Commission Members:
Lewis Manilow, chairman
Charles Dolan, vice chair
Harold C. Pachios
Maria Elena Torano
Paula Dobriansky
Hank Brown
Penne Percy Korth

Commission Staff: Jonathan Owen; Marianne Scott; Betty Hayes
 

Summary

This report outlined several specific recommendations: The President should issue a Presidential Decision Directive (POD), which would formalize the central role of understanding, informing, and influencing foreign publics in American foreign policy; The President should establish a permanent interagency coordinating body for international public information; The Office of Management and Budget (OMS) should allocate up $5 million for public diplomacy during crises; The State Department and USIA should establish a reserve corps of trained public diplomacy specialists for deployment during crises; Immediate action should be taken by the President, the Congress, and the Secretary of State to restructure the State Department and USIA.

Quotations

In a world of more powerful publics, engaging the right audience at the right moment on issues important to the U.S. can resolve conflicts that might lead to war, create markets for profitable trade, and deal with the transnational problems of terrorism, drugs, crime, disease, and the environment.