Amanda Bennett: Agency for Global Media Nominee Receiving Little Scrutiny

Amanda Bennett, President Biden’s nominee to lead the often-controversial U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), has so far faced minimal political scrutiny, prompting Michael McCaul, a top House Republican, to urge his Senate counterparts to ask tough questions of her before her confirmation vote.

USAGM oversees Voice of America (VoA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and several of the other government-funded independent media outlets that broadcast and publish news for hundreds of millions of people around the world, particularly those living under dictatorial regimes. With a budget of slightly more than $800 million per year, it is a relatively small agency by Washington’s standards, though its outsized soft-power impact has placed it at the center of some of the fiercest debates in American foreign-policy circles.

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Jimmy Quinn

Jimmy Quinn is the former national security correspondent for National Review.

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Amanda Bennett, President Biden’s nominee to lead the often-controversial U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), has so far faced minimal political scrutiny, prompting Michael McCaul, a top House Republican, to urge his Senate counterparts to ask tough questions of her before her confirmation vote.

USAGM oversees Voice of America (VoA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and several of the other government-funded independent media outlets that broadcast and publish news for hundreds of millions of people around the world, particularly those living under dictatorial regimes. With a budget of slightly more than $800 million per year, it is a relatively small agency by Washington’s standards, though its outsized soft-power impact has placed it at the center of some of the fiercest debates in American foreign-policy circles.