Act of 1948, as amended (22 U.S.C. 1442 (d)), $1,365,740: Provided, That this amount shall be used for purchase of Philippine pesos from the special account for the informational media guarantee program. PAYMENT TO INFORMATIONAL MEDIA GUARANTEE FUND For payment to the "Informational media guarantee fund", for partial restoration of realized impairment to the capital used in carrying on the authority to make informational media guarantees, as provided in section 1011 of the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, as amended (22 U.S.C. 1442), $3,691,680. FUNDS APPROPRIATED TO THE PRESIDENT PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM For expenses necessary to enable the President to carry out the provisions of the "International Cultural Exchange and Trade Fair Participation Act of 1956",19 $7,185,848, to remain available until expended: Provided, That not to exceed a total of $30,000 may be expended for representation. B. Evaluation and Reports of Progress 408. MEASURES TAKEN BY THE UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY TO IMPROVE ITS PROGRAM AND OPERATIONS: Letter From the Acting Director of the USIA (Washburn) to the Staff Director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Information (Olom), December 5, 1960 1 DEAR MR. OLOM: This is in reply to your letter of October 7,2 inquiring with regard to actions taken by the Agency to put into effect the recommendations of the Advisory Commission, and the status of forward planning in the Agency. In general, the Agency has taken action in the directions recommended by the Commission in its 15th Report to Congress, as indicated in our comments on the latter report, in Mr. Allen's letter to you, dated July 7, 1960. However, the scope of the actions we have taken has been severely restricted by the paucity of resources available to cope with rapidly multiplying demands upon the Agency. For example, the adjustments which we have been able to accomplish in 19 Text in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1956, pp. 1373–1376. 1The Sixteenth Report of the United States Advisory Commission on Information, pp. 17–27. 2 Ibid., p. 28. disposition of resources to meet critical requirements in Africa were made primarily by sacrificing important operations elsewhere. The Agency has benefited, since July, in the liberalization of provisions governing use of Public Law 480 funds, particularly in India and Nepal. We have learned, however, that such local currencies cannot be used effectively unless a post has an adequate staff and enough general operating funds to meet dollar costs incidental to local currency programs. The Agency has obtained authorization from the Bureau of the Budget to request an additional $2 million Congressional appropriation for fiscal year 1962, over and above the amount originally allowed. The Agency would devote about a third of such additional funds to meeting some of the most pressing requirements of the situation in Africa. Various elements of the Agency are currently engaged in preparation of contingency plans for an intensified information program, in order to be prepared for any action in this direction which the new administration might decide to take, possibly on the basis of recommendations of the President's Committee on Information Activities Abroad.3 Within the limitations of budgetary austerity indicated in the foregoing, the Agency has taken a considerable number of steps to put the Commission's recommendations into effect. Quality of Output We have continued to stress in our guidance to all areas and media the importance of maintaining highest standards of quality in output recognizing at the same time that this alone is not enough to cope with a constantly increasing volume and scope of Sino-Soviet propaganda effort. However we still are trying to achieve in every item of output the highest standard of quality which should characterize the United States' effort in the foreign information field. It is our judgment that to reach the desired level of quality requires still further efforts in the fields of training, research, and greater attention to the fine points of media production. The Less-Developed Areas We have continued to concentrate on meeting problems in the less developed areas. In Africa, the Agency is bending every effort to establish its programs on a solid footing. The establishment of posts and attendant administrative problems have first priority. More attention is being given to the use of audio-visual materials and to the development of simplified materials. A flexible approach to target audiences is being followed, without exclusive concentration on either elite or masses. Plans have been made for a French-language supplement to the Wireless File, for French speaking segments of Africa. Englishteaching programs, now operating in eight countries, are being expanded to other countries in Africa as rapidly as resources permit. 8 Appointed Feb. 17, 1960; see the Department of State Bulletin, Mar. 7, 1960, p. 365. For the committee's report, see infra. Posts in Guinea, Cameroun and Mali started classes within weeks of the posts' establishment. Less than a month after his arrival in Bamako (Mali) the Acting Public Affairs Officer began teaching English to the President and other high officials. Showings of the Agency's monthly film magazine, Today, have steadily expanded. On November 1, the Agency launched publication of a French-language newspaper in Leopoldville for distribution in West Africa. The Voice of America has initiated a 10-minute weekly radio feed in French to Radio Mali. Elsewhere in the Continent the Agency's adjustment to a changing Africa continues at a rapid pace. In the Far East, emphasis is being given to reaching the newly educated, with somewhat greater attention being given to American studies and English teaching programs. Shortage of funds restricts development of audio-visual materials for mass audiences in that area. In Latin America the Agency is planning a series of new projects to meet the special needs of that area. These include: the development of experimental "community centers" for promotion of understanding of democratic practices; the assignment of specially trained grantees to Binational Centers in cities where Communists are active; production of additional package radio programs for the lower socialeconomic levels; production of several new films on U.S. aims in Latin America. In the Near East, the availability of PL 480 funds has enabled the Area to undertake or plan certain programs such as: a major expansion of book translation and textbook publishing activity in India and the United Arab Republic; expansion of publications in India and Nepal; an increase in exhibit and motion picture activity in India; development of a television center in the UAR. Communications Advances With regard to technical advances in the communications field, the Agency has followed closely the great strides recently made in space communications and we believe that satisfactory international channels will eventually be established by this medium. We