U.S. Public Diplomacy: Background and the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Page: 2 of 16
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U.S. Public Diplomacy: Background and the
9/11 Commission Recommendations
Summary
While the 9/11 terrorist attacks rallied unprecedented support abroad for the
United States initially, they also heightened the awareness among government
officials and terrorism experts that a significant number of people, especially within
Muslim populations, harbor enough hatred for America so as to become a pool for
terrorists. Over time it became clear that for the global war on terrorism to succeed,
sustained cooperation from around the world would be required.
In the years prior to September 11th, both Congress and the various
administrations downplayed the importance of funding public diplomacy activities,
and in 1999 abolished the primary public diplomacy agency - the U.S. Information
Agency (USIA). Public diplomacy often was viewed as less important than political
and military functions and, therefore, was seen by some legislators as a pot of money
that could be tapped for funding other government activities.
Even prior to the 2001 attacks, a number of decisions by the Bush
Administration, including refusing to sign onto the Kyoto Treaty, the International
Criminal Court, the Chemical Weapons Ban, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty,
damaged foreign opinion of the United States. After the decision to go to war with
Iraq, much foreign opinion of the United States fell sharply, not only in the Arab and
Muslim world, but even among some of America's closest allies. Some foreign
policy and public diplomacy experts believe that using public diplomacy to provide
clear and honest explanations of why those decisions were made could have
prevented some of the loss of support in the war on terrorism.
Many U.S. policymakers now recognize the importance of how America and its
policies are perceived abroad. A former Under Secretary of State for Public
Diplomacy and both chairmen of the 9/11 Commission expressed the view that
public diplomacy tools are at least as important in the war on terrorism as military
tools and should be given equal status and increased funding. As a result of the 9/11
Commission recommendations, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and
Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (S. 2845, P.L. 108-458) which included provisions
expanding public diplomacy activities in Muslim populations.
At the same time, some believe that there are limits to what public diplomacy
can do when the problem is not foreign misperception of America, but rather
disagreements with specific U.S. foreign policies. A major expansion of U.S. public
diplomacy activities and funding cannot change that, they say.
This report presents the challenges that have focused renewed attention on
public diplomacy, provides background on public diplomacy, actions the
Administration and Congress have taken since 9/11 to make public diplomacy more
effective, as well as recommendations offered by others, particularly the 9/11
Commission. It will be updated if events warrant.
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U.S. Public Diplomacy: Background and the 9/11 Commission Recommendations, report, February 4, 2005; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc810836/m1/2/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.