United States Information Agency
From Free net encyclopedia
The United States Information Agency (USIA), which existed from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy." The term public diplomacy (q.v.) is closely related to the word "propaganda," possibly synonymous with it depending on how the latter word is defined.
USIA's "public diplomacy" mission
The USIA's mission was to understand, inform and influence foreign publics in promotion of the national interest, to broaden the dialogue between Americans and US institutions and their counterparts abroad, and to foster exchanges of students, professors, and diverse categories of citizens between the US and foreign societies.
The USIA's goals were:
- Increased understanding and acceptance of US policies and US society by foreign audiences.
- Broadened dialogue between Americans and US institutions and their counterparts overseas.
- Increased US Government knowledge and understanding of foreign attitudes and their implications for US foreign policy.
The USIA was established in August 1953, although cultural and educational exchange functions remained in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State until 1978, when they were shifted to USIA. Following a brief period during the Carter administration, when it was called the International Communications Agency, (USICA), the agency's name was restored to USIA in August 1982. The agency was known as United States Information Service (USIS) overseas but could not use that abbreviation domestically to avoid confusion with the United States Immigration Service.
The Foreign Affairs and Restructuring Act abolished the US Information Agency effective October 1, 1999, when its information and exchange functions were folded into the Department of State under a new Bureau of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, headed by an under secretary.