The Foreign Service Journal, October 2009

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 35 F O C U S O N P U B L I C D I P L OM A C Y A H OLISTIC A PPROACH oth in the pages of the For- eign Service Journal and elsewhere, many writers have be- moaned the decline of public diplomacy since the demise of the United States Information Agency a decade ago. They generally argue that resurrecting USIA, or creating a new entity, would do much to reinvigorate that crucial function. While bringing back USIA (or an equivalent agency) would very likely enhance our cultural and informational programming, the problem goes much deeper. Contrary to what many Foreign Service members seem to believe, public diplomacy has never been the sole purview of one government agency or one embassy section. Rather, it is the cumulative result of programs and outreach conducted across all areas of the bilateral relationship—not just press contacts and cultural programming, but the full range of military and civilian assistance. Thus, while USIA in the past, or an embassy public affairs section in the pres- ent, may engage in themost visible form of such out- reach, that mission should be carried out across all areas of U.S. engagement abroad. Public diplomacy in this sense is not just about using cultural, educational and in- formational programming to promote a positive image of the United States (important as those missions are). In an article published by the Vienna Diplomatic Academy (“Public Diplomacy in the Context of Traditional Diplomacy,” October 2004) and on the Web site of the United States Information Agency Alumni As- sociation (www.publicdiplomacy.org/45.htm ), I proposed the following definition of public diplomacy that focuses on policy outcomes and not on processes: “The strategic planning and execution of informational, cultural and ed- ucational programming by an advocate country to create a public opinion environment in a target country or coun- tries that will enable target-country political leaders to make decisions that are supportive of the advocate coun- try’s foreign policy objectives.” I NSTEAD OF BRINGING BACK USIA, WE SHOULD UTILIZE ITS BEST PRACTICES TO RESTORE A MERICA ’ S PD CAPABILITIES . B Y M ICHAEL M C C LELLAN B Michael McClellan, a Senior Foreign Service officer, is diplomat-in-residence at the University of Michigan, fol- lowing two years as counselor for public affairs in Addis Ababa. Prior to that, he served as public affairs officer for the Baghdad Provincial Reconstruction Team, as well as in Dublin, Pristina (twice) and Hamburg. His other overseas public diplomacy assignments include Moscow, Cairo and Sanaa. Doug Ross