged among others in the competition. Programs usually involve professional, nonacademic exchanges--often with study tours, workshops, and internships as key components, and taking place in multiple phases overseas and in the United States. Emphasis is usually on nontechnical themes such as democracy-building, journalism, the role of government, or conflict resolution. The Office also administers all high school exchange programs sponsored by USIA, including major special initiatives in East Europe and the former Soviet Union, and the Congress-Bundestag program with Germany. In addition, the Office identifies and recruits specialists in the fields of literature, film, and the visual and performing arts to speak at or work with host country institutions in their fields of expertise. The Office awards grants to American nonprofit institutions involved in the international exchange of performing and visual artists and encourages linkages between U.S. and foreign cultural institutions. The Office also represents the Agency in the Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions. The Office of Policy and Evaluation provides policy analysis, coordination, and evaluation of the activities and programs of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Office also analyzes U.S. Government-funded international exchanges and training programs with the objective of promoting better coordination among government agencies. The Office is responsible for advising the Associate Director on conceptual approaches to the Bureau's activities and on the development and implementation of its policies. It coordinates activities with the Bureau to ensure consistency of approach; evaluates the success, strengths, and weaknesses of programs; and provides staff support to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, which advises the Director on U.S. efforts to curb illicit trade in artifacts. Under Executive Order 13055, the Associate Director for Educational and Cultural Affairs chairs a senior-level Interagency Working Group on United States Government-Sponsored International Exchanges and Training. The Bureau provides staff support for the working group, which is responsible for ensuring that the U.S. Government's international exchanges and training activities are consistent with U.S. foreign policy and avoid duplication of effort. Overseas Posts Principally an overseas agency, USIA's work is carried out by its foreign service officers and staff assigned to American missions abroad. Overseas posts engage in political advocacy of American foreign policy objectives and conduct cultural and educational exchanges and informational activities in support of those objectives. The Agency maintains 192 posts in 141 countries. Sources of Information Administrative Regulations Inquiries regarding administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff affecting members of the public that were issued, adopted, or promulgated on or after July 5, 1967, should be directed to the Directives, Management Staff, United States Information Agency, Washington, DC 20547. Phone, 202-619-5680. [[Page 701]] Contracts Contact the Office of Contracts, United States Information Agency, Washington, DC 20547. Phone, 202-205-5498. Employment For information concerning employment opportunities, contact the Office of Human Resources, Civil Service Division, United States Information Agency, Washington, DC 20547. Phone, 202-619-4659. For Voice of America and WORLDNET Television and Film Service employment information, contact the Office of Personnel, International Broadcasting Bureau, United States Information Agency, Washington, DC 20547. Phone, 202-619-3117. For Office of Cuba Broadcasting employment information, contact the Office of Personnel, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, United States Information Agency, Washington, DC 20547. Phone, 202-401-7114. International Audiovisual Programs For information concerning a certification program under international agreement to facilitate the export and import of qualified visual and auditory materials of an educational, scientific, and cultural character, contact the Chief Attestation Officer of the United States, United States Information Agency, Washington, DC 20547. Phone, 202-401-9810. For further information, contact the Office of Public Liaison, United States Information Agency, Washington, DC 20547. Phone, 202-619-4355. Internet, http://www.usia.gov/. ------------------------------------------------------------------------