The United States is losing an information war to Russia, Islamic State and other rivals, says a new report that calls for a strengthening in U.S. counter-propaganda efforts and an overhaul of the government's international broadcasting arm.

On January 21, Andrew Lack, the media titan who at different times has headed Bloomberg, Sony, and NBC News, was sworn in as CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the federal agency that oversees the five official US government-supported broadcasters, including the Voice of America. (...) In recent years, the BBG has devolved into a widely acknowledged mess: bloated, demoralized, and inefficient. Reviving this tool of public diplomacy will be a major challenge for Lack. 

Andy Lack, the new CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees U.S. international agencies such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, has identified Russia’s propaganda offensive as one of his job’s major challenges, along with the rise of ISIS on social media and Boko Haram. “We are facing a number of challenges from entities like Russia Today which is out there pushing a point of view, the Islamic State in the Middle East and groups like Boko Haram, “ Lack said. 

Andrew Lack has a Herculean task ahead of him. Lack was sworn in January 20 as Chief Executive Officer and Director of the U.S. International Broadcasting(USIB) services. His job will be to sort out the mess that has resulted from years of bad management and misplaced priorities at the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the part-time board that for two decades has attempted to run the U.S. government’s complex of media services

Recently, there has been a great deal of debate, and no small amount of axe grinding, regarding the mission and the effectiveness of U.S. international broadcasting under the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would overhaul U.S. international broadcasting, including this agency, the Voice of America, four other government-financed broadcasters and the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversees all of them. Supporters of the bipartisan bill say the United States needs to fight back more effectively in the war of information against countries like Russia and China. But some opponents of the bill say they fear it would undermine VOA's journalistic integrity and its reputation.

China and Russia are fighting a heated war with the United States. It is an intense battle of words and ideas fought between state-sponsored broadcasters, on the airwaves and online. In 2011, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said straightforwardly that the U.S. is “engaged in an information war.” She concluded her analysis to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations by saying that in the fight against emerging international broadcasters, “we are losing that war.”

The House is moving to overhaul the handful of taxpayer-funded media organizations, but critics say the changes would turn the Voice of America into a tool for pro-western propaganda. Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a bill to make “dramatic reforms” to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees the government-backed outlets.