respected cultural explanation abroad, which will be comparable in times of peace with the unprecedented initiative we Americans are always able to display in time of war."

This Twenty-first Report to Congress by the U.S. Advisory Commission on Information examines what needs to be done in order to step up, improve, and strengthen the U.S. information and cultural relations program.

The present program is an outgrowth of the U.S. experience in World War II. Its objectives and scope were changed and broadened by the passage of Public Law 402 in 1948.

As an important arm of the U.S. Government in its conduct of the cold war, the responsibilities placed upon it and public expectations of its accomplishments have exceeded its fiscal resources. Its limited appropriations have been further restricted because of previous evidence of mismanagement, past public and Congressional suspicion of its personnel and programs, the assumption that foreign information is only a temporary necessity and experimental in character, embarrassing mistakes from trial and error programs, and the difficulty of demonstrating annual achievements and results.

The U.S. information and cultural programs, succeeded in reducing many misunderstandings of the United States in Europe. They played a prominent role in assisting European countries to resist Communist temptations and threats from within and from without their sovereign territory.

In the last five or six years, the Congress has insisted that the United States reduce its information and cultural activities in Europe. As a result, a large financial investment in libraries, bi-national centers, information centers and smaller posts which showed cumulative results was sacrificed, in order to meet the increased demands that sprang from rapidly changing and even revolutionary conditions in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

This Commission believes that the decision to reduce our efforts in Eu

rope is a strategic error. The public outcry in Europe and in some American newspapers has interpreted this as U.S. psychological disengagement. At a time when post-war progress in Europe has been halted and set back by De Gaulle, it is necessary to be present and support those who have fought so valiantly and hitherto so successfully for the conditions which have produced a revived, prosperous, and more economically unified Europe.

In order for the United States to meet its responsibilities as a world power in information, education, and culture as it has done in defense and in the military and economic assistance programs, it must reexamine, step up, and strengthen its current effort. There is recent evidence that neglected and accumulated management problems in USIA are receiving attention. With more effective top management, USIA is in a better position today to face up to its ultimate purpose and to meet new challenges.

With population continuing to increase, the rise of a new generation and our adversaries continuing to undermine U.S. purposes and policies, it is more than ever necessary to seize every opportunity to reduce foreign misunderstanding of the United States.

To accomplish this objective the Commission recommends that:

1) USIA's purpose and role should cover both present and future objectives;

2) USIA should develop longrange plans. A ten year (1966-76) plan is recommended;

3) USIA should make more effective use of research in its plans, programs, budget, and evaluation;

4) USIA should improve the quality of its programs, products, and personnel;

5) USIA should strengthen, balance, and integrate more effectively its cultural and information programs;

6) USIA should reexamine its assumptions and review its programs, country by country, in order to expand useful ones and discard those

32 See ante, doc. XIII-2.

[Doc. XIII-71 1183

cating messages to the peoples of the world in a variety of media. During this period the responsible agencies, including USIA from 1953 to the present, have had to overcome serious problems of management, of recruiting and training qualified personnel, defining and clarifying objectives and missions, developing a worldwide foreign service with its logistics, constructing and developing technical facilities, establishing the necessary fiscal and administrative controls, and seeking adequate appropriations.

As a result, the United States has begun to compete in the ideological arena with growing strength to the point where both the Soviets and the Chinese Communists have expressed pain at USIA's surprising strength and persistence.

The Commission believes that in order to meet the long-range challenge of hostile propaganda in every continent of the world where the United States has strategic interests, the USIA must be further strengthened.

The next ten years will provide USIA with a unique opportunity, as part of its long-range plans to project to the world the past and present accomplishments of the United States as well as its future intentions.

The Commission believes that to tell America's story to the world more effectively, and to combat those who are intent on distorting and subverting this story, USIA will require more substantial financing than it has received to date.

APPENDIX

UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY, Washington, D.C., December 1, 1965.

DEAR FRANK: * I want to report to you on steps that I have taken during the first three months of my term of office as Director of the USIA, with particular reference to recommendations made by your Commission in its Twentieth Report to Congress and the President."

In that report you made certain specific recommendations which will be considered individually below:

33 The letter was addressed to Frank Stanton, Chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Information, with copies sent to the other members.

Text in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1964, pp. 1330-1335.

1. To improve Internal Management, Communication and Coordination

To accomplish this objective I have utilized outside specialists in administrative management, news operation and radio broadcasting. As a result substantial changes will be made shortly in the operation of the Voice of America, the press and wireless service and the Office of Administration. In addition, I have previously announced the consolidation of the motion picture and television services, which merger became effective today.

In addition, I have enlarged the functions and responsibilities of my Executive Assistant so that he has a greater responsibility in the field of management. I believe that these steps carry out the spirit if not the letter of your recommendation.

2. To Reduce the Number of USIA Buildings in Washington from Eleven to One

I have had several meetings with the General Service Administrator, Lawson B. Knott, in which I pointed out the difficulties inherent in multiple locations. We are handicapped in our efforts to obtain a single building because of the logical suggestion that the VOA retain its location in the Health, Education and Welfare building and that other units move there when HEW abandons the building. However, it is unlikely that any immediate abandonment will take place and, during the interim, make-shift arrangements are suggested. I do not subscribe to this recommendation and will continue my efforts to remove some of the obstacles which we currently face in our housing of the Agency staff.

3. To Improve and Strengthen Long-Range Planning

I concur fully with the recommendation and have named Wilson Dizard as a long-range planning officer in the Office of Policy. In addition, I intend to remove IOP from operational functions and direct their energies and talents toward planning.

4. Cultural and Exchange Program Activities

a. I have given considerable thought to the role of the Cultural

Affairs Officer, and have conferred with the newly-appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Cultural Affairs, Mr. Charles Frankel. In addition we have jointly participated in a Task Force which will recommend an expansion of U.S. efforts abroad in the field of education. As a result of that study, I am hopeful that there can be a clarification of the role of the CAO, and a clearer delineation of the respective fields of interest between the various agencies interested in cultural activities.

b. There have also been discussions to coordinate and improve government programs for orienting and training foreign journalists visiting the U.S. A more definitive program toward this end will be proposed at a later date by USIA.

c. I have made the categorical statement that there will be no further reduction of libraries in Western Europe and that I will advocate the strengthening of our program in this area. I have previously explained to each of you orally the circumstances which led to the consolidation of the libraries services in London, Paris and the reduction in Germany of the number of America Haus installations.

d. In order to restore the balance of the Agency's cultural program activity,

1. I have recommended the creation of the post of "Cultural Minister" in the leading capitals of the world. Preliminary discussions have been held with the Department of State and eminent scholars on the subject. These men have been invited to suggest candidates for this position. This recommendation has met with the whole-hearted approval of the Secretary of State and the Assistant Secretary for Cultural Affairs. Recruiting of candidates for this post will start shortly.

2. I am endeavoring to secure an outstanding scholar as my cultural advisor with the authority to supervise the Agency program in the field of books, libraries, teaching of English programs and related cultural activities.

5. To Assume Responsibility for Planning and Executing the President's Trade Fair Exhibition Program

We have proposed to the Department of Commerce a termination of