By Patricia H. Kushlis
Years ago I learned to check the text of a written transcript rather than rely on the reports of others – even those by the best and most experienced reporters. So after reading Walter Pincus’ January 19 Washington Post report of Hillary’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony, I decided to see if I could locate his source (a 79 page written Q and A that accompanied Clinton’s verbal testimony) which I did earlier today.
Here’s what Pincus reported in his January 19 WaPo article “Clinton’s Goals Detailed:”
“In the battle of ideas, she said, the United States would go on the offensive implementing President-elect Barack Obama's pledges to open "America Houses" in cities across the Arab world. These facilities, fashioned after a Cold War-era program, would have Internet libraries, English lessons and stories about Muslims in America. An initiative labeled "America's Voice Corps" would recruit young Americans with language and public diplomacy skills to speak with and listen to people in the area. Completing the package would be a Global Education Fund to provide $2 billion for primary education around the world. But, she said, there would not be a return of the independent U.S. Information Agency.”
Here’ s what that 79 page transcript shows Clinton wrote in response to Senator Kerry’s questions about America Houses and an independent USIA. The text is found on pages 61 and 62:
Q # 109 (Kerry): What measures do you think are necessary to improve U.S. public diplomacy efforts and restore America’s image in the world?
A (Clinton).: The President-Elect intends to launch a coordinated, multi-agency program of public diplomacy. And I am committed to restoring the strength and vision of the State Department’s public diplomacy mission. As the President-Elect has noted, this is not a peripheral enterprise, disconnected from the rest of our foreign policy. It is an important component of our overall counterterrorism strategy, and it is a vital part of our effort to restore American leadership and reassert American values.
With that in mind, the Administration will pursue concrete objectives, including opening "America Houses" in cities across the Arab world, which will be modeled on the successful program the United States launched following World War II. We will launch a new "America's Voice Corps," to rapidly recruit and train fluent speakers of local languages and public diplomacy skills. We will offer alternatives to madrassas through the Global Education Fund. In our own hemisphere, we will pursue vigorous diplomacy to rebuild the ties with our friends and neighbors in the Americas.
Q #110 (Kerry). Many are critical of the decision to fold the U.S. Information Agency into the State Department in 1999, observing that the long-term efforts of public diplomacy have been subordinated to the short-term rapid-reaction goals emphasized by public affairs. Several have proposed reestablishing a U.S. agency responsible for public diplomacy and strategic communications that would be separate from the State Department. What is your assessment of the relative strengths/weaknesses of how we conduct public diplomacy” Are you open to considering some of the bolder proposals to restructure U.S. public diplomacy and outreach?
A.(Clinton). If confirmed, I look forward to working to ensure that the State Department’s mission of public diplomacy is matched by the personnel, resources and organizational structure we need to carry out this critical mission. "USIA was an effective, single purpose agency in many ways, but it is more practical at this time to improve the functioning of the public diplomacy in the Department than to recreate an independent entity. If confirmed, I look forward to a full assessment of public diplomacy at the State Department and will look to this Committee and the Congress for its counsel as we consider how to make improvements.
I have a few fundamental questions about several of the issues raised in the above Kerry-Clinton give-and-take but they are subjects for different posts - but please Walter Pincus, don’t suggest that Clinton said things that she didn't. I especially don’t see where she described America Houses in more than the most general terms. Or if you found her quoted elsewhere on the more specific descriptions included in your article – I'd appreciate knowing the source or sources.
I also wonder if there’s a bit more “wiggle room” in Clinton’s negative reaction to an independent public diplomacy agency than indicated in Pincus’ article. He's right, on the face of it. Yet she's a savvy lawyer, after all, and the wording I see in her testimony above also suggests room for future maneuverability.
An End Note: Please see Matt Armstrong’s post on Mountain Runner for excerpts of Clinton’s responses to additional public diplomacy questions found in the Kerry-Clinton 97 page Q and A and for yet more in the longer Lugar-Clinton document.