The basic instruments of public diplomacy are hardly1
new. The United States, for example, has conducted
educational and cultural exchange programs for almost
sixty years. Cultural diplomacy is usually an exercise in4
deferred gratification, since such exchange programs typically
don’t offer immediate or obvious payoffs. Instead, programs
such as the Fulbright educational exchanges represent a7
long-term strategic investment in establishing mutual trust and
understanding. Similarly, the US information programs
overseas have a long pedigree: the daily Washington File10
(formerly the Wireless File) began operation in the State
Department in 1935 after an ambassador complained that the
slow distribution of official information was “about as useful13
as a Roman ruin in a fast-changing world”.
The flow of information since has neither slowed nor
stopped changing. In recent months, the biggest internal16
change, of course, has been integration. Public diplomacy
programs, once administered by the US Information Agency,
are now integrated into the Department of State under the19
Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.
Moreover, public diplomacy officers serve in each of the
Department’s regional and functional bureaus and in public22
affairs sections of the embassy.
Internet: <www.publicdiplomacy.org> (adapted).