After a nineteen month hiatus, the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (ACPD) was reauthorized and signed into law under H.R. 4310, Section 1280; the authorization is retroactive to October 1, 2010 and continues through to October 1, 2015.  The commission’s new executive director, Katherine Brown, stated in an email that the commission is:

“…now also operating under a clear mandate to itemize and assess the efficiency of public diplomacy programs across government for an annual comprehensive report.”

This is good news for U.S. public diplomacy because it offers an opportunity for more clear-cut assessments of the effectiveness that programs are having.  The itemization of programs along with performance metrics that the ACPD will produce may help make U.S. public diplomacy efforts more successful in long-term goal setting, and help justify more support from Congress.