Kerry Declares Support for Reform of U.S. International Broadcasting

Secretary of State John Kerry this week declared support for congressional efforts to reform and improve the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the agency that oversees the U.S. government’s civilian $750 million broadcasting complex.

An important component in the U.S. government’s intensifying information war against state actors like Russia and non-state actors like ISIS, the BBG has been underperforming for years, beset by inefficient management, poor personnel practices, and lack of a clear mission.

Kerry’s clear statement came in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in response to a question from Chairman Ed Royce (R–CA), who has been beating the drums on the need for broadcasting reform.

Secretary Kerry said:

All I can say, Mr. Chairman, I’m with you 100 percent on this. I look forward to working with you further. I appreciate your leadership…I’ve had long conversations with our Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Rick Stengel, who is very seized with some things we need to try to achieve.

Royce has a vested interest in Kerry’s support. Last year, Royce and Democrat Eliot Engel (D–NY) introduced, H.R. 4490, “The U.S. Broadcasting reform Act of 2014,” which passed out of Committee on a unanimous vote and passed the full House in July. A draft companion bill never made it to a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The new Congress offers yet another opportunity for the bill to be introduced in both houses of Congress.

Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Rick Stengel has spoken of the urgent need to focus the resources of the U.S. government to meet the massive challenge of Internet recruitment by ISIS terrorist propagandists. Its supporters spew out an average of 90,000 social media messages daily. In Ukraine, Russia is waging unrelenting information warfare, and other actors like China, Iran, and Qatar are investing heavily in global news networks.

In this fight, the United States needs the best tools we can buy for the considerable amount spent by the federal government.