I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2159 

To modernize and streamline the public diplomacy capabilities of the Department of State, increase evaluation of public diplomacy programming, 

enhance strategic planning for the Department’s public diplomacy physical presence abroad, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 9, 2019 

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

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To modernize and streamline the public diplomacy capabilities of the Department of State, increase evaluation of 

public diplomacy programming, enhance strategic planning for the Department’s public diplomacy physical 

presence abroad, 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 ‘‘Public Diplomacy Mod5 ernization Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AVOIDING DUPLICATION OF PROGRAMS AND EF2 FORTS. 

3 The Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Pub4 lic Affairs of the Department of State shall— 

5 (1) identify opportunities for greater efficiency 

6 of operations, including through improved coordina7 tion of efforts across public diplomacy bureaus and 

8 offices of the Department of State; and 

9 (2) maximize shared use of resources between, 

10 and within, such public diplomacy bureaus and of11 fices in cases in which programs, facilities, or admin12 istrative functions are duplicative or substantially 

13 overlapping. 

14 SEC. 3. IMPROVING RESEARCH AND EVALUATION OF PUB15 LIC DIPLOMACY. 

16 (a) RESEARCH AND EVALUATION ACTIVITIES.—The 

17 Secretary of State, acting through the Director of Re18 search and Evaluation established under subsection (b), 

19 shall— 

20 (1) conduct regular research and evaluation of 

21 public diplomacy programs and activities of the De22 partment of State, including through the routine use 

23 of audience research, digital analytics, and impact 

24 evaluations, to plan and execute such programs and 

25 activities; and 


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1 (2) make available to Congress the findings of 

2 the research and evaluations conducted under para3 graph (1). 

4 (b) DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND EVALUATION.— 

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

6 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec7 retary of State shall appoint a Director of Research 

8 and Evaluation (referred to in this subsection as the 

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

10 Resources for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs 

11 of the Department of State. 

12 (2) LIMITATION ON APPOINTMENT.—The ap13 pointment of the Director pursuant to paragraph (1) 

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

15 equivalent positions within the Department of State. 

16 (3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Director shall— 

17 (A) coordinate and oversee the research 

18 and evaluation of public diplomacy programs 

19 and activities of the Department of State to— 

20 (i) improve public diplomacy strate21 gies and tactics; and 

22 (ii) ensure that such programs and 

23 activities are increasing the knowledge, un24 derstanding, and trust of the United 

25 States by relevant target audiences; 


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1 (B) report to the Director of Policy Plan2 ning of the Office of Policy, Planning, and Re3 sources for Public Diplomacy and Public Af4 fairs; 

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 embassy public affairs sec10 tions; 

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 are designed to meet appro20 priate foreign policy objectives; and 

21 (G) report biannually to the United States 

22 Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 

23 through the Subcommittee on Research and 

24 Evaluation established pursuant to subsection 


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1 (f), regarding the research and evaluation of all 

2 public diplomacy bureaus and offices. 

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

4 one year after the appointment of the Director pur5 suant to paragraph (1), the Director shall develop 

6 guidance and training, including curriculum for use 

7 by the Foreign Service Institute, for all public diplo8 macy officers regarding the reading and interpreta9 tion of public diplomacy program and activity eval10 uation findings to ensure that such findings and re11 lated lessons learned are implemented in the plan12 ning and evaluation of all public diplomacy programs 

13 and activities of the Department of State. 

14 (c) PRIORITIZING RESEARCH AND EVALUATION.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of Policy Plan16 ning of the Office of Policy, Planning, and Re17 sources for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs 

18 shall ensure that research and evaluation of public 

19 diplomacy and activities of the Department of State, 

20 as coordinated and overseen by the Director of Re21 search and Evaluation pursuant to subsection (b), 

22 supports strategic planning and resource allocation 

23 across all public diplomacy bureaus and offices of 

24 the Department. 


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1 (2) ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES.—Amounts al2 located for the purposes of research and evaluation 

3 of public diplomacy programs and activities pursu4 ant to subsection (b) shall be made available to be 

5 disbursed at the direction of the Director of Re6 search and Evaluation among the research and eval7 uation staff across all public diplomacy bureaus and 

8 offices of the Department of State. 

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

10 Congress that the Department of State should 

11 gradually increase its allocation of funds made avail12 able under the headings ‘‘EDUCATIONAL AND 

13 CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS’’ and 

14 ‘‘DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR PROGRAMS’’ 

15 for research and evaluation of public diplomacy pro16 grams and activities pursuant to subsection (b) to a 

17 percentage of program funds that is commensurate 

18 with Federal Government best practices. 

19 (d) LIMITED EXEMPTION RELATING TO THE PAPER20 WORK REDUCTION ACT.—Chapter 35 of title 44, United 

21 States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduc22 tion Act’’), shall not apply to the collection of information 

23 directed at any individuals conducted by, or on behalf of, 

24 the Department of State for the purpose of audience reVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Apr 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2159.IH H2159

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1 search, monitoring, and evaluations, and in connection 

2 with the Department’s activities conducted pursuant to— 

3 (1) the United States Information and Edu4 cational Exchange Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. 1431 et 

5 seq.); 

6 (2) the Mutual Educational and Cultural Ex7 change Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2451 et seq.); 

8 (3) section 1287 of the National Defense Au9 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 

10 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note); or 

11 (4) the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

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

13 (e) LIMITED EXEMPTION RELATING TO THE PRI14 VACY ACT.— 

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

16 shall maintain, collect, use, and disseminate records 

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

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

19 digital analytics, and impact evaluation of commu20 nications related to public diplomacy efforts intended 

21 for foreign audiences. 

