Embassy Warsaw is doing an outstanding job of promoting U.S. interests in Poland. The United States strongly supported Poland?s application for membership in NATO and backs its current efforts to join the European Union. Poland, a recent graduate of U.S. bilateral assistance and Peace Corps programs, is firmly committed to democracy and a market economy. Poland is a success story both for the Polish people and for the United States. The United States has a growing economic stake in Poland. Between 1993 and
2000, U.S. investment increased almost sixfold to over $7 billion. Exports from the United States, on the other hand, declined more than 8 percent in 2000, in part as a result of tariff discrimination in favor of EU products. Embassy Warsaw is focused on this issue but needs to coordinate its advocacy and reporting more effectively with similar efforts by the U.S. Mission to the EU and U.S. embassies in EU member states.
Embassy Warsaw places appropriate high priority on Holocaust issues. Absence of a strategic approach that places these concerns in a larger international context, however, encourages Embassy Warsaw to view matters raised by the Jewish-American communities as potential irritants to bilateral relations rather than in the larger context of which they form a part. These concerns in Poland can most effectively be addressed as part of an overall U.S. Government approach to the full range of Holocaust issues, including an international regime for historic preservation of the extermination camps in Poland and elsewhere. The United States has provided billions of dollars in assistance to Poland in the past decade. Although the USAID mission closed in late 2000, the United States continues to supply substantial sums to Poland through regional programs and activities managed from Washington. Embassy Warsaw needs to develop a mechanism to ensure that all U.S. Government assistance activities fit into a mission-wide strategy reflecting U.S. priorities and objectives.
Embassy Warsaw has or is developing the tools to make an already impressive outreach effort even more effective. It was making good use of working groups to address mission-wide concerns. It had taken steps to develop a comprehensive contacts database. These efforts need to be expanded to include more systematic mission outreach to other groups, including nongovernmental organizations, drawing on information already available as a result of efforts by Mission elements and decade-long USAID and Peace Corps activities throughout Poland. Polish-American communities in the United States play a significant role (both in the United States and Poland) in the debate on policy issues relating to their country of ethnic origin. Communities in the United States were heavily engaged in the domestic discussion of NATO expansion and in earlier consideration of major bilateral assistance programs for Poland. These groups, however, are less informed about other foreign policy aspects of U.S.-Polish relations. Embassy Warsaw and the Department need to expand and maintain continuing contacts with the Polish- American communities in the United States.
The Mission makes good use of technology, including digital video conferencing, to improve outreach and communication within the Mission. However, internal communication and coordination remain uneven. Shortcomings in the downward and lateral flow of information were consistent themes in staff responses to OIG questionnaires.
These matters will require the continuing attention of post management. The chancery and annex buildings in Warsaw need additional major renovations and a reconfiguration of space to permit more efficient operations. Additional piecemeal changes will be more costly than developing a plan that addresses all aspects of the project, including financing. Embassy Warsaw has requested funds for a master architectural plan to rationalize chancery facilities. OIG endorsed this request.
Embassy Warsaw?s Mission Performance Plan is a well-organized document, reflecting extensive consultations within the Mission. It is less impressive in developing performance indicators for evaluating progress toward the objectives it identifies. The plan?s uncertain linkage with resource allocation decisions, either in Warsaw or Washington, is a more serious shortcoming that the Department needs to address.
Embassy Warsaw has a first-rate consular operation, which includes Consulate General Krakow and a Consular Agency in Poznan. The nonimmigrant visa workload is steadily increasing, rising 17.5 percent in FY 2000 over the previous fiscal year. The demand for American citizens services is also increasing. Embassy Warsaw?s growing consular workload could be eased by transferring responsibility for processing Ukrainian K visas from Embassy Warsaw to Embassy Kiev and by tightening diversity visa controls.
Management controls are in place and functioning well, with one notable exception. There was a serious vulnerability in the financial management of grants awarded by the public affairs section. Obligations under the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program were mistakenly recorded and the grants were not executed until the subsequent fiscal year, constituting a possible administrative violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act.
The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.