THE ROLE OF PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Public diplomacy - the action of engaging foreign audiences and opinion makers, through information and exchange programs, to advance U.S. national interests and strategic goals - is the responsibility of USIA. Public diplomacy fosters an appreciation of our nation's ideas and ideals, our institutions and culture, as well as our national goals and policy priorities. America is a complex and puzzling nation when viewed through a foreign filter. We cannot take for granted that our behavior in the world is widely understood or supported, even by our allies. U.S. interests and security are jeopardized by misunderstandings, innocent or deliberate, about our interests and our willingness to defend those interests. Public diplomacy addresses and corrects such misunderstandings in ways that are not employed by other agencies of the government or organizations in the private sector.

With the dramatic advances in global communication, international leadership requires a robust public diplomacy effort to achieve the foreign policy objectives of the United States. Informed foreign publics with international reach - including the media, academic institutions, business and civic organizations, NGOs, ad hoc regional groups formed around a single issue - operate outside of traditional diplomatic channels in ways that condition every area in which the U.S. seeks to exercise international leadership.

USIA provides leadership in public diplomacy activities, coordinates support for other U.S. government agencies, and advises U.S. policy makers on foreign public opinion vis-a-vis U.S. policy. USIA - known as USIS at overseas missions - develops strategies, outlined in Country Performance Plans, to build understanding and support for the United States, its policy objectives and the values of the American people. Activities and programs are planned and implemented country by country, directed at audiences identified by USIS in institutional analyses of each country's political, economic, and societal influence structures, inside and outside of government. Sustained personal contact, program and exchange activities aim at establishing and reinforcing a foundation of trust in U.S. global leadership.

top of page

I. STRATEGIC GOALS

• National Security: Secure peace, deter aggression, prevent and defuse and manage crises, halt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, advance arms control and disarmament

• Democracy: Support the establishment and consolidation of democracies, and uphold human rights.

• Economic Prosperity: Expand exports, open markets, assist American business, and foster sustainable economic growth.

• Law Enforcement: Combat international terrorism, crime and narcotics trafficking.

• Foundation of Trust: Establish a network of international cooperation that sustains and promotes current and future U.S. interests.

• Free Flow of Information: Create an open international information environment that encourages the widest possible exchange of ideas and fosters an understanding of U.S. policies and institutions.

top of page

II. OPERATIONAL GOALS

USIA seeks to advance the U.S. strategic goals by focusing its public diplomacy efforts on three operational goals (or intermediate outcomes). They are:

Increased understanding and acceptance of U.S. strategic goals by foreign decision makers, opinion leaders and publics. Broadened cooperation between Americans and U.S. institutions and their foreign counterparts. Better information about foreign publics and media opinion provided to American policy makers

III. PROGRAMS AND OPERATIONS

Field operations, bureaus and other components of USIA, acting in concert, use a range of methods to achieve both the operational and strategic goals of the Agency. These methods include:

Creating a more receptive climate for achieving U.S. policy objectives through public diplomacy

Washington-based geographic area offices provide leadership in public diplomacy, which is conducted primarily by USIS outside the United States. The public diplomacy agenda of each overseas post is based on the strategic goals in the Mission Performance Plan (MPP) that is set jointly by the Ambassador and the Secretary of State. The MPP and the USIS-developed annual Country Performance Plan, which includes an institutional analysis of the political, economic, and societal structures of the country, drive specific program activities for the year. USIS officers cultivate relationships with government officials, particularly emerging political leaders, non- governmental leaders, editors, journalists, academics and think-tank specialists. These cooperative networks build the essential foundation of trust for achieving the posts's priority performance objectives and long-term U.S. policy interests.

Developing information and disseminating it to key foreign individuals and groups to advance national interests and strategic goals

USIA provides the field with program support, materials and services focused on the Agency's strategic goals. The current menu includes the international home page, speakers and specialists, digital video conferences, teleconferences, the Washington File, electronic journals, pamphlets, book translations and publications, programs for foreign journalists, information resource center advice and support, reference services, printing and copyright services, and special event publications. These are provided to the field posts within mutually agreed time frames. Cross- functional teams in Washington continually examine products and services with a focus on outcomes -- have they helped advance U.S. interests? Feedback from the overseas posts is critical to answering this question.

