The task that is before Alhurra is one with serious implications for the success of our foreign policy. Just as with Radio Free Europe in the Cold War, much is put on Alhurra's shoulders to faithfully present American values to a captive audience. To that end, there is a great deal of controversy over whether it is currently meeting that requirement.

I have a number of specific concerns. Are the American taxpayers getting their money's worth? Is the diversity of U.S. opinion actually being represented? Is there whistleblower protection for Alhurra employees to report problems within? Is there transparency in decision-making, contracting, and funding, and what editorial control is there over content that goes out over the airwaves, specifically regarding the current controversies?

Is Alhurra's internal performance review the appropriate response to an isolated incident, or is it damage control, too little, too late? Why did it take several months to address this, and why will the report be another 5 to 6 months in coming?

Mr. Chairman, our oversight should be corrective and not punitive. At the same time, we must strengthen this important tool of soft power. Thank you again for calling this important hearing, and I am anxious to hear from our witnesses. I yield back.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Pence.

We will now turn to our first panel. Mr. Jeremy Curtin is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, with the rank of minister counselor. He was appointed coordinator of the State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs in April 2007, having previously served as principal deputy coordinator and acting coordinator. Mr. Curtin joined the Foreign Service in 1975 and has served in Europe and Asia, as well as in Washington.

Before receiving his current appointment, he served as senior adviser and executive secretary to the Under Secretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs from 2002 to 2005.

Mrs. Gretchen Welch is currently the director of Under Secretary Karen Hughes' Office of Resources, Policy, and Planning. She worked in this position since August 2005. Mrs. Welch joined the Foreign Service in 1980 and has served in Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia. Her most recent position was as executive director, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, where she oversaw the management operations of the 54 United States Embassies in Europe and Eurasia.

Mrs. Welch, it is good to have you. Your able husband will be occupying one of those chairs next week, and we are looking forward to that as well, even though he might not be.

Mr. Thomas A. Farrell was named as deputy assistant secretary for academic programs in May 2002. In this capacity, he is responsible for all academic programs sponsored by the Department of State. These include the Fulbright Program, the Humphrey program, teacher exchange programs, English language programs, study-of-the-United-States programs, and programs for undergraduate students.

Mr. Farrell came to the Department of State with 14 years of experience in the private, nongovernmental arena that was concentrated on education, professional development, training, and exchange.

Ms. Alina L. Romanowski currently serves as the deputy assistant secretary for professional and cultural exchanges in the Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. She came to the Department of State in June 2003 to establish a new office to oversee and manage the President's Middle East Partnership Initiative and served as director. Prior to her appointment at the Department of State, she served as the founding director of Near East-South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University since December 2000.

Ms. Romanowski has served also in both the Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agencies.

Mr. Curtin, I understand you will be presenting the testimony, and then you and the rest of the panel will be available for questions. That makes it easier. Without objection, your entire testimony will be made part of the record, and you might proceed.

STATEMENT OF MR. JEREMY CURTIN, COORDINATOR, BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION PROGRAMS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Mr. CURTIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Pence, members of the subcommittee.

As a Foreign Service officer with USIA for 25 years and now with the State Department, the subject of this hearing is very near and dear to my heart. I look forward to answering your questions.

I would like to make a few abbreviated remarks and then, as you said, put a longer statement into the record.

Public diplomacy has a global mission and the challenge is not just one of the moment, but one of years and generations. We face particularly critical challenges right now, however, in the Middle East and South Asia where violent extremists seek to spread an ideology of tyranny and hate. Conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan make our task more difficult even though we are present there at the invitation of democratically elected governments, and our involvement is critical to our own national security.

Our public diplomacy efforts in the Middle East and South Asia, like our efforts worldwide, are guided by a three-point strategy set forth by Under Secretary Hughes: First, to offer people throughout the world a positive vision of hope and opportunity that is rooted in America's belief in freedom, justice, and respect for all; second, to isolate and marginalize violent extremists and confront their ideology of tyranny and hate; and third, to foster a sense of common interests and common values between Americans and people in different countries.

We are focusing our programs in three areas: Expanding our education and exchange programs, improving communication, and highlighting the diplomacy of deeds. We are also expanding the reach of our programs to include key influencers-women, journalists, teachers, clerics, and religious educators who have the capacity to influence opinion more broadly within their own societies. We have placed special emphasis on youth and engaging individuals from underserved and disadvantaged sectors of society.

