The definition of wariness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, so it’s particularly dismaying to see – after demands to change coming from all quarters – the bipartisan Congressional Government Accountability Office’s report that the government’s attempts to communicate its message to a Middle Eastern audience has still been found to be sorely lacking.

The GAO report’s bland title notwithstanding, “U.S. International Broadcasting: Management of Middle East Broadcasting Services Could Be Improved” is actually an urgent plea that U.S. public diplomacy requires a greater commitment to new foreign policy thinking and new structures.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors' (BBG) broadcasting services, Radio Sawa, and the Alhurra satellite television networks – collectively known as the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc. (MBN) – currently aim to reach Arabic speakers in 19 countries and areas throughout the Middle East. Annual spending is roughly $78 million.

The GAO faulted officials for poor strategic planning to address competition in the Middle Eastern media market. It also cited a lack of procedures in ensuring that journalistic standards are upheld and noted that the MBN couldn’t even say whether it had met the program’s goals.

As previously discussed, not since the frostiest days of the Cold War has the United States needed a robust public diplomacy effort. The purpose is not to increase U.S. popularity abroad for its own sake, but because it is in America's national interest to do so. Public diplomacy needs to be part of the very foundation of American foreign policies in the first place. Particularly in a period when the United States is fighting a war on terrorism, the country must come to understand and accept the basic notion that "image problems" and "foreign policy" are not things apart. They are both part of an integrated whole.