Forging productive relationships through international exchanges, partnerships and linkages

USIA advances U.S. national interests by building enduring personal, professional and institutional linkages among Americans and their foreign counterparts through international exchange and training programs like Fulbright and the International Visitor Program. As a result, Americans gain knowledge, skills and abilities to meet the challenges of a fragmented, multi- cultural world. Increasingly, USIA serves as a catalyst and facilitator for public-private exchange and training programs that support U.S. foreign policy and the national interest. USIA coordinates $2 billion a year in international exchange and training programs of 40 federal departments and agencies.

Communicating with mass audiences

USIA Broadcasting, in the languages of the people of the world, provides: accurate news and information, particularly for people in countries that deny their citizens basic freedoms; a clear presentation of American policies, institutions, and values; information to foster institutions necessary to assure stable, democratic, market-oriented societies; a means for the United States to reach audiences anywhere in the world in times of crisis; and encouragement of the development and growth of democratic values.

Serving as the standard for balance and objective reporting, USIA broadcasting is a model for media throughout the world. Broadcasts provide a foundation of understanding within foreign societies about complex issues surrounding U.S. foreign policy. This foundation complements the actions of other U.S. foreign affairs agencies and facilitates their mission by enabling worldwide audiences to make enlightened decisions and influence their governments.

Gauging changes in foreign public and media opinion

In consultation with counterparts in the foreign affairs community, USIA establishes baseline polling data to show initial attitudes about priority policy issues and strategic goals important to the U.S. and monitors foreign media commentary on a daily basis. Polls are conducted at least annually. Trends are monitored to gauge changes in public and media opinion. USIA uses a variety of feedback mechanisms to ensure that survey data gathered is timely and meets American policy makers' needs.

top of page

IV. ACHIEVING THE GOALS

Human Resources

USIA's staff has already been recognized for working at the forefront of U.S. Government reinvention efforts. The change-oriented culture that is reshaping USIA is also enhancing productivity in the era of downsizing and ensuring coordinated programming. To sustain this trend, USIA will reexamine its methods of recruitment, in order to attract candidates who are highly skilled and representative, as a group, of the diversity of American society. USIA's professional corps, in its composition, must reflect the strength and values of American pluralism, both in its challenges and its opportunities. Even more important, USIA itself is strengthened by its commitment to diversity and inclusiveness. USIA anticipates limited hiring over the next several years, but plans an intensified effort toward achieving this ideal.

USIA's language-qualified and culturally-aware Foreign Service Officers stationed overseas provide foreign publics with the crucial human connection in the communications loop. USIA's renewed commitment to training, particularly in technology, will enhance the professional capabilities of the Foreign Service corps, just as it reinforces the skilled Civil Service corps, whose expertise is essential to supporting USIA's overseas presence and meeting USIA's direct broadcasting mandate. USIA's staff development and training will need to keep pace with rapid innovation, recognizing that USIA's strengths reside in its people, their dedication and the opportunity USIA gives them for personal growth and advancement.

Technology

Today, USIA is on the Internet around the world and has established its first posts in cyberspace. The Voice of America was the first international broadcaster to provide daily news via the Internet in 1994. USIA's World Wide Web sites, new electronic journals and database search capabilities at its Information Resource Centers overseas offer people in many countries the latest, most authoritative information about the United States. More open global communications enable USIA broadcasting to reach millions through affiliate stations and cable networks in nearly 100 countries in their own languages and to expand its range of interactive television and radio talk programs. State-of-the-art technologies also have the potential to complement USIA's broadcasting and exchanges programs and open new avenues for electronic interaction and distance education.

Over the next six years, USIA must upgrade and integrate its worldwide electronic network so that information and programs, whether text, audio, video or language, can be digitized and made accessible easily, flexibly and in real time. Use of the Internet will continue to increase as a means both of transmitting internal communications and making USIA products available directly to its audiences. USIA will provide an essential function of organizing information and data to assist influential foreign publics sort through the welter of all the information that is available and find the material that advances U.S. interests.

