I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7938 

To improve and coordinate United States information statecraft strategy 

and capabilities for an era of strategic competition, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 4, 2020 

Mr. MCCAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To improve and coordinate United States information 

statecraft strategy and capabilities for an era of strategic 

competition, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Informa5 tion Abroad for Strategic Competition Act’’ or the ‘‘USIA 

6 for Strategic Competition Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) Beginning in 1983, the Soviet Union waged 

10 a disinformation campaign against the United States 


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1 which came to be known as ‘‘Operation 

2 INFEKTION’’, falsely accusing the Department of 

3 Defense of engineering and spreading the AIDS 

4 virus. 

5 (2) In 1987, the Soviet Union publicly dis6 avowed its AIDS disinformation following the efforts 

7 of the United States Active Measures Working 

8 Group to refute these lies and discredit the Soviet 

9 Union. 

10 (3) Shortly thereafter, the Working Group en11 tered a period of institutional decline because its 

12 work was perceived to contravene Department of 

13 State efforts to engage with the Soviet Union, and 

14 effectively ceased to exist following the fall of the 

15 Soviet Union. 

16 (4) The final report issued by members of the 

17 Working Group, published by the United States In18 formation Agency in 1992 at the request of the 

19 House of Representatives, warned that ‘‘[a]s long as 

20 states and groups interested in manipulating world 

21 opinion, limiting U.S. Government actions, or gener22 ating opposition to U.S. policies and interests con23 tinue to use these techniques, there will be a need 

24 for the United States Information Agency to system25 atically monitor, analyze, and counter them.’’. 


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1 (5) In 2020, the Communist Party of China 

2 (CCP) began a disinformation campaign against the 

3 United States, falsely accusing the United States of 

4 being the source of the SARS–CoV–2 novel 

5 coronavirus and the United States Army of bringing 

6 the virus to China. 

7 SEC. 3. INFORMATION STATECRAFT. 

8 (a) FINDING.—The 2017 National Security Strategy 

9 establishes that it is a priority of United States Informa10 tion Statecraft to ‘‘improve our understanding of how ad11 versaries gain informational and psychological advantages 

12 across all policies’’ and ‘‘empower a true public diplomacy 

13 capability to compete effectively in this arena’’. 

14 (b) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States to 

15 advance United States foreign policy and national security 

16 interests through a holistic approach to public diplomacy, 

17 which shall include the following: 

18 (1) Championing and promoting United States 

19 values, including democratic governance, individual 

20 liberty, and internationally recognized human rights. 

21 (2) Supporting the international dissemination 

22 of unbiased and fact-based information, and pro23 tecting the free flow of information globally. 

24 (3) Refuting and countering foreign state and 

25 nonstate propaganda, disinformation, and narratives 


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1 that undermine United States values, such as the 

2 promotion of authoritarian governance, the denigra3 tion of individual liberty, and the disregard of inter4 nationally recognized human rights. 

5 (4) Discrediting foreign state and nonstate ac6 tors responsible for such propaganda, 

7 disinformation, and narratives, and seeking to re8 duce the ability of such actors to influence global 

9 discourse. 

10 (5) Coordinating and integrating such efforts 

11 with the efforts of United States allies and partners 

12 that share United States values. 

13 (6) Providing for robust exchange, analytic, and 

14 coordination mechanisms to accomplish such objec15 tives. 

16 (c) GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT CENTER.—Paragraph (3) 

17 of section 1287(b) of the National Defense Authorization 

18 Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (22 U.S.C. 2656 note; Public 

19 Law 114–328) is amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(3) As needed, support the development and 

21 dissemination of fact-based narratives and analysis 

22 to— 

23 ‘‘(A) refute and counter propaganda and 

24 disinformation directed at the United States 

25 and United States allies and partner nations; 


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1 ‘‘(B) discredit the actors responsible for 

2 such propaganda and disinformation; and 

3 ‘‘(C) reduce the ability of such actors to 

4 influence global discourse.’’. 

