Expect More?

It seems that Donald Rumsfeld isn't the only one grading government programs. The White House has this section on the OMB website, called ExpectMore.gov that officially grades US Government programs. Funny, I've never seen anyone mention these reports anywhere. For example, this item about US Public Diplomacy five years into the Global War on Terror:

Program Assessment

Program
Public Diplomacy

These programs articulate the foreign policy objectives of the US and create an international environment receptive to US interests through exchanges, training and outreach activities. Public Diplomacy also provides US policy-makers with information about how the US and its actions are perceived abroad.

Rating
What This Rating Means

NOT PERFORMING
Results Not Demonstrated

A rating of Results Not Demonstrated (RND) indicates that a program has not been able to develop acceptable performance goals or collect data to determine whether it is performing.

* These programs have had difficulty measuring their impact, if they have been evaluated at all. Frequently there is anecdotal evidence that a program is achieving success but there is no formal data to support those claims.
* Few of the State Department public diplomacy programs link budget to performance.
* There is no broad overarching US Government public diplomacy strategy. Because of this lack of a plan, programs such as this one may not be the most effective both in the long and short term.

Improvement Plan
About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

* Developing an overarching US Government strategic public diplomacy plan.
* Determining if current programs are most effective to reach target audiences and ensuring that those targeted are the most influential to make the greatest impact.
* Presenting resource needs in a complete and transparent manner; and linking resource needs clearly to program activities.