The United States has long sought to influence the peoples of foreign countries through public diplomacy (PD) efforts. Public diplomacy provides a foreign policy complement to traditional government-to-government diplomacy, which is dominated by official interaction carried out between professional diplomats. Unlike public affairs, which focus communications activities intended primarily to inform and influence domestic media and the American people, U.S. public diplomacy includes efforts to interact directly with the citizens, community and civil leaders, journalists, and other opinion leaders of another country. PD seeks to influence that society's attitudes and actions in supporting U.S. policies and national interests. Public diplomacy is viewed as often having a long-term perspective that requires working through the exchange of people and ideas to build lasting relationships and understanding of the United States and its culture, values, and policies. The tools of public diplomacy include people-to-people contact; expert speaker programs; art and cultural performances; books and literature; radio and television broadcasting and movies; and, more recently, the Internet. In contrast, traditional diplomacy involves the strong representation of U.S. policies to foreign governments, analysis and reporting of a foreign government's activities, attitudes, and trends that affect U.S. interests. There is a growing concern among many in the executive branch, the Congress, the media, and other foreign policy observers, however, that the United States has lost its public diplomacy capacity to successfully respond to today's international challenges in supporting the accomplishment of U.S. national interests. Public diplomacy capacity and capabilities atrophied in the years following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. U.S. public diplomacy efforts were carried out primarily by the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), created in 1953, as well as U.S. non-military international broadcasting by entities such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Liberty. These entities had been well resourced throughout the Cold War; however, with the end of the Soviet threat, those resources dwindled as it was believed that there was no ideological fight still to win. Many analysts believe that the United States generally placed public diplomacy on a "back burner" as a relic of the Cold War. In 1999, new legislation abolished USIA and folded its responsibilities into the State Department, again with reduced resources for public diplomacy. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and with U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, interest in public diplomacy as a foreign policy and national security tool was renewed. Concerns about the events in the Middle East focused the attention of policy makers on the need for a sound, well-resourced public diplomacy program. This concern was heightened by the realization that the worldwide perception of the United States has declined considerably in recent years with the United States often being considered among the most distrusted and dangerous countries in the world. As the United States sought to revitalize its PD initiatives, it became clear the changes in the world order and changes caused by the Internet and information technology in general created a new dynamic for U.S. public diplomacy initiatives. The world of international communications and information sharing is undergoing revolutionary changes at remarkable speeds. The rapid increase in available sources of information, through the proliferation of global and regional broadcasters using satellite technologies, as well as the global reach of news and information websites on the Internet, has diversified and complicated the shaping of attitudes of foreign populations. Individual communicators now have the ability to influence large numbers of people on a global scale through social networking, providing a direct challenge to the importance of traditional information media and actors. Traditional media, such as newspapers, have created online interactive exchanges between providers and consumers of information by allowing readers to comment on news reporting. New online social media networks such as weblogs, Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook allow individuals to connect with one another on a global scale, providing opportunities for "many-to-many" exchanges of information that bypass the "one-to-many" sources that formerly dominated the information landscape. In addition, the method of information delivery and receipt has been fundamentally changed, with cell phones and other handheld mobile devices capable of sending and receiving large amounts of written, visual, and audio information. Communication of information through these new media, regardless of how they depict the United States, contribute to the impressions about the United States and its society. It is in this ever expanding and accelerating global communications environment that U.S. public diplomacy and international broadcasting must operate, "competing for attention and for credibility in a time when rumors can spark riots, and information, whether it's true or false, quickly spreads across the world, across the internet, in literally instants." The attitudes and perceptions of foreign publics created in this new environment are often as important as reality, and sometimes can even trump reality. These attitudes affect the ability of the United States to form and maintain alliances in pursuit of common policy objectives; impact the cost and the effectiveness of military operations; influence local populations to either cooperate, support or be hostile as the United States pursues foreign policy and/or military objectives in that country; affect the ability to secure support on issues of particular concern in multilateral fora; and dampen foreign publics' enthusiasm for U.S. business services and products. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale, in discussing the implications of foreign perceptions and attitudes on U.S. foreign policy and national security, said, Governments inclined to support U.S. policies will back away if their populations do not trust us. But if we do this right, if we develop relationships with people around the world, if they trust us as a partner, this dynamic will be reversed. Less cooperative regimes will be forced to moderate their positions under popular pressure. To the extent that we succeed, threats we face today will diminish and new partnerships will be possible. Today, 14 Cabinet-level departments and over 48 independent agencies and commissions participate in at least one form of official public diplomacy, mostly regarding exchanges or training programs. Yet because of the increasing recognition of public diplomacy's key role in the conduct of U.S. foreign affairs, many in the executive branch, Congress, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, and news media debate different approaches to improving U.S public diplomacy to respond to new challenges, determining public diplomacy authorities and responsibilities, defining and executing public diplomacy strategy, and adequately resourcing public diplomacy. The body of this report is divided into five sections. The first section provides background information on U.S. public diplomacy, its legislative foundations, and the history of modern U.S. public diplomacy including the former USIA. The second section discusses the abolishment of USIA and the transfer of its functions to the Department of State. The third section discusses the current structure of public diplomacy within the Department of State as well as its budget and personnel levels. The fourth section gives a detailed overview of some of the major related policy issues and perceived challenges to the effectiveness of U.S. public diplomacy, and proposed reforms and solutions. Finally, the fifth section describes proposed legislation intended to reform and improve U.S. public diplomacy. This section provides an overview of the legislative authorities for the conduct of public diplomacy activities within the U.S. government. It continues with a discussion of the historical context of U.S. civilian-led public diplomacy as it developed since World War I, the creation of USIA in 1953, and its activities and organization. It also provides budget and personnel information for the former USIA. Four acts provide the current foundational authority of the U.S. government to engage in public diplomacy in its many venues, and establish the parameters and restrictions regarding those authorities: the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956; the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948; the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961; and the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994. The State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956, as amended (P.L. 84-885; 22 U.S.C. §§ 2651a, 2669 et seq. ), authorizes six Under Secretaries of State for the Department of State, specifically requiring that there be an Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy. Section 1(b)(3) of the Act (22 U.S.C. § 2651a(b)(3)), in describing the position of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, states that the Under Secretary has "the primary responsibility to assist the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary in the formation and implementation of United States public diplomacy policies, including international educational and cultural exchange programs, information, and international broadcasting." The section enumerates several responsibilities of the Under Secretary, including preparing an annual strategic plan for public diplomacy, ensuring the design and implementation of appropriate program evaluation methodologies, and assisting the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) in presenting the policies of the United States. Section 60 of the act (22 U.S.C. § 2732), entitled "Public Diplomacy Responsibilities of the Department of State," requires the Secretary of State to make public diplomacy an integral component in the planning and execution of U.S. foreign policy. The Secretary is to make every effort to coordinate the public diplomacy activities of the federal agencies, work with the Broadcasting Board of Governors to develop a comprehensive strategy for the use of PD resources, and establish long-term measurable objectives. The Secretary is also to work with USAID and other private and public assistance organizations to ensure that information on the assistance the United States is providing is disseminated widely, and particularly to the people in the recipient countries. The United States Information and Education and Exchange Act of 1948, as amended (P.L. 80-402; 22 U.S.C. § 1431 et seq. ), also known as the Smith-Mundt Act, served as the post-World War II charter for peacetime overseas information and education exchange activities.