USIA's Integration Into the State Department
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Published: 2003
Total Pages: 17
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DOWNLOAD EBOOKOn October 1, 1999 the United States Information Agency (USIA) was abolished and its functions were transferred to the State Department, ending a four-year battle between the Clinton Administration and Republican Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Senator Jesse Helms on the fate of USIA. The integration of USIA into the State Department is remarkable, not only for the reasons the senior staffer noted above, but also because it ensured that American public diplomacy at the beginning of the 21st century would be defined by more policy advocacy and less promotion of mutual understanding. In this paper, I will offer my view of the factors that led to Senator Helms' remarkable achievement. I will argue that a much reduced budget, a lack of a strong vision for USIA in the post Cold War era, and partisan politics, left the Agency very vulnerable. But, in the end, it was the new globalized world of instant information and round-the-clock media coverage that sealed USIA's fate. The information technology revolution dealt "policy advocates" a stronger hand than the "promoters of mutual understanding," thereby allowing the move of the USG's public diplomacy functions to the State Department. I will also ask, three years after the fact, if integration was the right thing to do.
