Wakeup call has come -- but will we listen?

But there is a real issue as well. And as the newly confirmed, well credentialed under secretary of state for public diplomacy may soon find out, her title may be impressive but her portfolio impossible. If public diplomacy is to work for the United States, significant changes in the nature and practice of public diplomacy are essential.

At least two major reports over the last year -- from the Council on Foreign Relations and the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World -- express serious concerns about our readiness to engage in effective public diplomacy. The reports point to the lack of trained personnel with the requisite knowledge and skills to do the job -- engaging, educating, listening to, and learning from key populations overseas about America, its values and its policies. Of even more concern, they also point to disinterest, disinclination, and/or disillusionment in becoming the new vanguard of talent that public diplomacy so desperately needs.

Internal bureaucratic issues and divergences in attitude have created a deep under-appreciation for replenishing the vital corps of "public" diplomats who bridge differences and leapfrog cultural and language barriers. To create the attuned cadre needed to do America's work abroad, attention must first be paid at home. A better-educated and internationally minded public is needed to meet the unique cultural and historic challenges we face.

While young people in Europe are urged, even required, to learn one or two other languages in addition to their mother tongue, for example, we are cutting back on foreign language study as a requirement in schools across the country. Cultural diversity is little understood and not part of any core curriculum. Old fashioned civics and citizenship lessons are distant trumpets.

If we have learned nothing else since 9-11, it should have been a public diplomacy wakeup call. Appreciating and understanding others' influences, thinking and ways of communicating are key to whether or not a new generation of terrorists or internationalists is being shaped. How ideas are presented and received often is the raw difference between effective and ineffective public policy.

In the infancy of this new century and as we get ready for a vitally important political year at home, this is a crucial moment to reenergize international interest and engagement. We need to open rather than close doors, understand and learn from differences, and encourage a new corps of informed citizens as essential to any engaged and enlightened public debate.

Forty-three years ago, President John F. Kennedy motivated, energized, and challenged a generation by asking "what you can do for your country?" If the United States is to remain respected because of its values and not just feared because of its military or economic might, then we must engage a global population that is shaped by post-Cold War realities and the challenges of a new century. If we are to lead by example, US public diplomacy must find its voice at home as well as abroad.

Jill A. Schuker, former special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for public affairs at the National Security Council, is a consultant in Washington.