Technology will become deeply imbedded in the culture of public diplomacy, an inextricable ingredient in the way USIA officers think and approach their work. USIA's professionals must become so good at technology that it appears to be a given, sometimes even invisible, in fostering a human community of values and interests, linked through these new technologies.

Other Resources

USIA's capital, information and other resources will be deployed to respond to the changed world in which public diplomacy operates. Information and broadcasting activities will not duplicate services available in the private sector. Exchanges and training programs will continue to rely on leveraged partnerships with private-sector and foreign-government partners. Every overseas USIA post will have a program that utilizes, depending on the country's level of importance to the United States and on local conditions, the most effective array of Agency tools. Likewise, Washington-based Agency elements will emphasize agility and responsiveness to field and customer needs so that limited resources can be allocated efficiently, in a timely manner and with emphasis on program over support functions. Both overseas and at headquarters, USIA will continue turning away from traditional, hierarchical bureaucracy and instead foster decentralization, empowerment, accountability and productive private-sector collaboration.

top of page

V. FROM STRATEGIC GOALS TO ANNUAL PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

USIA's progress toward strategic goals will be marked in performance plans which present specific, accountable intermediate outcomes as annual performance objectives.

To operationalize our strategic goals, we first expressed each as a "e;final outcome"e -- a result which, if ever achieved and stable, would mean we could drop the goal from the USG agenda. We then identified specific conditions, not now obtaining, which will have to be reached at intermediate stages in order for the final outcome to be achievable. [Note: these are not implementation milestones for our activities, but future actions taken by direct and indirect customers influenced by our programs.] For each strategic goal, we identified several such intermediate outcomes, and enumerated objective indicators by which to document them. We select as annual performance objectives key intermediate outcomes which a) can be reached in the fiscal year of a particular annual performance plan, and b) credibly demonstrate the value of our work for the our ultimate beneficiaries, the American public. Additional annual objectives will measure customer satisfaction levels, timeliness and process efficiency.

Our most important goals and objectives are founded upon the interagency Strategic Plan for International Affairs. They speak to program results, impacts which we influence, but which are beyond our actual control. The major performance objectives in our annual plans are often objectively measurable but not quantifiable. They are the key to our new results-based approach to the planning and managing of public diplomacy.

VI. PROGRAM EVALUATIONS

At the Agency level, we do not have program evaluations that objectively and systematically analyze past performance in comparison with past objectives. Before the Results Act, our history of strategic planning had concentrated on updated interpretations of U.S. foreign relations issues, and the alignment of program activities with those themes. That background has long been supplemented by the reports of the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, whose oversight and advice encompasses our entire mission. In addition, in 1995, five senior political appointees created "e;USIA 2000,"e; a team report offering sometimes radical prescriptions for the Agency's future.

Nonetheless, for well over three years now, USIA management has been engaged in the strategic planning process. Each year's effort has increasingly enhanced our understanding of results- based management. The substance of the current Plans was developed by a twelve-member Experts Outcomes Panel appointed by the USIA's Associate Directors, who serve as the Agency's GPRA Sponsors. This Panel was composed of Schedule C, Senior Career Foreign Service and Civil Service USIA leadership, including the Office of the Director, and several highly experienced and respected mid-level foreign and civil service officers.

The Experts Outcomes Panel used the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act, the Blair House Papers, the White House Statement and Fact Sheet on Reinventing STATE, ACDA, USIA and AID, and the International Affairs Strategic Plan (150 Account) with its sixteen foreign policy goals as basic guidance documents. At the end of their task, the Panel members had reached consensus on six final Agency goals, each with its attendant intermediate outcomes or objectives and suggested performance indicators. These six goals include four International Affairs Strategic goals appropriate for USIA and two specific Agency-related goals.

While all of these efforts have contributed to our current strategic planning approach, the clear emphasis on results in the 1993 law and the closely related direction of the National Performance Review and other management approaches of the '90's have made this a new era in planning and management for USIA. Our strategic goals are ultimate conditions subject to objective evidence; many of our performance objectives are intermediate outcomes subject to similar documentation, without formal program evaluations, especially where determinations are not quantifiable. For example, a trade barrier either is or is not removed.

