To enhance the cost-effectiveness of our security efforts, we have begun to implement reforms to link our wide-ranging efforts at over posts abroad to country-specific threat profiles.

          For State Department salaries and expenses, we are requesting $2050 million in budget authority for FY 1992, an increase of $179 million over the current year. This is the minimal level of resources we need to fund our overseas and domestic operations: over two-thirds of the increase compensates for price increases and exchange rate changes. The remainder will be used to support several specific funding requirements: Expanding our diplomatic presence in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe ($25 million).

          Responding to increased immigration processing requirements necessitated by passage of the Immigration Act of 1990 ($24 million).

          Strengthening our information and financial systems by improving our infrastructure ($13.5 million).

          In the Foreign Building account, we have requested $570 million in FY 1992 funding. Of this total, $440 million represents the first installment of a five-year, $2350 million program to address the Department of State's most urgent facility replacement priorities, including embassies in Bangkok and Bogota. Our goal is to restore the safety, security and workability of our aging but valuable inventory of overseas facilities.

          We are also seeking $130 million in funding for the Moscow Embassy project. It is imperative that we make a decision now on a new building so we can begin to operate as soon as possible in appropriate, secure space.

          The President has emphasized the urgency of restoring financial viability to the United Nations and other international organizations. After several years of effort on the part of Congress and the Administration, we are pleased to report significant movement toward budgetary and administrative reform with the United Nations and its affiliated agencies. No one who has witnessed the response of the UN Security Council to recent events in the Persian Gulf could deny the importance to US interests of a financially healthy UN system.

          We remain absolutely committed to full funding for US assessed contributions, to the extent permitted by law, and to paying our prior year arrearages over the next four years. We appreciate the full funding we received for FY 1991, which included initial funding toward the necessary process of arrears clearance. For FY 1992, we are requesting $750 million in budget authority to meet our current assessments to international organizations, plus an additional $371 million for arrears clearance, to be paid out over the following four years. For international peacekeeping activities, we are requesting $69 million to meet our full funding obligations, plus $132 million for arrearages.

          Public diplomacy will be one of our most valuable tools as we seek to encourage the worldwide tide of democracy and political pluralism. For the valuable work of the US Information Agency and the Board for International Broadcasting, we are requesting $1300 million in FY 1992 funding, up slightly from the prior year. Within this level, a new emphasis will be placed on information and cultural programs in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Islamic world.

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