Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917–1972, Volume VII, Public Diplomacy, 1964–1968

95. Memorandum From the Executive Director of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of State (Hall) and the Director, Inter-Departmental Relations and GAO Liaison Staff, Deputy Under Secretary for Administration (Wilken) to the Deputy Under Secretary for Administration (Crockett) and the Assistant Secretary for Education and Cultural Affairs (Frankel)¹

Washington, June 27, 1966

This memorandum transmits our study of the organization of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (CU).

Our findings and recommendations derive from the assumptions and guidance given us, as set forth in Appendix 2,² applied to the present structure of the Bureau. We believe the recommendations to be feasible and consistent with the assumptions. They will provide a tighter, more responsive CU organization to carry out the Department’s upgraded responsibilities in international educational and cultural affairs.

Some of the recommendations can be put into effect forthwith; others depend on the outcome of interdepartmental negotiations that lie ahead. Therefore, we foresee the proposed reorganization taking place by phases over a span of time.

We recommend the approval of this study and its findings.

Theo E. Hall³

David Wilken

Attachment

Study Prepared in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of State⁴

Washington, undated

[Omitted here are the Table of Contents and list of appendices.]

I. SUMMARY AND EVALUATION

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (CU) has not had continuity of direction. Its program operations are isolated from the mainstream of the conduct of foreign affairs.⁵ The program’s explicit legal authority (Public Law 87–256, the Fulbright-Hays Act,⁶ and previous legislation), a separate appropriation, and the Department’s organizational structure have contributed to this seclusion. The full program potential of legislative authority has not been achieved.

The Bureau’s program operations are complicated. There are four statutory boards and four other advisory groups which advise and oversee elements of the program and CU provides them secretariat services. Management of CU’s finances is intricate. The organizational structure of the Bureau is cumbersome and fragmented. Thirteen units report to the Assistant Secretary. All but the smallest units are, in turn, subdivided and most offices are layered with deputy and supervisory positions.⁷

The main thrust of this report is the transfer from the Department to the Center for Educational Cooperation, HEW, of domestic operations of the academic exchange programs.⁸ Mechanisms are in existence or can be created to assure the Department’s leadership and coordinating role in the direction of the foreign relations content of these programs. The result of the reorganization proposed will be an upgraded, tighter CU, more responsive to foreign relations considerations.

This study proposes a mustering of CU functions into three logical groupings: program operations, program support, and coordination; each group of functions to be headed by a Deputy Assistant Secretary. Within these groupings, functions of subordinate units are clarified, layers of supervision are eliminated, and the number of positions is reduced. Through transfer of operations and staff from the Bureau and the elimination of superfluous positions, CU can be reduced by 63 positions.

The organization and staffing changes recommended in the following sections are desirable and attainable goals, but the timing of their accomplishment will depend in part on developments outside the authority of the Bureau and the Department, e.g., the creation and proper functioning of the Center for Educational Cooperation and the ability to make necessary administrative and personnel changes.

[Omitted here is the remainder of the study with the exception of the recommendations.]

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that:

1. The Policy Review and Coordination Staff be given an executive secretariat role for the Bureau to deal with various commissions, boards, and other groups concerned with international education, complementing the role of other secretariats in CU which represent such groups.

2. PRS give increased emphasis to its role of policy development and formulation.

3. PRS be specifically given responsibility for liaison with individual U.S. Government agencies on present and proposed programs in international educational and cultural affairs so that the Assistant Secretary is kept informed and in a position to exert policy leadership.

4. Two additional positions be established, and later consideration be given to authorizing other positions on the basis of PRS experience in performing its expanded role.

5. The GS–5 position concerned with maintenance of the CU Reference Center be transferred to CU/IR, subject to reexamination after the establishment of the Center for Educational Cooperation in HEW.

1. Source: National Archives, RG 306, Bureau of Information Office of Information and Research, Library Programs Division, Special Collection, Branch Office of the Historical Librarian, Subject Files: 1953–1999, Entry P–195, Box 6, Reorganization (CU). Limited Official Use.
2. Attached but not printed.
3. Hall signed “T.E. Hall” above this typed signature.
4. Limited Official Use. No drafting information appears on the study.
5. An unknown hand underlined “isolated from” and drew two parallel lines in the left-hand margin next to this sentence.
6. See footnote 4, Document 14.
7. An unknown hand drew a bracket in the left-hand margin next to this paragraph.
8. See footnote 3, Document 89.