The legislative mandates of the United States Information Agency (USIA) derive from the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. 1431) and the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2451). The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act's purpose is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. It prohibits, with certain exceptions approved by Congress, dissemination within the United States of materials produced by the Agency for distribution overseas. It also requires the Agency to make its overseas program materials available for public inspection at its Washington, DC, headquarters. The Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act authorizes educational and cultural exchanges between the United States and other countries, as well as United States

participation in international fairs and expositions abroad.

The five executive level offices of the Agency are the Office of Public Liaison, Office of the General Counsel, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of the Inspector General, and the Office of Research.

Activities

The activities of the U.S. Information Agency are based on two key premises. The first is that foreign public opinion is important and that USIA should work to understand it, with the hope that our understanding will be a factor in policy formation; to inform others about American life and values, policies, and interests as a nation; and, if possible, to eliminate misperception and move others to action in ways that serve the national interest. The second premise is that mutual understanding born of

people-to-people communication matters, and that USIA should serve as a facilitator to bring Americans and their academic and other nongovernmental sector institutions into substantive contact with influential counterparts abroad through exchanges and other programs.

On this basis, USIA works to: -explain and advocate U.S. policies in terms that are credible and meaningful in foreign cultures; -provide information about the United States, its people, values, and institutions;

-build lasting relationships and understanding between Americans and U.S. institutions and their counterparts overseas through the exchange of people and ideas; and

-advise on foreign attitudes and their implications for U.S. policies.

To accomplish its purposes, the Agency conducts a variety of activities overseas, including educational and academic exchanges, international radio and television broadcasting, English teaching, the distribution of transcripts and official texts of significant U.S. Government policy statements, maintaining information resource centers overseas with online reference capabilities, assisting the mass media in bringing information about U.S. foreign policy to audiences around the world, and facilitating linkages between American and foreign nongovernmental institutions.

Functional Elements

The four major functional elements of the Agency are the International Broadcasting Bureau, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Bureau of Information, and the Bureau of Management.

International Broadcasting Bureau The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) was established by the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994. While a part of USIA, IBB receives decisionmaking and operational guidance from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The Bureau consists of the Voice of America, the Office of Cuba

Broadcasting, WORLDNET Television and Film Service, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

The Voice of America (VOA) is the International Broadcasting Bureau's functional element for worldwide radio broadcasting. VOA operates in accordance with the act of January 27, 1948, as amended (22 U.S.C. 1463), which requires that it serve as a consistently reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and comprehensive news source. It must present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions. VOA produces and broadcasts radio programs in English and 46 foreign languages for overseas audiences, and to over 2000 affiliate stations worldwide. Its programming includes world and regional news, reports from correspondents on the scene, analyses of worldwide events, feature programs, music, and editorials.

The Office of Cuba Broadcasting is located within the Voice of America. It oversees all programming broadcast for Cuba on VOA's Radio Marti and TV Marti programs. In keeping with the principles of the VOA charter, both services offer their audiences accurate and objective news reports and features on American culture and opinion. Radio Marti broadcasts on medium and shortwave frequencies. TV Marti is available on VHF (very high frequency) and international satellite.

The WORLDNET Television and Film Service is responsible for organizing and directing the International Broadcasting Bureau's worldwide television and film activities. The areas of responsibility encompass: producing programs and interactive press conferences for the WORLDNET satellite delivery system; newsfiles in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Ukrainian, and Russian; producing and acquiring films and videotapes for direct projection or placement overseas; providing facilitative assistance to visiting foreign television and film producers; operating television news bureaus at foreign press centers; providing assistance to foreign broadcasters in the production and telecast of cooperative television

programs; serving as the Bureau's primary point of contact with American motion picture and television industries; and coordinating with other U.S. and foreign government agencies on the dissemination of information overseas through motion pictures and television. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc. (RFE/RL) is a private, nonprofit corporation funded by U.S. Government grants, broadcasting more than 700 hours weekly of news, analysis, and current affairs in 22 languages to more than 25 million regular listeners in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. RFE/RL also reaches listeners from U.S. Government-funded shortwave stations in Spain, Portugal, Germany, Thailand, and the Philippines and via satellite to local AM/FM stations including national networks in Ukraine, the Baltic States, Bulgaria, the Czech and Slovak Republics, and Kyrgyzstan. Major AM/FM stations in Russia, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, the Caucasus, and Central Asia also carry RFE/RL programs. Bureau of Information The Bureau of Information is USIA's primary source of information products for its posts and publics abroad. It is moving into new electronic communications media as fast as technology permits, while maintaining an extensive line of print products, operating a specialized wire service, facilitating the activities of foreign media in the United States, and operating a worldwide speakers bureau on significant issues in foreign affairs.