5 SEC. 4. ACTIVE MEASURES WORKING GROUP FOR THE CHI6 NESE COMMUNIST PARTY. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The ‘‘Communique ́ on the Current State of 

9 the Ideological Sphere’’, an April 22, 2013, notice 

10 from the Communist Party of China’s (CCP) Cen11 tral Committee more commonly known as ‘‘Docu12 ment 9’’, establishes that under the leadership of 

13 General Secretary Xi Jinping, the CCP considers 

14 constitutional democracy, internationally recognized 

15 human rights, liberal economics, independent jour16 nalism, and internal dissent to be security threats. 

17 (2) In his remarks before the 19th Communist 

18 Party Congress in 2017, which were titled in part 

19 ‘‘Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chi20 nese Characteristics for a New Era’’, General Sec21 retary Xi Jinping said, ‘‘the banner of socialism with 

22 Chinese characteristics is now flying high and proud 

23 for all to see. It means that the path, the theory, the 

24 system, and the culture of socialism with Chinese 

25 characteristics have kept developing, blazing a new 


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1 trail for other developing countries to achieve mod2 ernization. It offers a new option for other countries 

3 and nations.’’. 

4 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con5 gress that the CCP is hostile to United States values and 

6 seeks to advance an alternate set of authoritarian values, 

7 and therefore that the CCP and its ability to influence 

8 global discourse is a national security threat to the United 

9 States. 

10 (c) RECONSTITUTION.—The Secretary of State shall 

11 reconstitute the Active Measures Working Group (in this 

12 section referred to as the ‘‘Working Group’’) for a period 

13 of five years. 

14 (d) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Working Group 

15 shall be to create a regularly updated information 

16 statecraft strategy for the whole of the United States Gov17 ernment to reduce the ability of the CCP to influence glob18 al discourse. 

19 (e) MEMBERSHIP.—The Working Group shall include 

20 the following officials: 

21 (1) The Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy 

22 of the Department of State. 

23 (2) The Assistant Secretary of East Asian and 

24 Pacific Affairs and the Assistant Secretary of South 


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1 and Central Asian Affairs of the Department of 

2 State. 

3 (3) The Special Envoy and Coordinator of the 

4 Global Engagement Center. 

5 (4) The Assistant Administrator of the Bureau 

6 for Asia of the United States Agency for Inter7 national Development. 

8 (5) The Assistant Secretary for Asian and Pa9 cific Security Affairs of the Department of Defense. 

10 (6) The Commander of the United States Indo11 Pacific Command. 

12 (7) Other officials the Secretary of State and 

13 the President determine appropriate. 

14 (f) CHAIR.—The Secretary of State shall designate 

15 a member of the Working Group as the Chairperson. 

16 (g) COOPERATION.—The President shall ensure that 

17 the various agencies and departments of the United States 

18 cooperate with the Working Group, adopt and effectuate 

19 the information statecraft strategy required under sub20 section (h), and share information appropriately to ad21 vance the strategy. 

22 (h) INFORMATION STATECRAFT STRATEGY.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Working 

25 Group shall submit to the appropriate congressional 


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1 committees and distribute to each Federal depart2 ment and agency an information statecraft strategy. 

3 (2) CONTENTS.—The information statecraft 

4 strategy and biannual updates thereto required 

5 under this subsection shall include the following: 

6 (A) An identification of the specific CCP 

7 narratives that most contribute to the CCP’s 

8 ability to influence global discourse, and the en9 tities primarily responsible for advancing these 

10 narratives and contributing to the CCP’s ability 

11 to influence global discourse. 

12 (B) An identification of counternarratives 

13 most effective and most likely to reduce the 

14 ability of the CCP to influence global discourse 

15 and discredit the entities that contribute to the 

16 CCP’s ability to influence global discourse. 

17 (C) A detailed plan, including instructions 

18 for public diplomacy officers at each United 

19 States diplomatic or consular post, to imple20 ment such counternarratives. 

21 (D) An identification of specific quan22 titative objectives for advancing such counter23 narratives, and an identification of the United 

24 States officials responsible for accomplishing 

25 such objectives. 


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1 (E) A quantitative analysis of United 

2 States efforts to accomplish such objectives in 

3 the preceding six months, informed by the data 

4 and analytical capabilities of the Under Sec5 retary for Public Diplomacy of the Department 

6 of State and the Global Engagement Center. 