Our people-to-people programming, including student and professional exchanges and English-teaching programs, is one of the most effective things we can do. Participation in the last 3 years has

grown from 27,000 to nearly 39,000, and will increase to more than 42,000 with support for our budget requests.

Our flagship Fulbright Program, in Fiscal Year 2006, was at a record high of 1,300 awards to American students. The Fulbright Program in Iraq is the largest in the Middle East region. In each of the past 3 years, 35 academically well-qualified Iraqis have come to the United States for graduate-level study. Additionally, the State Department is partnering with USAID to expand the Fulbright Program in Pakistan.

Our most recent evaluation showed that the overwhelming majority of students in our English Access Microscholarship Program reported a more favorable view of America as a result of their studies. The Access program provides underserved students, aged 14 to 18 in countries with significant Muslim populations, the opportunity to study English, gain an appreciation of American culture and values, and increase their ability to participate successfully in the socio-economic development of their countries and in future study and exchanges in the United States. Since Fiscal Year 2004, the program has successfully engaged over 10,000 students, many of them from the Middle East and South Asia.

Since 2002, our International Visitor Leadership Program has invited religious educators from Saudi Arabia to participate in programs focusing on religious and public education, religious tolerance, and United States attitudes toward Islam.

It is important that people in these regions realize that our efforts against terrorism are not, in fact, a war on Islam. It is, rather, an effort to attack terrorism itself, but it is not a war on Islam. Through the Citizen Dialogue and Strategic Speakers programs, we are sending influential American Muslims to speak with audiences in the regions. These credible voices have been a forceful corrective to widely held misperceptions of Muslim life in America. Through ECA's Faith and Community grants, we are further promoting interfaith dialogue and understanding between the Muslim world and America.

Our public diplomacy has also helped us build bridges where none have existed for nearly 30 years-with the Islamic Republic of Iran. This fiscal year, we launched the first Iranian International Visitors Program since 1979. Under the Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program, young Iranian English teachers are currently teaching Persian at U.S. colleges and universities. In January 2007, 20 American athletes and coaches representing the USA Wrestling Federation competed in Iran.

The State Department's Digital Outreach Team and Arabic language Web-based programs have established a U.S. Government presence in Arabic cyberspace, ensuring that U.S. policies and values are included in the conversation about issues central to the ideological debate. Our Persian language Web site serves as a virtual embassy to Iran and allows United States officials and others to discuss issues like nuclear nonproliferation with the Iranian people.

The Rapid Response Unit monitors foreign media and provides Embassies and U.S. military commands with background and talking points. New media hubs in Dubai, Brussels, and London facilitate engagement by United States officials with Arabic and other

foreign media, especially television, in real time. Our presence on Arabic media has increased 30 percent since the hubs were established last fall.

We have developed integrated, interagency plans to combat ideological support for terrorism in key countries under the Pilot Country Initiative. These plans identify specific populations and recommend programs to reach them. We hope, with additional funding, to be able to begin implementing these programs fully. Lessons learned and best practices under the initiative will be applied to other countries around the world.

At the direction of Under Secretary Hughes, we have created a new Counterterrorism Communications Center-an interagency initiative to develop and deliver effective messages to undermine ideological support for terror and to counter terrorist propaganda. The Counterterrorism Communications Center, like the Pilot Country Initiative, the Rapid Response Unit, the Digital Outreach Team, and other programs, is an operational outgrowth of the Policy Coordination Committee on Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication under Under Secretary Hughes.

We are also emphasizing the "diplomacy of deeds," the concrete ways in which America is helping people around the world to have better lives, especially in areas people care most about: Education, health, and economic opportunity. Under Secretary Hughes has established a new office of private sector outreach that has, to date, leveraged more than $800 million in private disaster relief, job training, and education and exchange programs through partnerships with American companies, foundations, and NGOs.

We are committed to evaluating our programs and funding those that are most effective. We have instituted a culture of measurement across public diplomacy, building on the success of our education and cultural affairs office that has had an evaluation program in place for some years. We have just completed the ten thousandth survey on a new, online evaluation system.

