(2006-0212-F) Evelyn Lieberman - United States Information Agency

The materials in FOIA 2006­0212­F are a selective, not necessarily all inclusive, body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Researchers should consult the archivist about related materials. FOIA request 2006­0212­F contains materials gathered exclusively from the White House Automated Records Management System Emails and the NSC Cable and Email systems. Evelyn Lieberman held two positions within the United States Information Agency (USIA) during the Clinton Administration. She served first as Director of the Voice of America in January 1997 and on December 4, 1998 took on another role as Director of the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB). Ms. Lieberman held both positions until she joined the Department of State. Upon her appointment as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy on October 1, 1999, Lieberman’s main task was to oversee the integration of the former USIA into the Department of State’s Bureau of Public Affairs. The White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) Subject Categories contain no relevant records. The WHORM Alpha Files contain no relevant records. The White House Staff and Office Files contain no relevant records. The Automated Records Management System (ARMS) Emails focus primarily on an April 18, 1997 White House Press Briefing by Press Secretary Mike McCurry and Dr. Elaine Kamarck. Dr. Kamarck was the Vice President’s Senior Policy Advisor and a key figure in planning the reorganization of the Federal Government’s various foreign relations ­focused agencies. In this briefing, McCurry and Kamarck explain the future of a reorganized USIA and note Evelyn Lieberman’s role in maintaining the editorial independence of the VOA during the transition process. The NSC Cable and Email systems contain records centering around bureaucratic relations between the National Security Council, USIA, and the Department of State’s Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (Established as a result of the merger of USIA into the Department of State.) In one series of e­mails, NSC staffers discuss the complexities arising from the 1999 assignment of a NASA detail to Kosovo who was representing NSC but financed by USIA. In another set of messages, NSC representatives review a proposal from Evelyn Lieberman to schedule a Presidential meeting with former USIA employees who served as guides during the 1959 American National Exhibit in Moscow. There are also a small section of records highlighting Lieberman’s administrative duties at USIA in the form of requests for staffing changes from the International Broadcasting Bureau station in Sri Lanka. The NSC Records Management System contains no relevant records.