CIAO DATE: 12/07
A Manhattan Project for Public Diplomacy
Carl Spielvogel
Full Text
Carl Spielvogel*
United States Ambassador to the Slovak Republic, 2000-2001
Governor, United States Broadcasting Board of Governors, 1995-2000
It is high time for a “Manhattan Project” to be put in place by the State Department to address the world on this subject: “The United States (US) Explained: Who We Are, What We Stand For, and What We are Trying to Accomplish in the World.”
The US is the communications capital of the world, and our government has done an inadequate job of putting our money and best minds to work to solve this serious aspect of our diplomatic efforts. The reallocation of some of the emphasis on our defense budget and attention of our Congress to this timely subject, could go a long way to: a) reduce the amount of money we are spending for armaments; and, b) help to win friends and influence people.
All it would take to get this done would be for the President to declare that as part of our new Homeland Security program, we have to convene a one-week planning meeting of our best and brightest communications minds, to develop a plan, fund it and implement it. There are people available who have done this in the private sector, and know how to do it in the public sector.
*Editor’s Note: Ambassador Spielvogel was a reporter and columnist for The New York Times and the Chief Executive Officer of a worldwide communications company that does business in 54 countries.