WASHINGTON -- U.S. ambassadors do not spend enough time promoting American values and culture, and many foreign service officers lack language skills, a panel will report Tuesday.
Ambassadors should spend at least 25 percent of their time communicating with mass audiences "to effectively tell America's story to the world," the panel, commissioned by the Bush administration, said in a report obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
"More U.S. government staff employed abroad should be utilized as public diplomacy messengers," the panel recommended. It also said U.S. officials should be more accessible to foreign journalists.
U.S. ambassadors hesitate to outline policy to foreign audiences, the panel said, because they "are fearful of making errors or projecting a view inconsistent with State Department policy. Caution is rewarded more frequently than boldness."
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-diplomacy,0,3030036.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
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