22 U.S.C. § 6552: Application of certain laws

Summary

Limits how certain laws apply to the State Department’s public affairs work and to public diplomacy programs moved from the U.S. Information Agency (USIA). Public affairs work done by the Secretary of State before any transfer is not covered by those laws. Public diplomacy programs moved from USIA are covered only to the same degree they were before the transfer. Money specifically for public diplomacy, or moved into public diplomacy, must not be used to influence opinion inside the United States, and materials paid for with those funds cannot be given out in the United States. That rule does not stop sharing office support between public diplomacy and other State work, occasional non-public-diplomacy tasks by public diplomacy staff if core public diplomacy resources are not reduced, or normal reprogramming procedures. A required report must explain how USIA’s public diplomacy mission will be kept inside the State Department, list planned duties for any new bureaus, and give best estimates of amounts spent by State and USIA in fiscal year 1998 and the funds to be used in the year the transfer happens. Starting with fiscal year 2000, the State Department’s budget document must show total spending and personnel costs for these programs, describe their goals, and list funds and positions for them, including any new bureaus.

Title 22, §6552

Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Application to functions of Department of State

section 1461 of this title, section 1461–1 of this title, and section 1461–1a of this title shall not apply to public affairs and other information dissemination functions of the Secretary of State as carried out prior to any transfer of functions pursuant to this chapter.

(b)Application to functions transferred to Department of State

section 1461 of this title, section 1461–1 of this title, and section 1461–1a of this title shall apply only to public diplomacy programs of the Director of the United States Information Agency as carried out prior to any transfer of functions pursuant to this chapter to the same extent that such programs were covered by these provisions prior to such transfer.

(c)Limitation on use of funds

(1)Except as provided in section 1461 of this title and section 1461–1a of this title, funds specifically authorized to be appropriated for such public diplomacy programs, identified as public diplomacy funds in any Congressional Presentation Document described in subsection (e), or reprogrammed for public diplomacy purposes, shall not be used to influence public opinion in the United States, and no program material prepared using such funds shall be distributed or disseminated in the United States.

(2)Construction.—

Nothing in paragraph (1) may be construed (A) to interfere with the integration of administrative resources between public diplomacy and other functions of the Department of State or to prevent the occasional performance of functions other than public diplomacy by officials or employees of the Department of State who are primarily assigned to public diplomacy, provided there is no substantial resulting diminution in the amount of resources devoted to public diplomacy below the amounts described in paragraph (1), or (B) to supersede reprogramming procedures.

(d)Reporting requirements

The report submitted pursuant to section 6601(f) of this title shall include a detailed statement of the manner in which the special mission of public diplomacy carried out by USIA prior to the transfer of functions under this chapter shall be preserved within the Department of State, including the planned duties and responsibilities of any new bureaus that will perform such public diplomacy functions. Such report shall also include the best available estimates of— (1)

(2)the amounts expended by USIA for its public diplomacy programs during fiscal year 1998, and on the personnel and support costs for such programs; and

(3)the amounts, including funds to be transferred from USIA and funds appropriated to the Department, that will be allocated for the programs described in paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively, during the fiscal year in which the transfer of functions from USIA to the Department occurs.

(e)Congressional Presentation Document

The Department of State’s Congressional Presentation Document for fiscal year 2000 and each fiscal year thereafter shall include—

(1)the aggregated amounts that the Department will spend on such public diplomacy programs and on costs of personnel for such programs, and a detailed description of the goals and purposes for which such funds shall be expended; and

(2)the amount of funds allocated to and the positions authorized for such public diplomacy programs, including bureaus to be created upon the transfer of functions from USIA to the Department.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsecs. (a), (b), and (d), was in the original “this subdivision”, meaning subdiv. A of div. G of Pub. L. 105–277, Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–765, known as the Foreign Affairs Agencies Consolidation Act of 1998. For complete classification of this subdivision to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 6501 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

1999—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 106–113 designated existing provisions as par. (1), inserted “, identified as public diplomacy funds in any Congressional Presentation Document described in subsection (e), or reprogrammed for public diplomacy purposes,” after “diplomacy programs”, and added par. (2).

§6552 Application of Certain Laws