7 (3) BIANNUAL UPDATES.—Not later than 180 

8 days after the submission of the information 

9 statecraft strategy under paragraph (1) and every 

10 180 days thereafter for a period of five years, the 

11 Working Group shall submit to the appropriate con12 gressional committees an updated information 

13 statecraft strategy. 

14 (4) FORM.—The information statecraft strategy 

15 and biannual updates thereto required under this 

16 subsection may be in classified form. 

17 (5) CHIEF OF MISSION RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

18 The Secretary of State should ensure that each 

19 United States chief of mission— 

20 (A) advances through both programming 

21 and communications the objectives of the infor22 mation statecraft strategy and biannual updates 

23 thereto; 

24 (B) assigns at least one Foreign Service 

25 officer to be primarily responsible for coordiVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:12 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7938.IH H7938

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1 nating such efforts at the United States diplo2 matic or consular post at which such chief of 

3 mission is assigned; and 

4 (C) provides quantitative data to the 

5 Working Group about the efforts of such chief 

6 of mission to accomplish the objectives of the 

7 strategy, including updates thereto. 

8 SEC. 5. SPECIAL FAST-TRACK PROCEDURES. 

9 The Secretary of State shall establish procedures for 

10 use in special circumstances, as determined by the Sec11 retary, to provide for rapid, synchronized releases of infor12 mation content globally, regionally, or across subsets of 

13 United States diplomatic and consular posts. 

14 SEC. 6. RESEARCH AND EVALUATION. 

15 (a) RESEARCH AND EVALUATION ACTIVITIES.—The 

16 Secretary of State, acting through the Director of Re17 search and Evaluation appointed pursuant to subsection 

18 (b), shall— 

19 (1) conduct regular research and evaluation of 

20 public diplomacy programs and activities of the De21 partment of State, including through the routine use 

22 of audience research, digital analytics, and impact 

23 evaluations, to plan and execute such programs and 

24 activities; and 


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1 (2) make available to Congress the findings of 

2 such research and evaluations. 

3 (b) DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND EVALUATION.— 

4 (1) APPOINTMENT.—Not later than 90 days 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary of State shall appoint a Director of Research 

7 and Evaluation (referred to in this subsection as the 

8 ‘‘Director’’) in the Office of Policy, Planning, and 

9 Resources for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs 

10 of the Department of State. 

11 (2) LIMITATION ON APPOINTMENT.—The ap12 pointment of the Director pursuant to paragraph (1) 

13 shall not result in an increase in the overall full-time 

14 equivalent positions within the Department of State. 

15 (3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Director shall— 

16 (A) report to the Director of Policy Plan17 ning of the Office of Policy, Planning, and Re18 sources for Public Diplomacy and Public Af19 fairs of the Department of State; 

20 (B) coordinate and oversee the research 

21 and evaluation of public diplomacy programs 

22 and activities of the Department to— 

23 (i) improve public diplomacy strate24 gies and tactics; and 


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1 (ii) ensure that such programs and 

2 activities are increasing the knowledge, un3 derstanding, and trust of the United 

4 States by relevant target audiences; 

5 (C) routinely organize and oversee audi6 ence research, digital analytics, and impact 

7 evaluations across all public diplomacy bureaus 

8 and offices of the Department; 

9 (D) support the public affairs sections of 

10 United States diplomatic and consular posts; 

11 (E) share appropriate public diplomacy re12 search and evaluation information within the 

13 Department and with other appropriate Federal 

14 departments and agencies; 

15 (F) regularly design and coordinate stand16 ardized research questions, methodologies, and 

17 procedures to ensure that public diplomacy pro18 grams and activities across all public diplomacy 

19 bureaus and offices of the Department are de20 signed to meet appropriate foreign policy objec21 tives; and 

22 (G) report biannually to the United States 

23 Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy of 

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1 lished pursuant to subsection (f), regarding the 

2 research and evaluation of all public diplomacy 

3 bureaus and offices of the Department. 

4 (4) GUIDANCE AND TRAINING.—Not later than 

5 one year after the appointment of the Director pur6 suant to paragraph (1), the Director shall develop 

7 guidance and training, including curriculum for use 

8 by the Foreign Service Institute, for all public diplo9 macy officers of the Department of State regarding 

10 the reading and interpretation of public diplomacy 

11 program and activity evaluation findings to ensure 

12 that such findings and related lessons learned are 

13 implemented in the planning and evaluation of all 

14 public diplomacy programs and activities of the De15 partment. 

