State to Swallow USIA, ACDA

THE DAILY FED

State to Swallow USIA, ACDA

The U.S. Information Agency and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency would merge into the State Department under a plan announced by the Clinton administration today. The Agency for International Development would retain its autonomy, but its director would report to the Secretary of State.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jesse Helms, R-N.C., has said he would block ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which goes into effect at the end of the month, if the administration did not come up with a way to revamp the country's foreign affairs apparatus. The administration has been pushing hard to get the Senate to pass the treaty.

Elaine Kamarck, the vice president's senior policy advisor, said it was "only coincidence" that the administration's announcement came a week before the Senate votes on the convention.

Kamarck said the consolidation has been in the works since January 1995, when all four agencies began to look at ways to streamline their operations.

"Among the difficulties we encountered at that time was a feeling that there was a significant amount of reinvention that needed to go on in the State Department itself before the State Department was ready to then absorb other agencies," Kamarck said.

The merger would take two years, and Kamarck warned that it would not save much money. Few jobs would be cut as a result of the merger. "There will be some job loss I'm sure, but this will not be huge," Kamarck said.

The consolidation would streamline operations among the foreign affairs agencies and departments and improve the Secretary of State's command and control of U.S. foreign policy, officials said.

The U.S. Information Agency (USIA) would merge into State in phases. First, legislative and public affairs staff would move to State. A year later, USIA's international media experts would move into State's public affairs bureau. The International Broadcasting Bureau, which includes the Voice of America, would retain its journalistic independence, the White House plan said.

The Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) would be wholly integrated into the State Department in one year. The agency's director would become an undersecretary of State and a senior adviser to the president.

The Agency for International Development's director would report directly to the Secretary of State, though it would remain a separate agency.

While a Helms spokesman told The Washington Post the administration's plan may be what the senator was looking for, he said "the devil is in the details."

"This is a huge victory, and we've conceded nothing on chemical weapons," the spokesman said.