Bureau of Public Affairs
Seal of the United States Department of State
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| Bureau overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1944 |
| Jurisdiction | Executive branch of the United States |
| Headquarters | Harry S. Truman Building, Washington, D.C., United States |
| Employees | 209 (as of 2010) |
| Annual budget | $13.5 million (FY 2009) |
| Bureau executive | |
| Parent department | U.S. Department of State |
| Website | www |
The Bureau of Public Affairs (PA) is the part of the United States Department of State that carries out the Secretary of State's mandate to help Americans understand the importance of foreign policy. The Bureau is led by the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs.
The PA Bureau pursues the State Department's mission to inform the American people and to feed their concerns and comments back to the policymakers. It accomplishes this in a variety of ways, which include:
The Office of Regional Media Outreach (RMO) provides local, regional, specialty, and national media a central connection point to department newsmakers.
Their database of newsmakers enables members of the media to quickly find an expert at the department to provide insight, analysis, and expertise on foreign affairs, news and events. Searches can be made by name, issue, position or language spoken. Once an expert has been identified, their staff will set up an interview for television, radio, or print media.
They list their 47 available experts.
The Office of Electronic Information and Publications oversees the State Department's website, gathering information from all other parts of the Department, as well as participating in the process of publishing printed documents.
This tab of the State Department's website, gives the official U.S. position on the major issues in the news. As it is the official publication of opinion from the U.S. State Department, it offers its own view of an issue, and any reports that support it. It is a start for preliminary research. On this same tab you can find daily press briefings from the major outlets of official statement. A record of "Remarks, Testimony: Senior Officials" since 2001, "Daily Briefings" and "Remarks, Testimony: Senior Officials" Also available is a statement from Secretary Rice and information about joining the listserv to receive 2-5 briefings a day. RSS Feeds and press releases from the Foreign Press Center, USAID, and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN). There is a section dedicated to audio and video content, including podcasts. “Major State Department Publications” giving information on past bribery charges and a “Guide to Doing Business” in the U.S. are all available online.
This tab offers important information and tips for Traveling and Business. For travel, they offer information on properly documenting your identity on trips. Also included is information on visas, and the developing technology of “e-passports”.
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Wikipedia