United States Information Agency - Abolition and Restructuring

Abolition and Restructuring

The Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, Division G of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999, Pub.L. 105-277, 112 Stat. 2681-761, enacted October 21, 1998, abolished the U.S. Information Agency effective October 1, 1999, when its information (but not broadcasting) and exchange functions were folded into the Department of State under the newly created Under Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy.

At the time of its abolition, its budget was $1.109 billion. After reductions of staff in 1997, the agency had 6,352 employees, of which almost half were civil service employees in the United States (2,521). About 1,800 of these employees worked in international broadcasting, while approximately 1,100 focused on the agency's educational and informational programs, such as the Fulbright program. Foreign service officers were also a significant portion of the work force (about 1,000).

Broadcasting functions, including Voice of America, Radio and TV Marti as well as other U.S. government-supported broadcasting, such as Radio Free Europe (in Eastern Europe) and Radio Liberty (in the former Soviet Union), were consolidated as an independent entity under the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which continues independently (as a separate entity from the State Department) today.