U.S. Objectives Generally Achieved at Broadcasting Satellite International Conference--Improvements Can Help in Future Conferences

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the conference results and coordination among U.S. participants at the 1983 Regional Administrative Radio Conference held by the International Telecommunications Union.

GAO found that the United States achieved two of its major objectives by convincing other nations to support: (1) a broadcasting satellite service plan with significant flexibility in technical standards and procedures; and (2) a plan which assigns specific orbit slots and frequencies to each nation. The United States was not successful in reaching agreement with the other nations on a desired higher maximum signal power level for the broadcasting satellites. However, the United States was able to adequately protect most of its interests at the conference because of the quality of technical preparations, the availability of computer analysis during the conference, and the competence of the U.S. delegation, although the delegation could have been aided by more and earlier State Department advance work to anticipate the political positions of other nations and help negotiate their support for U.S. views. Furthermore, a lack of State Department attention to conference administrative matters resulted in required conflict-of-interest reviews of private-sector delegates not being made before the conference. In addition, poor coordination within the Department caused by uncertainty about authority resulted in confusion for the delegation leadership throughout the conference. Effective coordination was hampered by the lack of interagency and intra-agency understanding of the coordinator's role.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Herbert R. Mclure Team: General Accounting Office: Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 275-4905