22 (2) CONDITIONS.—Audience research, digital 

23 analytics, and impact evaluations under paragraph 

24 (1) shall be— 


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1 (A) reasonably tailored to meet the pur2 poses of this subsection; and 

3 (B) carried out with due regard for privacy 

4 and civil liberties guidance and oversight. 

5 (f) UNITED STATES ADVISORY COMMISSION ON PUB6 LIC DIPLOMACY.— 

7 (1) SUBCOMMITTEE FOR RESEARCH AND EVAL8 UATION.—The United States Advisory Commission 

9 on Public Diplomacy shall establish a Subcommittee 

10 for Research and Evaluation to monitor and advise 

11 regarding audience research, digital analytics, and 

12 impact evaluations carried out by the Department of 

13 State and the United States Agency for Global 

14 Media. 

15 (2) REPORT.—The Subcommittee for Research 

16 and Evaluation established pursuant to paragraph 

17 (1) shall submit to Congress an annual report, in 

18 conjunction with the United States Advisory Com19 mission on Public Diplomacy’s Comprehensive An20 nual Report on the performance of the Department 

21 and the United States Agency for Global Media, de22 scribing all actions taken by the Subcommittee pur23 suant to subparagraph (1) and any findings made as 

24 a result of such actions. 


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1 SEC. 4. PERMANENT REAUTHORIZATION OF THE UNITED 

2 STATES ADVISORY COMMISSION ON PUBLIC 

3 DIPLOMACY. 

4 Section 1334 of the Foreign Affairs Reform and Re5 structuring Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6553) is amended— 

6 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘SUN7 SET’’ and inserting ‘‘CONTINUATION’’; and 

8 (2) by striking ‘‘until October 1, 2020’’. 

9 SEC. 5. STREAMLINING OF SUPPORT FUNCTIONS. 

10 Section 1(b)(3) of the State Department Basic Au11 thorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a(b)(3)) is amend12 ed— 

13 (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

14 after the semicolon; 

15 (2) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period 

16 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

17 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub18 paragraph: 

19 ‘‘(F) consolidate all human resources, per20 sonnel, travel, purchasing, budgetary planning 

21 for public diplomacy funds, and other executive 

22 support functions for all bureaus that report to 

23 the Under Secretary.’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. GUIDANCE FOR CLOSURE OF PUBLIC DIPLOMACY 

2 FACILITIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

5 shall adopt, and include in the Foreign Affairs Manual, 

6 guidelines to collect and utilize information from each for7 eign post at which the construction of a new embassy com8 pound or new consulate compound would result in the clo9 sure or co-location of an American Space, American Cen10 ter, American Corner, or any other public diplomacy facil11 ity under the Secure Embassy Construction and Counter12 terrorism Act of 1999 (22 U.S.C. 4865 et seq.). 

13 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The guidelines required by 

14 subsection (a) shall include— 

15 (1) standardized notification to each chief of 

16 mission describing the requirements of the Secure 

17 Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 

18 1999 and the impact on the mission footprint of 

19 such requirements; 

20 (2) an assessment and recommendations from 

21 each chief of mission of potential impacts to public 

22 diplomacy programming at such foreign post if any 

23 public diplomacy facility referred to in subsection (a) 

24 is closed or staff is co-located in accordance with 

25 such Act; 


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1 (3) a process by which assessments and rec2 ommendations under paragraph (2) are considered 

3 by the Secretary of State and the appropriate under 

4 secretaries and assistant secretaries at the Depart5 ment of State; and 

6 (4) notification to Congress, prior to the initi7 ation of new compound design, of the intent to close 

8 any such public diplomacy facility or co-locate public 

9 diplomacy staff in accordance with such Act. 

10 (c) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

11 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall 

12 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a re13 port containing the guidelines required under subsection 

14 (a) and any recommendations for any modifications to 

15 such guidelines. 

16 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) AUDIENCE RESEARCH.—The term ‘‘audi19 ence research’’ means research conducted at the out20 set of a public diplomacy program or the outset of 

21 campaign planning and design regarding specific au22 dience segments to understand the attitudes, inter23 ests, knowledge, and behaviors of such audience seg24 ments. 


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1 (2) DIGITAL ANALYTICS.—The term ‘‘digital 

2 analytics’’ means the analysis of qualitative and 

3 quantitative data, accumulated in digital format, to 

4 indicate the outputs and outcomes of a public diplo5 macy program or campaign. 

6 (3) IMPACT EVALUATION.—The term ‘‘impact 

7 evaluation’’ means an assessment of the changes in 

8 the audience targeted by a public diplomacy program 

9 or campaign that can be attributed to such program 

10 or campaign. 

11 (4) PUBLIC DIPLOMACY BUREAUS AND OF12 FICES.—The term ‘‘public diplomacy bureaus and 

13 offices’’ means, with respect to the Department of 

14 State— 

15 (A) the Bureau of Educational and Cul16 tural Affairs; 

17 (B) the Bureau of Public Affairs; 

18 (C) the Bureau of International Informa19 tion Programs; 

20 (D) the Office of Policy, Planning, and Re21 sources for Public Diplomacy and Public Af22 fairs; 

23 (E) the Global Engagement Center; and 

24 (F) the public diplomacy functions within 

25 the regional and functional bureaus. 


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1 (5) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com3 mittees’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

5 the House of Representatives; 

6 (B) the Committee on Appropriations of 

7 the House of Representatives; 

8 (C) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

9 the Senate; and 

10 (D) the Committee on Appropriations of 

11 the Senate. 

Æ 


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