The Interagency Working Group (IAWG) on U.S. Government-Sponsored International Exchanges and Training was established in 1997 to make recommendations on improving the coordination, efficiency, and effectiveness of U.S. Government-sponsored international exchanges and training.  The IAWG consists of five statutory members – the Department of State, Defense, Education, and Justice, and the United States Agency for International Development – and is chaired by the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs. In addition to the statutory members, the IAWG consists of many other cabinet-level and independence federal agencies. Each federal agency has a designated representative in the IAWG.  The Department of Energy Representative on the IAWG is Rosalee Williams, Director, Office of International Travel and Exchange Visitor Programs, MA-45.

The IAWG is tasked, among other things, to collect and analyze international exchange and training data and establish an information clearinghouse to share exchange and training program information among federal agencies. For example, The Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Appropriations Act, 1999, and the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 contain provisions requiring the annual reporting of requested data.  The Department of State has the government-wide lead to obtain data submitted annual by federal agencies and compile and annual (fiscal year) inventory of USG sponsored international exchanges and training programs.

The Department of State implements this responsibility through the IAWG which, in turn, collects program data by fiscal year, on USG-sponsored international exchanges and training activities from all federal departments and agencies that administer such programs.  The product of the IAWG’s assignment is annual Inventory of Programs and region-specific statistical information.  This inventory is sent to the President, the Congress, and published for the public on the IAWG’s website at http://www.iawg.gov/.  The purpose of the Inventory is to qualify and clarify the role these programs play throughout the U.S. Government in meeting the US government’s foreign policy goals.

The Office of International Travel and Exchange Visitor Programs is responsible for the annual data collection from the DOE Program Elements and develops the Department’s Annual Report submission to the Department of State.  For more information on the Annual Report requirements, contact Julie Squires, Team Leader for the IAWG Report, on 202-586-4048.