I would like to close by echoing remarks made by Under Secretary Hughes. We must establish a wide-ranging and frank conversation with critical regions, such as the Middle East and South Asia, and reinforce the common interests and values that bind us together as human beings so that the next generation will inherit a safer and better world. Not a more divided and dangerous one. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Curtin, Ms. Gretchen, Mr. Farrell and Ms. Romanowski follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. JEREMY CURTIN, COORDINATOR, BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION PROGRAMS, MRS. GRETCHEN WELCH, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF POLICY, PLANNING AND RESOURCES, MR. THOMAS A. FARRELL, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ACADEMIC PROGRAMS, BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS AND MRS. ALINA L. ROMANOWSKI, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PROFESSIONAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGES, BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Chairman Ackerman, Congressman Pence, Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to appear before you on public diplomacy in the Middle East and South Asia.

America's public diplomacy is neither Democratic nor Republican but American, and we appreciate the bipartisan support we have received from Congress.

As members of this subcommittee well know, public diplomacy is a long-term effort that will require ongoing support for programs and personnel for years to

come yet we are making great progress and putting in place the institutions and partnerships that are critical to our success.

We face particularly critical challenges in the Middle East and South Asia, where violent extremists seek to spread an ideology of tyranny and hate. We also recognize that many people in the region disapprove of our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and while we are present in both countries at the invitation of democratically elected governments, nevertheless, this attitude can make it more difficult to reach audiences with our message.

Our public diplomacy efforts in the Middle East and South Asia, like our efforts worldwide, are guided by the three-point strategy set forth by Under Secretary Karen Hughes:

• To offer people throughout the world a positive vision of hope and opportunity that is rooted in America's belief in freedom, justice, opportunity and respect for all;

• To isolate and marginalize the violent extremists and confront their ideology of tyranny and hate; and

• To foster a sense of common interests and common values between Americans and people of different countries, cultures and faiths throughout the world. We are focusing our programs in three areas: expanding our education and exchange programs, improving communications and highlighting the diplomacy of deeds. We are also expanding the reach of our programs to include key influencerswomen, journalists, teachers, clerics and religious educators, who have the capacity to influence opinion more broadly within their societies. We have placed special emphasis on youth, and engaging individuals from underserved and disadvantaged sectors of society.

Our people-to-people programming, including student and professional exchanges and English teaching programs, is one of the most effective things we can do to build better relationships around the world. Participation in these programs has grown in the last three years from 27,000 to nearly 39,000 and will increase to more than 42,000 with support for our budget requests. We are reaching key audiences in new and innovative ways.

Our flagship Fulbright program in FY06 is at a record high of 1,300 awards to American students. Last year, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) launched a new Fulbright award to bring the most talented overseas students to the U.S. for Ph.D. study in science and technology fields. The program is designed to showcase U.S. expertise in science and technology and to demonstrate that the U.S. continues to welcome international students in those fields. The Bureau also sponsored a special "From Labs to Markets" enrichment seminar in San Jose, California, for 80 Fulbright science, technology and business students from the Muslim world.

The Fulbright student program in Iraq is the largest in the Middle East region. In each of the past three years, 35 academically well-qualified Iraqis have come to the United States for graduate level studies to expand and polish their skills in critical areas such as public administration, public health, international relations, economic development, and teaching English as a foreign language. The numbers of applicants to the program continues to be strong this year, with the national meritbased recruitment closing in Iraq May 31.

In Pakistan, the Fulbright Program, through a partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), sponsored 133 Pakistani Fulbright students to study in the U.S. in the fields of economics, finance, civil engineering, and computer science. The number of Fulbrighters from Pakistan has increase to approximately 175 this year.

Our new National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), is designed to increase dramatically the number of Americans learning critical need foreign languages, including Arabic, Hindi, Urdu and Farsi. From more than 4,200 applicants in 2006, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Exchanges awarded scholarships to 167 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students and 43 high school students from 43 states and the District of Columbia for intensive overseas summer language learning. In 2007 we received more than 6,000 applications and are awarding 365 scholarships.

Our most recent evaluation showed the overwhelming majority of students in our Access English language program reported a more favorable view of America as a result of their studies. The Access program provides underserved students aged 14 to 18 in countries with significant Muslim populations the opportunity to study English, gain an appreciation for U.S. culture and values, and increase their ability to participate successfully in the socio-economic development of their countries and