III 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 49 

To express the sense of the Senate regarding the importance of public 

diplomacy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2009 

Mr. LUGAR (for himself, Mr. KERRY, Mr. KAUFMAN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. 

FEINGOLD, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. WICKER, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. CARDIN, and 

Mrs. SHAHEEN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on Foreign Relations 

MAY 7, 2009 

Reported by Mr. KERRY, without amendment 

MAY 19, 2009 

Considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

To express the sense of the Senate regarding the importance 

of public diplomacy. 

Whereas public diplomacy is the conduct of foreign relations 

directly with the average citizen of a country, rather than 

with officials of a country’s foreign ministry; 

Whereas public diplomacy is commonly conducted through 

people-to-people exchanges in which experts, authors, artists, educators, and students interact with their peers in 

other countries; 


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SRES 49 ATS 

Whereas effective public diplomacy promotes free and 

unfiltered access to information about the United States 

through books, newspapers, periodicals, and the Internet; 

Whereas public diplomacy requires a willingness to discuss all 

aspects of society, search for common values, foster a 

long-term bilateral relationship based on mutual respect, 

and recognize that certain areas of disagreement may remain unresolved on a short term basis; 

Whereas a BBC World Service poll published in February 

2009 that involved 13,000 respondents in 21 countries 

found that while 40 percent of the respondents had a 

positive view of the United States, 43 percent had a negative view of the United States; 

Whereas Freedom House’s 2008 Global Press Freedom report notes that 123 countries (66 percent of the world’s 

countries and 80 percent of the world’s population) have 

a press that is classified as ‘‘Not Free’’ or ‘‘Partly Free’’; 

Whereas the Government of the United Kingdom, of France, 

and of Germany run stand-alone public diplomacy facilities throughout the world, which are known as the British Council, the Alliance Francaise, and the Goethe Institute, respectively; 

Whereas these government-run facilities teach the national 

languages of their respective countries, offer libraries, 

newspapers, and periodicals, sponsor public lecture and 

film series that engage local audiences in dialogues that 

foster better understandings between these countries and 

create an environment promoting greater trust and openness; 

Whereas the United States has historically operated similar 

facilities, known as American Centers, which— 


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(1) offered classes in English, extensive libraries 

housing collections of American literature, history, economics, business, and social studies, and reading rooms 

offering the latest American newspapers, periodicals, and 

academic journals; 

(2) hosted visiting American speakers and scholars 

on these topics; and 

(3) ran United States film series on topics related 

to American values; 

Whereas in societies in which freedom of speech, freedom of 

the press, or local investment in education were minimal, 

American Centers provided vital outposts of information 

for citizens throughout the world, giving many of them 

their only exposure to uncensored information about the 

United States; 

Whereas this need for uncensored information about the 

United States has accelerated as more foreign governments have restricted Internet access or blocked Web 

sites viewed as hostile to their political regimes; 

Whereas following the end of the Cold War and the attacks 

on United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, 

budgetary and security pressures resulted in the drastic 

downsizing or closure of most of the American Centers; 

Whereas beginning in 1999, American Centers began to be 

renamed Information Resource Centers and relocated primarily inside United States embassy compounds; 

Whereas of the 177 Information Resource Centers operating 

in February 2009, 87, or 49 percent, operate on a ‘‘By 

Appointment Only’’ basis and 18, or 11 percent, do not 

permit any public access; 


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Whereas Information Resource Centers located outside 

United States embassy compounds receive significantly 

more visitors than those inside such compounds, including twice the number of visitors in Africa, 6 times more 

visitors in the Middle East, and 22 times more visitors 

in Asia; and 

Whereas Iran has increased the number of similar Iranian facilities, known as Iranian Cultural Centers, to about 60 

throughout the world: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the Secretary of State should initiate a re3 examination of the public diplomacy platform strat4 egy of the United States with a goal of reestab5 lishing publicly accessible American Centers; 

6 (2) after taking into account relevant security 

7 considerations, the Secretary of State should con8 sider placing United States public diplomacy facili9 ties at locations conducive to maximizing their use, 

10 consistent with the authority given to the Secretary 

11 under section 606(a)(2)(B) of the Secure Embassy 

12 Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 (22 

13 U.S.C. 4865(a)(2)(B)) to waive certain requirements 

14 of that Act. 

Æ 


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