Office of the Historian

41. Memorandum From the Associate Director for Policy and Plans, United States Information Agency (White) to the Deputy Assistant Director for Plans and Programs, Office of Policy and Plans (Bardos), the Cultural Affairs Adviser, Office of Policy and Plans (Bunce), and the Deputy Planning Officer, Office of Policy and Plans (Sablosky)1

Washington, October 17, 1969

SUBJECT

  • Meeting with John Richardson

Bill Weathersby and I had lunch Monday2 with John Richardson, who raised the question of what more we can do to draw USIA and CU closer together.

We agreed that a most important step was better joint planning of our programs. For example, the CU budget presentation made to the Bureau of the Budget last week should have been discussed with USIA. We should also reciprocate and keep CU informed of our new priorities and major program decisions. Coordination should be both at an area level and between IOP and the Assistant Secretary’s office.

(On this point, I understand that the Bureau of the Budget asked CU whether its proposals had been cleared with us, and asked our Area Directors the same question at their presentations this week. The answer was no; the Areas will pursue this with their counterparts in CU, and Ken should pursue it with Fred Irving.)3

We mentioned USIA’s plans for PPBS–MIS, and the likelihood of having one or more pilot posts as the systems develop. John said he would like to include CU in these pilot projects.

We also discussed the possibility of having a single country plan for USIS posts, broad enough to encompass both USIA and CU objectives. I suggested that it might be useful for a small group from USIA and CU to spend a day talking about the formulation of objectives for our programs—how we can advance U.S. objectives both short and long [Page 93] term. I have asked Irving Sablosky to draw up a proposed agenda for such a meeting.4

We also discussed briefly the need to reduce USIA and CU reporting requirements, and agreed on the importance of pursuing this effort.

Barbara M. White5
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 306, Office of Policy and Plans, Policy Coordination Staff, Cultural Affairs and Youth Adviser, Subject Files, 1955–1971, Entry UD–102, Box 2, EDX 1 General Policy, Plans, Coordination. No classification marking. Drafted by White. Copies were sent to Weathersby, Strasburg, and Halsema. Bunce placed a checkmark next to his name in the addressee line. He also wrote “KB/file” and “Nancy—fyi” in the top right-hand corner of the memorandum.↩
  2. October 13.↩
  3. An unknown hand, presumably Bunce, underlined the portion of the sentence beginning with the word “Areas.”↩
  4. The proposed agenda has not been found. There is no indication that such a meeting took place.↩
  5. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