Movement on Modernizing Smith-Mundt?
In a move to push forward legislation to change the Smith-Mundt Act, The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 has been included as part of an en-bloc amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013:
Thornberry (R-TX): Amendment No. 114—Amends the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (known as the Smith-Mundt Act) and the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1986 and 1987 to clarify the authorities of the Department of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors to prepare, disseminate and use public diplomacy information abroad and to strike the current ban on domestic dissemination of such material. The amendment would clarify that the Smith-Mundt Act’s provisions related to public diplomacy information do not apply to other federal departments or agencies (including the DoD).
This represents an interesting strategy for the bill, and presents it as an issue of national security. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here and if it ends up changing the conduct of American public diplomacy.
