Public Diplomacy Front Line Working Group

Mountain Runner has this today:

Public Diplomacy Front Line Working Group, WHITE PAPER, "Public Diplomacy: A View from the Front Line," June 8, 2009. In this online statement, ten mid-level U.S. Foreign Service Officers "with no institutional memory of the U.S. Information Agency," provide recommendations to their senior leadership on ways to empower, integrate, and equip "a new generation of public diplomacy officers." Their white paper values field cooperation with embassy political and economic officers, networks with partners in other governments and civil society, embedding public diplomacy officers in the State Department's regional bureaus and policy process, technological and media savvy, restoration of USIA's Junior Officer training program, mid-level expanded training, and graduate-level education opportunities in public diplomacy and related fields at civilian universities.

The group has a Facebook page outlining their recommendations. I know several of the members of the working group (to say nothing of the number of its "fans" that I know), and they are a solid bunch. That such a working group and white paper should originate with them comes as no surprise to me.