16 (c) PRIORITIZING RESEARCH AND EVALUATION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of Policy Plan18 ning of the Office of Policy, Planning, and Re19 sources for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs of 

20 the Department of State shall ensure that research 

21 and evaluation of public diplomacy programs and ac22 tivities of the Department, as coordinated and over23 seen by the Director pursuant to subsection (b), sup24 port strategic planning and resource allocation 


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1 across all public diplomacy bureaus and offices of 

2 the Department. 

3 (2) ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES.—Amounts al4 located for the purpose of research and evaluation of 

5 public diplomacy programs and activities of the De6 partment of State pursuant to subsection (b) shall 

7 be made available to be disbursed at the direction of 

8 the Director referred to in paragraph (1) among the 

9 research and evaluation staff across all public diplo10 macy bureaus and offices of the Department. 

11 (3) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

12 Congress that the Department of State should 

13 gradually increase to a percentage of program funds 

14 that is commensurate with Federal Government best 

15 practices its allocation of funds made available under 

16 the headings ‘‘Educational and Cultural Exchange 

17 Programs’’ and ‘‘Diplomatic Programs’’ for research 

18 and evaluation of public diplomacy programs and ac19 tivities of the Department pursuant to subsection 

20 (b). 

21 (d) LIMITED EXEMPTION RELATING TO THE PAPER22 WORK REDUCTION ACT.—Subchapter I of chapter 35 of 

23 title 44, United States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Pa24 perwork Reduction Act’’) shall not apply to the collection 

25 of information directed at any individuals conducted by, 


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1 or on behalf of, the Department of State for the purpose 

2 of audience research, monitoring, and evaluations, and in 

3 connection with the Department’s activities, including 

4 interagency activities, conducted pursuant to this Act or 

5 to any of the following: 

6 (1) The United States Information and Edu7 cational Exchange Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. 1431 et 

8 seq.). 

9 (2) The Mutual Educational and Cultural Ex10 change Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2451 et seq.). 

11 (3) Section 1287 of the National Defense Au12 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 

13 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note). 

14 (4) The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

15 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.). 

16 (e) LIMITED EXEMPTION RELATING TO THE PRI17 VACY ACT.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Department of State 

19 shall maintain, collect, use, and disseminate records 

20 (as such term is defined in section 552a(a)(4) of 

21 title 5, United States Code) for audience research, 

22 digital analytics, and impact evaluations of commu23 nications related to public diplomacy programs and 

24 activities of the Department, including interagency 

25 efforts, intended for foreign audiences. 


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1 (2) CONDITIONS.—Audience research, digital 

2 analytics, and impact evaluations under paragraph 

3 (1) shall be— 

4 (A) reasonably tailored to meet the pur5 poses of the public diplomacy programs and ac6 tivities of the Department of State, including 

7 related interagency activities; and 

8 (B) carried out with due regard for privacy 

9 and civil liberties guidance and oversight. 

10 (f) UNITED STATES ADVISORY COMMISSION ON PUB11 LIC DIPLOMACY.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1334 of the Foreign 

13 Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (22 

14 U.S.C. 6553) is amended— 

15 (A) in the section heading, by striking 

16 ‘‘SUNSET’’ and inserting ‘‘CONTINUATION’’; 

17 and 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘until October 1, 2020’’. 

19 (2) EFFECTIVENESS ASSESSMENT.—Subpara20 graph (B) of section 604(d)(1) of the United States 

21 Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 

22 (22 U.S.C. 1469(d)(1)) is amended to read as fol23 lows: 

24 ‘‘(B) EFFECTIVENESS ASSESSMENT.—In 

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1 national broadcasting activities described in 

2 subparagraph (A), the Commission shall con3 duct an assessment that considers the relation 

4 to the United States national interest, the pub5 lic diplomacy target impact, the achieved im6 pact, and the cost of public diplomacy activities 

