The USIA Experience: Lessons for the Proposed USAID/State Department Merger

Please join us for an expert panel discussion that examines the proposed major organizational restructuring of the State Department and USAID through the lens of the previous merger of the State Department and the U.S. Information Agency (USIA). 

In response to President Trump’s request for reorganization proposals, the Department of State’s leadership is quietly reviewing various options to streamline the United States’ diplomatic and development operations. One of the proposals under consideration is a merger of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
 
While there are certainly changes that can be made at both organizations, a State Department/USAID merger—where personnel, procurement, programmatic, and budgeting functions are combined—would be a huge mistake. To understand the risks and downsides of such a move, we can look to the experience of the merger of the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) into the State Department in 1999.

Please join us for this timely and relevant discussion. For more information, check out our recent commentary, The Folly of Merging State Department and USAID: Lesson from USIA.