A recent report from the State Department Office of the Inspector General found approximately $5 million in unapproved spending by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and other abuses of power by the agency.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said the report indicated a lack of leadership within the BBG, an agency that oversees U.S. broadcast efforts in foreign countries.
“This audit details troubling practices at the Broadcasting Board of Governors,” Royce said. “The wasteful spending, non-competitive contracting practices and violations of current law point to an organization without accountable leadership. Reports and audits like this one detailing the dysfunction of the BBG have become all too common as long-standing management problems have been allowed to fester.”
Royce and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, recently co-sponsored the United States International Communications Reform Act. The measure would establish a full-time agency to oversee U.S. broadcasting efforts abroad and reduce the BBG to an advisory role.
“For the sake of our national security interests, it is critical that U.S. international broadcasting be effective; that is why we have to scrap this broken agency,” Royce said.
Under the current system, the BBG is comprised of nine part-time members that meet once a month. When a quorum is unable to be established, decisions are often delayed.
Royce’s legislation would also consolidate radio broadcasts in Europe, Asia and the Middle East into one non-federal organization called the Freedom Broadcasters to promote cost savings and collaboration.
The bill would also establish new congressional reporting requirements.