7 and international broadcasting. The assessment 

8 shall include, if practicable, an appropriate met9 ric such as ‘cost-per-audience’ or ‘cost-per-stu10 dent’ for each such activity. Upon the comple11 tion of the assessment, the Commission shall 

12 assign a rating of— 

13 ‘‘(i) ‘effective’ for activities that— 

14 ‘‘(I) set appropriate goals and 

15 achieve all or most of the desired re16 sults; 

17 ‘‘(II) are well-managed; 

18 ‘‘(III) are cost efficient; and 

19 ‘‘(IV) quantifiably advance the 

20 priorities of the most recent National 

21 Security Strategy and related national 

22 strategies for defense and foreign pol23 icy; 

24 ‘‘(ii) ‘moderately effective’ for activi25 ties that— 


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1 ‘‘(I) set appropriate goals and 

2 achieve some desired results; 

3 ‘‘(II) are generally well-managed; 

4 ‘‘(III) may need to improve their 

5 cost efficiency, including reducing 

6 overhead; and 

7 ‘‘(IV) have a substantive ration8 ale for advancing the priorities of the 

9 most recent National Security Strat10 egy and related national strategies for 

11 defense and foreign policy, but have 

12 not demonstrated quantifiable results; 

13 ‘‘(iii) ‘ineffective’ for activities that— 

14 ‘‘(I) lack appropriate goals or fail 

15 to achieve stated goals or desired re16 sults; 

17 ‘‘(II) are not well-managed; 

18 ‘‘(III) are not cost efficient, such 

19 as through insufficient use of avail20 able resources to achieve stated goals 

21 or desired results, or have excessive 

22 overhead; or 

23 ‘‘(IV) do not have a substantive 

24 rationale for advancing the priorities 

25 of the most recent National Security 


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1 Strategy and related national strate2 gies for defense and foreign policy; or 

3 ‘‘(iv) ‘results not demonstrated’ for 

4 activities that— 

5 ‘‘(I) do not have acceptable per6 formance public diplomacy metrics for 

7 measuring results; or 

8 ‘‘(II) are unable or failed to col9 lect data to determine if such activi10 ties are effective.’’. 

11 (3) SUBCOMMITTEE FOR RESEARCH AND EVAL12 UATION.—The United States Advisory Commission 

13 on Public Diplomacy shall establish a Subcommittee 

14 on Research and Evaluation to monitor and advise 

15 regarding audience research, digital analytics, and 

16 impact evaluations carried out by the Department of 

17 State and the United States Agency for Global 

18 Media. 

19 (4) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Subcommittee on 

20 Research and Evaluation established pursuant to 

21 paragraph (3) shall submit to the appropriate con22 gressional committees an annual report, in conjunc23 tion with the United States Advisory Commission on 

24 Public Diplomacy’s Comprehensive Annual Report 

25 on the performance of the Department of State and 


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1 the United States Agency for Global Media, describ2 ing all actions taken by the Subcommittee pursuant 

3 to such paragraph and any findings made as a result 

4 of such actions. 

5 SEC. 7. FOREIGN MISSION LANGUAGE SUPPORT. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall en7 sure that each United States chief of mission has available 

8 appropriate personnel and resources to provide translation 

9 services for such chief of mission and the ability to trans10 late content into local languages. 

11 (b) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 90 days after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter 

13 for a period of five years, the Secretary of State shall no14 tify the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 

15 Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations 

16 of the Senate of any United States diplomatic or consular 

17 posts that do not have permanent capabilities to provide 

18 translation services to the chief of mission of such a post 

19 or translate content into local languages. 

20 SEC. 8. LATERAL ENTRY FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PER21 SONNEL. 

22 The Secretary of State shall make full use of avail23 able authorities, including section 404 of the Department 

24 of State Authorities Act, Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 

25 114–323), to recruit not fewer than ten individuals with 


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1 extensive experience in strategic communications, includ2 ing in foreign languages, graphic design, market research, 

3 social media engagement, audio and video content cre4 ation, and related capabilities for lateral entry into the 

5 Foreign Service at a grade level higher than FS–4. Such 

6 individuals shall be assigned to United States diplomatic 

7 or consular posts which the Secretary determines are in 

8 need of personnel to engage in public diplomacy efforts 

9 consistent with this Act. 

Æ 


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