are participating actively in the work of an inter-agency long range planning program on space communications now being conducted jointly by the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization and the Federal Communications Commission in preparation for a projected International Space Communications Conference. We have recommended that channels for international radio and television broadcasts by means of space communications be allocated on a regional basis. Both the Television and Broadcasting services are keeping abreast of technical communications developments affecting those media. Binational Approach The main focus of binational activity has continued to rest in the Agency's Binational Centers program which has been strengthened in the Near East, Far East and Latin America since our report of July in large measure through the availability of PL 480 funds. Substantial grants have been made for capital improvements to binational centers in Thailand, Brazil, Austria, Pakistan, Greece and other countries. Several of the media services have continued to carry on projects and operations involving binational cooperation. The Agency has continued to encourage American business organizations overseas to participate in community affairs. Binational business groups in the Business Council for International Understanding and in the InterAmerican Council are now operating or are being organized to undertake local community relations programs. Although the Agency has given substantial support to the Organization of American States, and other multi-national bodies, projects involving multi-national cooperation are still fairly uncommon in Agency operations. The forthcoming meeting of Cultural Affairs Officers in Brazil will have as a major point of discussion the feasibility of area-wide projects for seminars by leading American scholars and distinguished Latin Americans from several countries. Considerable thought is now being given to the concept of the "two-way street" and this subject will be given further attention. International Contacts There have been a number of developments which may be of interest in regard to the subject of international contacts on which the Commission made several recommendations. The Agency's Community Affiliation program and the newly developing People-to-People Community Council program are daily disclosing new potentials for organizing exchange programs and knowledge-sharing projects between all elements of the community and their overseas counterparts in business, professional, labor, student, women, youth, and cultural relations. With particular references to youth, the Agency is advancing its private cooperation affiliation programs in universities, secondary schools and youth groups. Business organizations are being encouraged to sponsor youth programs through their foreign subsidiaries. The Agency's study of potentialities in youth activities and programs directed to youth has been initiated, and consideration is now being given to the assignment of responsibility for general planning in this field as a functional specialty requiring continuous attention at the policy and planning level. 4 The United States has continued to pursue implementation of the exchange of exhibits clause of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Cultural Exchange Agreement for 1960-61 and has recently sent a negotiating team to the Soviet Union to discuss the terms of the exchange and to inspect possible display sites. Prospects appear good for an exchange of three exhibits with the Soviets next year. Agreement has been reached in principle for the showing of three USIA exhibits in a total of seven Soviet cities. The exhibits will cover the subjects of plastics, medicine, and transportation. Financing of the exhibits now presents a major problem and illustrates the difficulty of meeting opportunities which arise at an awkward point in the budget cycle but which present major opportunities for the Agency. The Agency has requested, in its fiscal • Text in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pp. 957-971. year 1962 budget, that a fund be provided to meet such contingencies. It is also anticipated that efforts to resolve difficulties in implementing the radio/TV exchange clause will bear fruit in the near future. The American Embassy in Moscow recently released the first number of a biweekly cultural bulletin which, if our plans are successful, will provide regular information to Soviet readers on cultural events in the United States. In the past six months, talks have been concluded between Rumanian and U.S. officials concerning a bilateral arrangement for a cultural exchange program of modest proportions. When this arrangement is concluded, USIA will support the program as far as possible in the fields of exhibits, films, radio and TV, and other media of communication. 5 USIA also cooperated with the Office of International Trade Fairs of the Department of Commerce, and with the State Department, in the preparation of the U.S. exhibit at the Plovdiv International Trade Fair in Bulgaria. This marked the first U.S. participation in the Plovdiv Fair and the first major American presentation since the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries." Incorporating a previously prepared USIA exhibit, "Medicine USA," the U.S. exhibit proved a popular success with the Bulgarian visitors to the Fair. Personal Contacts The Agency has always placed a high premium on the device of personal contact. We believe that the measures we are now taking in personnel recruitment will, even more than in the past, assist us to obtain officers particularly adept in this skill. (1) We are increasing the weight given to the oral examination in the selection of candidates for our Foreign Service since we believe that this personal interview type of test provides a greater opportunity to evaluate a candidate's capacity in the field of personal contact. (2) For over a year we have been giving psychological and psychiatric tests to new candidates for Agency Foreign Service employment. We are now refining these tests and are planning to expand their application to persons obtained under contract for special services abroad and eventually to domestic employees of the Agency entering the Foreign Service for the first time. (3) We are expanding out training efforts. Particularly, we are increasing the opportunities for both bi-national center grantees and USIA officers to undergo training in courses dealing with American Civilization. In the case of bi-national center grantees who have been especially selected to deal with student and intellectual groups, we have provided training courses in the techniques and ideology of Communism and means of combating these techniques and philosophies in personal arguments. (4) Finally, we have adopted substantially the same procedures of recruitment for entry into the lowest officer grade of our Foreign Service as are employed by the Depart 6 5 See the unnumbered title, ante, p. 380. See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pp. 799–800. |