The Cohen Group: News: Archives: 2003: Public Diplomacy Demands Investment in People


	Archives
		2004
		2003
		2002
		2001
	Op-eds

News

November 01, 2003

Public Diplomacy Demands Investment in People
Jill Schuker & Doug Wilson

"A process of unilateral disarmament in the weapons of advocacy over the last decade has contributed to widespread hostility toward Americans and left us vulnerable to lethal threats to our interests and our safety."

That conclusion by the U.S. Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World, headed by former Ambassador Edward Djerejian, is right on target. But the group's excellent new report doesn't completely tackle the real problem: the government's helter-skelter approach to addressing America's long-term public diplomacy needs and shortcomings.

We have learned the hard way in recent years that public diplomacy isn't about delivering the political "message of the day." It is about reaching people, not governments. It means listening as well as acting. As we have learned since Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. national interests are affected as much by the views on the street as by what goes on in the halls of government.

To be effective, public diplomacy practitioners must understand the societies in which they operate and the messages they hear. And, in turn, they must communicate essential messages about the United States to opinion leaders abroad. To be of benefit, what they hear and learn must be incorporated into the U.S. policy-making process from beginning to end.

As currently structured and funded, our public diplomacy efforts fall short. Once the domain of a strong and independent U.S. Information Agency, public diplomacy has withered. At the end of the Cold War, the agency fell victim to partisan political wrangling and ill-informed judgments. Too hastily, we abolished it just when we needed it most.

We threw the baby out with the bath water. Folded into the State Department, public diplomacy found itself struggling for a meaningful voice. Morale plummeted, and experienced Foreign Service information officers retired or left. If the State Department's public diplomacy has turned out to be an oxymoron, will the Advisory Group's recommendation to put public diplomacy in the White House really turn out any better?

Reinvigorating our public diplomacy efforts requires an investment in people and a focus on fundamentals. Providing independence to its practitioners would help restore credibility with target audiences and within the societies in which they operate. In a world where technology now enables us to track but not easily distinguish global conversations and movements, hands-on public diplomacy practitioners bring to policy discussions the vital nuance and context of human contact. All the gadgetry in the world can't replace the human element.

We need to attract the best and the brightest of our young people to pursue public diplomacy careers through financial, educational and other incentives. We need more people like Christopher Ross, who began and spent much of his career with USIA. An accomplished Arabic speaker before joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Ross honed his linguistic skills – and his understanding of Islamic societies – with more than a decade of public diplomacy work in four Arab nations.

Indeed, when the Bush administration needed to rebut Osama bin Laden's messages of hate on al-Jazeera after the Sept. 11 attacks, it tapped Mr. Ross for the job. We are investing billions in high-tech weapons to address our national security needs. For a fraction of the cost, isn't it time we invested in more Christopher Rosses?

Jill Schuker was special assistant to the president and senior director for public affairs at the National Security Council in the Clinton administration. Doug Wilson was congressional director for the U.S. Information Agency and principal deputy undersecretary of defense for public affairs in the Clinton administration.

Top