Memorandum for the President 12. While it is important to resolve the long debate about possible merger of USIA and CU, it should be recognized that a further reorganization may be advisable once the President and Congress have more completely reviewed the entire structure of the Federal Government and especially its foreign policy agencies. Committee on International Relations WITNESSES WHO APPEARED BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Hon. Elmer B. Staats, Comptroller General of the United States Frank C. Conahan, Associate Director, International Division, Hobart Lewis, Chairman, U.S. Advisory Commission on Information Arthur C. Nielsen, Jr., Chairman, A. C. Nielsen Co. Louis T. 0lom, Staff Director, U.S. Advisory Commission on Information Heonard H. Marks, Chairman, U.S. Advisory Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs Bruce N. Gregory, President, American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1312 Charles L. Medd, General Vice President, American Federation of Government Employees Patricia A. Woodring, President, American Foreign Service Association Paul Ward, Member, Governing Board, American Foreign Service Association Sandy Rosenblum, Inspection Staff, U.S. Information Agency Hal Morton, Executive Officer, Center Services Division, U.S. Information Agency Juliet Antunes, Assistant Director for Equal Employment Opportunity, Hon. John Richardson, former Assistant Secretary of State for Educa- Dr. Riordan Roett, Director of Latin American Studies, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University Dr. Fred Harvey Harrington, former President of the University of Wisconsin; Director of International Linkages in Higher Education Peter DeShazo, FSIO Trainee, Madison, Wisconsin Hon. Robert Ingersoll, former Deputy Secretary of State Hon. Carl Rowan, former Director of U.S. Information Agency; Syndicated Hon. Frank Shakespeare, former Director of U.S. Information Agency 99-651 - 78 - 2 WITNESSES Hon. Warren Christopher, Deputy Secretary of State Frank Stanton, former Chairman, Panel on International Information, Hon. Robert D. Murphy, former Ambassador; Under Secretary of State; Hon. Andrew Berding, former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Lawrence Y. Goldberg, former Member, U.S. Advisory Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs; Chairman, Resource Strategy Group Kenneth W. Thompson, former Director, Higher Education for Development, Commonwealth Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia Hon. William Tyler, former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe; former U.S. Ambassador in the Netherlands Alwin Nikolais, Director and Founder of the Nikolais Dance Theater Henry Loomis, President of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; former Director, U.S. Information Agency; former Director, Voice of America Paul R. Bartlett, private consultant in the field of international broadcasting Dr. Maury Lisann, private consultant in the field of international broadcasting Hon. David M. Abshire, Chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University; former Chairman, Board for International Broadcasting; former Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations Hon. Abbot Washburn, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission; former Deputy Director, U.S. Information Agency Hon. Kenneth Giddens, former Director, Voice of America Thomas F. Barthelemey, former Executive Director, Board for International Broadcasting Robert Cranston, Director, Armed Forces Radio and Television Service Donald R. Browne, University of Minnesota Donald S. Lowitz, Chairman, Board of Foreign Scholarships Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Wellford, what specific problems do you expect this plan to remedy? Mr. WELLFORD. We are concerned, as I said, about the fact that we have fragmentation of the administration of these programs in Washington. Mr. BROOKS. I thought we were going to quit saying that now. Mr. BROOKS. I thought we were going to quit talking about fragmentation in Washington. The election is over now and we have to start working with those folks. [Laughter.] Mr. WELLFORD. I should have said in the foreign affairs bureaucracy. I think that the efficiencies that we expect to realize over timeand I hope there will be some savings as well, Mr. Horton-are important. But what is key about this reorganization is the fact that we are developing a new mission for a new agency. The emphasis is going to be on mutual understanding-not on one-way communication and not on propagandistic activities. That is the real significance over the long term for what we are doing here. Mr. BROOKS. Many people are concerned about the independence of the Voice of America. Will the Voice of America remain solely responsible for the preparation and content of its broadcasts? Mr. WELLFORD. Yes, sir, it will. Mr. BROOKS. Is that desirable? Mr. WELLFORD. Yes, sir, we think so. Mr. BROOKS. Both the USIA and the State Department have their own personnel systems. How will the new Agency utilize employees from these different systems? Will employee rights be diminished in any way? Mr. WELLFORD. Let me ask Eric to respond to that question. Mr. HIRSCHHORN. The reorganization plan provides as basic personnel authority for the Agency for International Communication the existing USIA personnel authority, which is Public Law 90-494. It is expected that all of the existing USIA personnel will be moved into the new Agency. As for the personnel of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, each of them will receive a written offer to transfer to an appropriate position at an appropriate level in the new Agency. All of the present employees of the Bureau are expected to transfer. Those who are in the Foreign Service and several related personnel systems under the Department of State, will move to the new Agency pending the completion of their present assignments. They will be continued on the rolls of the State Department on a reimbursable detail basis. At the time of their next scheduled reassignment, they then move back into the State system. Mr. BROOKS. The Director of the new Agency will be a principal adviser to the President. Will this Director be subject to congressional oversight just as other officials are subject to Senate confirmation? Mr. WELLFORD. Yes, sir. Mr. BROOKS. I have one further question. According to the reorganization plan, the Director of the Agency for International Communication will be the principal adviser to the President, the Secretary of State, and the National Security Council for information on educational matters of an international nature. Yet the Director is under the direction of the Secretary of State. Who then will make the policy for this Agency for International Communication? Mr. WELLFORD. The Director of the Agency for International Communication will have authority over his budget, his administrative activities, and his personnel. Like other members of the foreign policy community in the executive branch, he will take substantive guidance from the Secretary of State on basic U.S. foreign policy issues. As we have pointed out, there are going to be gray areas here. Because the Director does have a direct reporting relationship to the President, where conflicts develop and we do not expect them to be many-the Secretary of State and the Director can discuss these with the President and he will ultimately have to decide issues that do develop into conflict. Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Horton, do you have any questions? The title of the new organization is the Agency for International Communication. I was wondering whether or not it would have been advisable to have included the words "America" or "United States" in the title, especially since you are dealing with people in foreign countries. Overseas offices are now referred to as America houses. The question is whether or not that is going to change. Mr. WELLFORD. We considered doing that. We were informed that in the operations of agencies overseas the term "United States" could be used in conjunction with this Agency without our having to include it in the official name. If that is a problem and we need to identify the Agency with the term "United States," we could do that overseas just as we do with AID, which is known overseas as USAID. Mr. HORTON. This is a small matter but it has been expressed to me that some people are concerned that the initials of the new Agency, AIC are CIA backwards. Do you have a concern about that? Mr. WELLFORD. To be perfectly frank, Congressman Horton, this is the first time that I realized that. Mr. HORTON. I was involved with the Consumer Protection Agency and the certified public accountants were upset that an agency would have their initials. Mr. WELLFORD. Anybody involved with those agencies has become an expert on the alphabet of bureaucracy, but unfortunately we did not think about it backwards. In dealing with the Government reorganization I need to think forwards and backwards. Thank pointing that out. Mr. HORTON. It does have some connotation because USIA has often been accused of being linked with CIA. Mr. WELLFORD. I think that the best answer to your question is that the President in his statement makes perfectly clear that the Agency for International Communication is not going to be involved in covert activities. His statement needs no elaboration by me at all. That is a very firm principle underlying this reorganization. Mr. HORTON. According to a Washington Post account, the new Agency will represent a departure from the "we talk, you listen" |