US Panel Critical of Public Diplomacy Efforts

"US efforts to win over the world's Muslims via news broadcasts, cultural exchanges, and other initiatives to explain American policies to skeptical audiences abroad are uncoordinated and underfunded, and risk sending contradictory messages about US intentions, according to a report by a bipartisan review panel appointed by President Bush," the Boston Globe writes. The 2004 Report of the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy writes that "public diplomacy should be a national security priority," calling for increased funding and an "aggressive strategy" to counter the effects of international public opinion on the "success of American foreign policy objectives."