May 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified yesterday before the Senate Appropriations Committee at a hearing to review the Supplemental Appropriations request for FY 2009, which supports military and related security efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In her opening remarks, Clinton emphasized the importance of diplomacy in the U.S. smart power strategy:
Writing in the Washington Post yesterday, Jim Hoagland commented on the Obama Administration’s use of the Internet and social networking for diplomatic purposes:
Establishing direct strategic presidential communication with the populations of other countries -- especially other countries ruled by hostile governments -- is a top foreign policy priority for the new administration…
Resorts and other summer businesses are seeing an increase in applications from out-of-work Americans for positions typically filled by young people and international workers, the Associated Press reported on May 1:
All over the country, resorts and other summer businesses are getting swamped with applications from out-of-work Americans, many of them professionals. They are competing for jobs usually filled by young people and foreigners — making beds, serving brunch, mowing lawns, running concession stands and operating carnival games and rides...
Music
Alvin Atkinson & The Sound Merchants, a jazz/blues band based in New York City, traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan to perform a series of concerts as a part of the Department of State’s Musical Overtures cultural exchange program, USA Today reported yesterday:
Though U.S. musicians have visited other countries on cultural exchange missions for years, Musical Overtures is the first to take them into the dual war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, says Alina Romanowski, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary for professional and cultural exchanges.
The Department of State circulated the following message and fact sheet on smart power and the Obama Administration's foreign policy goals this morning:
The number of international students enrolling in Australian colleges and universities has jumped a record 20 percent, the Chronicle of Higher Education and The Australian reported. From the Chronicle:
The figures for the critical March enrollment period, compared with those from the previous year, took many Australian government and education leaders by surprise. It was expected that enrollments of students from Asia, the country’s largest source of international students, would slow or possibly remain level because of the current financial crisis.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Obama Administration’s full account-level budget today. The administration’s request for Department of State educational and cultural exchange programs in FY 2010 is $633 million. This request is an increase of $95 million, or 17.7 per cent, over the estimated budget authority for FY 2009 of $538 million.
Science Envoys and Public Diplomacy Resolution
The office of Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) announced Wednesday the unanimous passage in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of S.838, a bill establishing “United States Science Envoys.” Lugar’s S. Res. 49, a resolution to express the sense of the Senate regarding the importance of public diplomacy, also passed the Committee. The full press release from Sen. Lugar’s office is below.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued on April 30 a report titled “Higher Education: Approaches to Attract and Fund International Students in the United States and Abroad.” The report offers no specific recommendations, but aims to offer better insight "on how higher education is used to advance public diplomacy and development assistance goals."
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has announced that it will hold a hearing tomorrow, May 13, at 9:00 a.m. (Dirksen 419) to consider the nominations of Judith McHale to be Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and Philip Crowley to be Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, both of the Department of State.