The Bureau is introducing an interactive CD-ROM on student counseling and a weekly series of Internet-based electronic journals covering major issues to complement its wide range of electronic media. These products focus on representing enduring American values, particularly individual freedom and equality under the law, and on promoting democratization, market economics, human rights, the rule of law, and the peaceful resolution of disputes.

The Bureau's offices and teams are organized around major themes in public diplomacy, regional concerns and interests, and media specialties. Its products and services are produced in

response to requirements set by USIA field posts and U.S. foreign affairs priorities.

The Office of Geographic Liaison serves as the primary point of contact with the field. In addition, it provides comprehensive research and bibliographic assistance and editing and distribution for time-sensitive texts. The Office functions as a regional news service, providing operational support and advice to more than 100 USIS documentation and information resource centers and libraries overseas, and managing regional operations of the Bureau's international wire service, the Wireless File. The Office responds to the special needs of each of the Agency's overseas posts.

The Office of Thematic Programs creates information products keyed to themes in American foreign policy that have been identified as vital: Economic Security, Political Security, Democracy and Human Rights, U.S. Society and Values, and Global Issues and Communication. Equally important is the Office's active speakers program, in which physical travel by the Nation's leading experts on identified issues is supplemented by video and audio conferencing with their counterparts abroad.

Foreign Press Centers have been established in Washington, DC, New York City, and Los Angeles to give foreign journalists visiting or residing in the United States information about U.S. policies and access to policymakers. The Centers are affiliated with a network of locally initiated and funded International Press Centers in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Miami, and Seattle. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administers programs authorized by the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (the Fulbright-Hays Act), including academic exchanges, short-term professional exchanges, youth exchanges, cooperative projects with private organizations, and English-teaching programs. It also provides staff support for the Presidentially appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship

Board and for the Cultural Property Advisory Committee. The Bureau consists of four major offices:

The Office of Academic Programs develops and coordinates a wide variety of academic educational exchange and English language-teaching programs. It oversees the administration of more than 7,000 grants each year to U.S. citizens to study, teach, and conduct research abroad, and for foreign nationals to conduct similar activities in the United States. The best known of the exchanges supported by this office is the Fulbright Program which operates in more than 120 countries. The Office of Academic Programs maintains a worldwide information network about educational opportunities in the United States, and supports programs which enhance the experiences of foreign students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities. The Office also encourages and supports U.S.-based studies at foreign universities and other institutions of higher learning. Worldwide support for English language training is provided through overseasbased language consultants, development of English language teaching materials, and a variety of teacher training seminars and fellowships.

The Office of International Visitors arranges informative visits to the United States for more than 5,000 influential foreign leaders each year in such fields as government, economics, labor, journalism, the arts, and education. Selected individuals, who are nominated by United States Information Service posts, travel throughout the country meeting counterparts in their fields of interest. They also meet with Americans in their homes or other informal settings. The Office also manages the Agency's two reception centers; serves as the Agency's liaison with the large network of public and private organizations involved in the international visitor program; and arranges programs in the United States for United Nations fellows and foreign government trainees.

The Office of Citizen Exchanges provides funding to American nonprofit institutions for international exchange and training programs which support

agency goals and objectives. Nonprofit institutions may submit proposals only in response to requests for proposals (RFP's) published by the Office, and these proposals are judged among others in the competition. Programs usually involve professional, nonacademic exchanges-often with study tours, workshops, and internships as key components, and taking place in multiple phases overseas and in the United States. Emphasis is usually on nontechnical themes such as democracybuilding, journalism, the role of government, or conflict resolution. The Office also administers all high school exchange programs sponsored by USIA, including major special initiatives in East Europe and the former Soviet Union, and the Congress-Bundestag program with Germany.

The Office of Arts America administers fine and performing arts programs, sending performing arts groups and fine arts exhibitions on overseas tours. Arts America identifies and recruits specialists in the fields of literature, film, and the visual and performing arts to speak at or work with host country institutions in their fields of expertise. The Office also awards grants to American nonprofit institutions involved in the international exchange of performing and visual artists and encourages linkages between U.S. and foreign cultural institutions. Arts America also represents the Agency in the Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions.

The Office of Policy and Evaluation provides policy analysis, coordination, and evaluation of the activities and programs of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Office also analyzes U.S. Government-funded international exchanges and training programs with the objective of promoting better coordination among government agencies. The Office is responsible for advising the Associate Director on conceptual approaches to the Bureau's activities and on the development and implementation of its policies. It coordinates activities with the Bureau to ensure consistency of approach; evaluates the success, strengths, and weaknesses of programs;