Professionals Call for Transformation of U.S. Public Diplomacy

The Public Diplomacy Council makes five recommendations to the Administration and the Congress to reform U.S. public diplomacy. Full text of the Report is available on the web at: www.pdi/gwu.edu.

(PRWEB) February 5, 2005 -- Members of the non-partisan Public Diplomacy Council, in a newly released White Paper, called on the Administration and the Congress to undertake a fundamental transformation of American public diplomacy to bring it into the 21st century. The Call for Action on Public Diplomacy" notes that U.S. public diplomacy is currently in crisis. A reorganized and adequately funded public diplomacy is vital to a successful foreign policy and the war on terrorism. The report posits the need for a more robust global communication strategy and puts forward five action recommendations.

The recommendations include: creation of a new agency within the State Department to manage civilian international information and exchanges functions; a 300 percent increase in overseas staffing for public diplomacy; increases in funding and closer integration of international broadcasting; the establishment of a cabinet level interagency committee to coordinate and direct a national public diplomacy strategy; and a public-private sector partnership to provide permanent funding for international exchanges.

The entire text of the Call for Action on Public Diplomacy", with commentaries on the paper, is available on the Council website at www.pdi.gwu.edu.

The Public Diplomacy Council, founded in 1988, is a non-profit organization committed to the academic study, professional practice and responsible advocacy of public diplomacy. Its fifty members represent practitioners and observers of public diplomacy past and present. The Council joined with George Washington Universitys School of Media and Public Affairs and Elliot School of International Affairs to establish the Public Diplomacy Institute in 2001.

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