US Global Media Agency Operations and Infrastructure
The USAGM, formerly known as the Broadcasting Board of Governors has gotten lots of attention this week. Why? Because former Arizona Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Kari Lake has been nominated to lead the agency. Even though most readers have not heard of the USAGM or the Broadcasting Board of Governors, but under its purview are six entities:
- The Voice of America
- The Office of Cuba Broadcasting
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
- Radio Free Asia
- The Middle East Broadcasting Network
- The Open Technology Fund, and
- The Frontline Media Fund
The US Agency for Global Media Operational Budget and Staffing
To carryout its mission which is to “inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy,” USAGM operates on an annual budget of almost $1 Billion (2025 fiscal year request is $950 million) employing more than 4,000 employees. The agency endeavors to reach 1/2 billion people each week (420 million) around the globe through radio, television, the internet and others (streaming, podcasts, etc) with the distribution of programming in 64 languages.
Other US Federal Agency Responses to Requests for Federal Employee Telework Data
- US National Archives and Records Administration
- US White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
- US Department of Defense ( Pentagon ) Office of Inspector General
- US Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General
- US Election Assistance Commission
- US National Endowment of the Arts
- 2019-2024 US Consolidated Federal Telework Data: PDF (Spreadsheet, Data Tables Coming Soon!)
The US Agency for Global Media FOIA Response for Federal Employee Telework Data
The AGM responded promptly to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for data collection related to teleworking remote workers working from home from 2019 to 2023.
As data was requested in early 2024, there are 2024 data elements where no response was given, considering the end of the year had yet to be concluded. As with several federal government agencies, USAGM responded favorably to our FOIA request in a timely manner and addressed all of the questions we posed to them. See the actual response letter below and working from home data table in the subsequent section.
MEAD_FOIA24-059_DeterminationLetter_04242024 MEAD_USAGM_FOIA24-059_DeterminationLetter_04242024
The US Agency for Global Media FOIA Response for Federal Employee Telework Data Tables and Spreadsheets
Data Table 1: USAGM Teleworking Employees
Year | No. FT+ PT Staff | No. Eligible | No. Staff Teleworking | No. Telework WFH and RTO Regularly |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1377 | 1311 | No response | OHR reported that it does not track this data. |
2020 | 1379 | 1314 | No response | OHR reported that it does not track this data. |
2021 | 1323 | 1268 | 427 | OHR reported that it does not track this data. |
2022 | 1289 | 1234 | 773 | OHR reported that it does not track this data. |
2023 | 1284 | 1226 | 1252 | OHR reported that it does not track this data. |
Data Table 2: USAGM Teleworking Employees
No. Telework WFH DONOT RTO regular | Telework w/WFH Agreements precondition to participate | Teleworkers w/o written agreement still WFH | Teleworkers Accept. Perform | Teleworking Nonperformers | Discipl. Steps* Blanket Response |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No response | No response | 0 | 1361 | 0 | Management has denied or revoked telework for employees who have been disciplined for specified misconduct. |
No response | No response | 0 | 1364 | 2 *Please note that in March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, employees were mandated to telework until further notice. Thus, the two employees who received an unsuccessful rating, may not have been allowed to return to the building during such time. | Management has denied or revoked telework for employees who have been disciplined for specified misconduct. |
No response | No response | 0 | 1310 | 0 | Management has denied or revoked telework for employees who have been disciplined for specified misconduct. |
117 | No response | 0 | 1274 | 0 | |
148 | 1252 | 0 | 1267 | 0 |
Data Table 3: USAGM Teleworking Employees
Telework Revocations Misconduct* Blanket Response | Telework denials-Security* | New Staff Mg Telework* Blanket Response | Re-assigned staff Mg Telework *Blanket Response | Assigned new dutiesf Mg Telework * Blanket Response | No. Employees w/ incidents |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | 50 | 0 | |||
0 | 50 | 0 | |||
0 | 42 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
0 | 40 | 0 | |||
0 | 41 | 4 | |||