Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XXX, Public Diplomacy

93. Message to the Congress¹

Washington, October 11, 1977

Agency for International Communication

Message to the Congress Transmitting Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1977. October 11, 1977

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1977 to consolidate certain international communication, educational and cultural, and broadcasting activities of the United States Government. I am acting under the authority vested in me by the Reorganization Act, chapter 9 of title 5 of the United States Code. I am also acting pursuant to section 501 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1978 (Public Law 95–105),² which provides that my recommendations for reorganizing these activities be transmitted by October 31, 1977.

This reorganization will consolidate into a new agency, to be known as the Agency for International Communication, the functions now exercised by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the United States Information Agency.

The principal aspects of this proposal are:

—The new agency will take over USIA’s international communications programs (including the Voice of America) and the international educational and cultural exchange activities now conducted by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

—The agency’s Director will be the principal advisor on international information and exchange activities to the President, the National Security Council, and the Secretary of State. Under the direction of the Secretary of State, the Director will have primary responsibility within the Government for the conduct of such activities. The Director, the Deputy Director and the Associate Directors of the new agency will be confirmed by the Senate.

—The two commissions that now advise USIA and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will be combined into a single seven-member commission.³ Members of this nonpartisan commission will be chosen from fields related to the agency’s mission. The commissioners will be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

The purpose of this reorganization is to broaden our informational, educational and cultural intercourse with the world, since this is the major means by which our government can inform others about our country, and inform ourselves about the rest of the world.

The new Agency for International Communication will play a central role in building these two-way bridges of understanding between our people and the other peoples of the world. Only by knowing and understanding each other’s experiences can we find common ground on which we can examine and resolve our differences.

The new agency will have two distinct but related goals:

• To tell the world about our society and policies—in particular our commitment to cultural diversity and individual liberty.

• To tell ourselves about the world, so as to enrich our own culture as well as to give us the understanding to deal effectively with problems among nations.

As the world becomes more and more interdependent, such mutual understanding becomes increasingly vital. The aim of this reorganization, therefore, is a more effective dialogue among peoples of the earth. Americans—mostly immigrants or the descendants of immigrants—are particularly well suited to enter into such an undertaking. We have already learned much from those who have brought differing values, perspectives and experiences to our shores. And we must continue to learn.

Thus the new agency will lay heavy emphasis on listening to others, so as to learn something of their motivations and aspirations, their histories and cultures.

Several principles guided me in shaping this reorganization plan. Among the most important were:

—Maintaining the integrity of the educational and cultural exchange programs is imperative. To this end, the plan retains the Board of Foreign Scholarships, whose strong leadership has done so much to insure the high quality of the educational exchange program. In addition, I intend to nominate an Associate Director who will be responsible for the administration and supervision of educational and cultural functions consolidated in the new Agency. The responsibilities presently exercised by the Department of State in relation to the Center for Technical and Cultural Interchange Between East and West, Inc., will be transferred to the new agency without alteration.

—Keeping the Voice of America’s news gathering and reporting functions independent and objective. The Voice’s charter, enacted into law in 1976, provides that “VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive”; that VOA will “present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions”; and that VOA will present U.S. policies “clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussion and opinion on these policies.”⁴ Under this Administration, VOA will be solely responsible for the content of news broadcasts—for there is no more valued coin than candor in the international marketplace of ideas. I also plan to nominate an Associate Director who will be responsible for the administration and supervision of the Voice of America.

—The new agency’s activities must be straightforward, open, candid, balanced, and representative. They will not be given over to the advancement of the views of any one group, any one party or any one Administration. The agency must not operate in a covert, manipulative, or propagandistic way.

—Rights of U.S. Information Agency and State Department employees must be respected. In the new agency, their career achievements will be recognized and the best possible use made of their professional skills and abilities.

The Director of the new agency will assess and advise on the impact on worldwide public opinion of American foreign policy decisions. The Agency will coordinate the international information, educational, cultural and exchange programs conducted by the U.S. Government and will be a governmental focal point for private U.S. international exchange programs. It will also play a leading role within the U.S. Government in our efforts to remove barriers to the international exchange of ideas and information.

It is not practicable to specify all of the expenditure reductions and other economies that will result from the proposed reorganization, and therefore I do not do so. The reorganization will result in greater efficiency by unifying in Washington the management of programs which are already administered in a consolidated manner in the field. For example, field officers will no longer report to two separate sets of supervisors and headquarters at home.

This plan abolishes the functions of the Advisory Committee on the Arts authorized by section 106(c) of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2456(c)). Also abolished, as a result of the consolidation of certain functions of the United States Advisory Commission on Information and the United States Advisory Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs in the United States Advisory Commission on International Communication, Cultural and Educational Affairs, are the functions authorized by section 603 of the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, as amended (22 U.S.C. 1468) (requiring submission by the United States Advisory Commission on Information of a quarterly report to the Director of USIA and a semiannual report to the Congress). The new commission will report annually and at such other times as it deems appropriate (as does the existing Advisory Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs). Since appointments of all members of the new commission will be on a nonpartisan basis, as has been the case with the Advisory Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs, the requirement of section 602(a) of the U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act (22 U.S.C. 1467(a)) that not more than three members of the Advisory Commission on Information shall be of the same political party is abolished.

Various obsolete or superseded functions under Reorganization Plan No. 8 of 1953 (22 U.S.C. 1461 note), which created the USIA, are superseded by this plan. Finally, the Plan abolishes a provision authorizing the Secretary of State to pay the expenses of transporting the bodies of participants in exchange programs who die away from home, since State no longer will conduct such programs (22 U.S.C. 2670(e)). All functions abolished by the reorganization are done so in compliance with section 903(b) of title 5 of the United States Code.

After investigation, I have found that this reorganization is necessary to carry out the policy set forth in section 901(a) of title 5 of the United States Code. The provisions in this Plan for the appointment and pay of the Director, Deputy Director, and Associate Directors of the Agency have been found by me to be necessary by reason of the reorganization made by the plan and are at a rate applicable to comparable officers in the executive branch.

In presenting this plan, I ask the support of Congress to strengthen and simplify the machinery by which we carry out these important functions of the United States Government.

Such action will make us better able to project the great variety and vitality of American life to those abroad, and to enrich our own lives with a fuller knowledge of the vitality and variety of other societies.

The new Agency for International Communication will help us demonstrate “a decent respect for the opinions of mankind,” and to deal intelligently with a world awakening to a new spirit of freedom.

Jimmy Carter

[Omitted here is the text of Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1977.]

1. Source: Public Papers: Carter, 1977, Book II, pp. 1765–1767. The message is Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1977 (91 Stat. 1636), prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 9 of title 5 of the United States Code. For information concerning an October 11 press conference, at which McInytre and other OMB officials discussed several aspects of the reorganization plan, see Charles Mohr, “President Seeking To Merge U.S.I.A. And Cultural Unit,” The New York Times, October 12, 1977, p. 29 and Edward Walsh, “Senators Hold ‛Frank, Candid’ Session With Carter on Panama Canal Treaties,” The Washington Post, October 12, 1977, p. A2.
2. Signed into law by the President on August 17, 1977.
3. References are to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Information and the U.S. Advisory Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs. The merger established the U.S. Advisory Commission on International Communications, Cultural, and Educational Affairs.
4. See footnote 2, Document 47.