By the end of FY 1999 USIA will cease to exist as an independent agency; our functions and resources will have been merged into the Department of State. The future conduct of appropriate, results-focused evaluations of public diplomacy programs will be resolved by the integrated organization.

top of page

VII. EXAMPLES OF DATA SOURCES The following types of data and information are being collected on an ongoing basis in the field posts as well as in the Bureaus to determine whether progress is being made in achieving our performance objectives.

• Results of public opinion surveys in all regions on topics related to FY 1999 benchmarks
• Editorials or media commentary supporting U.S. policy
• Results of foreign audience research
• References queries to USIS posts
• Requests for authoritative information by government officials on issues relating to U.S. Strategic goals
• Public demonstrations supporting U.S. policy approach
• Number, duration, quality and value of personal and institutional linkages (government, business, academic) created or enhanced as a result of international exchange and training activities
• Quality and quantity of subsequent activities and achievements of USIA program participants and their audiences in applying knowledge and perspectives gained during program
• Degree of change in the knowledge, opinions, and attitudes of USIA program participants and their audiences following their participation in an exchange or training program determined through post debriefings and participant surveys
• Parliamentary actions, votes and laws supporting U.S. approach to foreign policy issues
• Tangible actions by governments supporting U.S. policies (e.g. joint undertakings, enforcement of laws, introduction of civic education in the curricula)
• Available data from government statistics and reports of third parties on performance objectives (e.g. Russian/NATO cooperative efforts, Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom, Human Rights Reports, etc.)
• Implementation and enforcement of treaties, laws
• Results of surveys of key U.S. policy makers
• Tangible actions by foreign academic institutions, business and civic organizations, NGOs and ad hoc regional groups that support U.S. policies
• Independent assessments of progress in each region by foreign policy experts

top of page

VIII. FACTORS AFFECTING ACHIEVEMENT OF THE OPERATIONAL GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The accomplishment of USIA's goals and strategies are dependent upon:

• having adequate personnel and capability;
• having adequate resources to evaluate the impact and reach of USIA's activities in the rapidly changing global environment; and
• investing in technology at a level sufficient to develop program efficiencies and relevance.

USIA's activities and outcomes also could be significantly affected by:

• wars, foreign-government repression, political and economic instability, and natural disasters, all of which could force emergency evacuations that close or temporarily shut down overseas posts, resource centers, relay stations, correspondents' bureaus and monitoring offices;
• fluctuating currency exchange rates; and
• any other shifts in U.S. priorities and interests, including opening new overseas posts, that divert resources on a long-term basis.

top of page

A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR TO ALL USIA EMPLOYEES

On August 15, 1997, the Agency transmitted the USIA Strategic Plan for 1997-2002 and our Performance Plan for FY 1999 to the White House Office of Management and Budget. The Strategic Plan provides the framework for implementing the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), complemented by the Performance Plan, which defines the Agency's long- range goals and each area or bureau's specific objectives. The Congress will hold USIA accountable for achieving these objectives as we pursue our unique role in promoting U.S. national interests.

Both Plans are living documents which can be updated over time to reflect our new understandings. Our daily approach must be to think strategically about the impact of our work on our intended results.

As presented in the Plans, the Agency will concentrate on a few vital goals:

National Security: Secure peace, deter aggression, prevent and defuse and manage crises, halt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, advance arms control and disarmament

Democracy: Support the establishment and consolidation of democracies, and uphold human rights.

Economic Prosperity: Expand exports, open markets, assist American business, and foster sustainable economic growth.

Law Enforcement: Combat international terrorism, crime and narcoticstrafficking.

Foundation of Trust: Establish a network of international cooperation that sustains and promotes current and future U.S. interests.

Free Flow of Information: Create an open international information environment that encourages the widest possible exchange of ideas and fosters an understanding of U.S. policies and institutions.

We continue to work with the State Department in developing a strategic framework for the mission and goals of the foreign affairs community as a whole. The result of this effort will help guide implementation of the proposed reorganization.

top of page