For the past eight years, I have served as the vice chairman of the bipartisan U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy which President Clinton appointed me to in 1993. By way of background, I have been involved in every Democratic presidential campaign since 1972.  You can imagine that I am amused, surprised and yet honored to call myself a member of the Bush Administration.

The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy makes recommendations to Congress, the President and the Secretary of State on communication efforts that promote the national interest of the United States through cultural, educational and public affairs programs.

In a recent speech, the chairman of the House International Relations Committee Rep. Henry Hyde, asked, "How is it that the country that invented Hollywood and Madison Avenue allowed such a destructive and parodied image of itself to become the intellectual coin of the realm overseas?"

It is a good question and we, as a nation, need to answer it as part of our response to September 11th.

While the United States wages a war against terrorism, there is an additional theatre - one of communications and the battleground is the hearts and minds of the Arab people. This battle is fought, not in the air but over the airwaves and in the newspapers of the Middle East.

The Commission recently made several recommendations to the President and Secretary of State to improve the efficacy of this information campaign. One of these recommendations is to fully implement the White House Office of Global Communications that you have probably heard so much about. Our Report noted that the White House already coordinates communications across agency lines to reach a number of large domestic audiences. But what we are recommending is that a similar effort be directed toward international audiences.  Every agency needs to be on message  if we are to have an effective public diplomacy. The Office of Global Communications located in the White House is the place to coordinate this message. An office having such a coordinating structure can identify broad public diplomacy concepts and coordinate communications strategies. Its White House location provides the needed stature to garner the attention of individual agencies.

Although this office is not fully up and running yet, we believe it should provide strategic direction and themes to the U.S. agencies that reach foreign audiences, while relying on the Secretary of State to provide tactical and strategic coordination of the diplomats overseas. The office must draw on many agencies and Americans to convey a few simple but powerful messages.

With so much more global information  available information available than in the past, we need a strong presidential body that can coordinate coherent message through agency bureaucracies capable of cutting through the noise of the vast and independent world media.  

Charlotte Beers  is off to a good start translating American principles and compassion into the vernacular of Muslim countries.  A Middle East radio network, multiple Arabic language Web sites, print publications, and citizen and journalist exchanges have all been established to help counter negative messages. Ms. Beers is bringing new ideas and tools into a public diplomacy forum that was often slow to adjust to the changing technologies of communications.

Charlotte's first responsibility is to define our public diplomacy campaign.  Simply put this operation is in the business of getting people to understand American foreign policy.

This entails, the basics like distributing the texts and statements of our senior policy officials to foreign governments, their news media, and other opinion leaders. 

It also means building on the model of the Coalition Information Centers. During the military operations in Afghanistan, American and British communication forces opened press offices in Washington, Britain and Pakistan to provide accurate and well-timed information to the foreign media. We learned in the Gulf War that the news cycle follows the sun and it is necessary to provide 24/7 communications.

It is imperative, in a post-September 11th world, that we use all available tools to reach larger, more diverse, and younger audiences. This includes utilizing e-mail publishing, Arabic-language Web sites, digital video conferencing, print publications, and at the risk of incurring the wrath of the academic community, I would argue that we need to better leverage various exchange programs like the Fulbright and other educational partnerships. We need to approach these individuals after they return home to see if they would be willing to serve as third party validators to counter inaccurate negative messages in their home countries.

An example of new thinking in public diplomacy was Secretary Powell's appearance on MTV in February, where he tackled a wide range of subjects, from HIV/AIDS to a question about America as the "Great Satan."  (Far from being the "Great Satan," Secretary Powell responded, "we are the Great Protector.")

We should also note that the Broadcasting Board of Governors recently inaugurated Radio Sawa, a 24-hour, Arabic-language service that mixes music and news.  Radio Sawa is clearly attracting a new, younger audience with its format of American and Arabic pop music.  Sawa is a major source of news for audiences under 30, broadcasting news in Arabic twice an hour, 24 hours a day.  When 17-28 year olds in Amman, Jordan were asked, "What station do you listen to most for news," 33% said they listed to Sawa.  And with balanced and objective reporting, Sawa is quickly gaining credibility. The station carries translated speeches and other actualities of President Bush, as well as interviews with U.S. policy makers, such as Secretary of State Powell.

All of this new thinking also has resulted in the "Shared Values" campaign featured on the front page of yesterday's New York Times. This series of two-minute documentaries will be launched during Ramadan to highlight the common values that the Muslim world and America share. Through a series of mini-documentaries, this campaign highlights everyday Muslim-Americans, from a baker to the director of the National Institutes of Health.  The footage will open up a dialogue between the American people and the people of the Muslim world. 

This program will create a dialogue with the press and public, it will help to dispel the negative myth of America as anti-Muslim, and present a truer picture of religious tolerance and freedom in the United States.

This isn't strictly an advertising effort.  It will be supported by the Muslims profiled in the pieces, who will be made available in targeted nations to speak to the foreign media and its public. Additionally, the entire campaign is supported by posters, print ads, Web sites, educational exchanges, articles, and op-eds. 

As a Democrat I am not naturally inclined to praise this Administration, however I am impressed by their initiative on public diplomacy.  It's not clear that every innovation will result in success, but the effort to try new approaches should be commended. Clearly the old methodology was not working.

We need the involvement of the private sector and people like you to provide the new ideas to engage the world on America's behalf. Our report recommends that the government reach out to pollsters, media consultants, academics and even the advertising and the entertainment sector.  What we really need in public diplomacy is agility and flexibility.