On January 13, 2009, a week before President Obama was sworn in, nearly two hundred attended the Smith-Mundt Symposium at the Reserve Officers Association on Capitol Hill. This “discourse on America’s discourse” consisted of two keynotes and four panels and one of the most diverse group ever brought together on the subject. Practitioners to policymakers to observers came from the Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Congress, the media, other government agencies and from think tanks, consultants, universities, and other organizations based both inside and outside the United States. Many of these people had little reason to be in the same room, let alone the same table, let alone to discuss public diplomacy and strategic communication, or whatever they called activities that intended to understand, inform, and influence.
On its face, the discussion was organized around the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, the law intended to “promote the better understanding of the United States among the peoples of the world and to strengthen cooperative international relations.” The real purpose, however, was to facilitate a broad and on-the-record discussion about the purpose, structure, and direction of America’s global engagement.
The event was recorded and transcribed. It was to be broadcast live, but C-Span ran out of cameras covering a number of confirmation hearings, including now-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s.
See the links below for Matt Armstrong 23-page report on the event, transcripts, speaker biographies, and more.
- Report on the Smith-Mundt Symposium of January 13, 2009 (370kb PDF)
- Agenda and transcripts
- Speaker Biographies