The Humpty Dumpty Institute's 15th Congressional Delegation to United Nations Headquarters

House & Senate Press Secretaries

In a little more than six years, HDI's popular Congressional Visits to United Nations Headquarters have sponsored trips by almost 260 congressional offices. The latest installment - HDI's 15th such trip - focused on an important staff constituency often overlooked: House and Senate Press Secretaries and Communications Directors. In partnership with the U.N. Foundation, HDI sponsored a series of briefings at the U.S. Mission and at U.N. Headquarters with senior U.S. diplomats, high-level U.N. officials, and spokesmen from a number of U.N. agencies and departments. The intent of this program was to give congressional spokesmen an opportunity to view first-hand the inner workings of the U.N. while providing them with a network of capable counterparts throughout the U.N. system.

The bipartisan delegation, which comprised of sixteen press secretaries and communications directors from the U.S. House and Senate, concentrated on U.S. priorities at the United Nations, U.N. management and reform, the U.N. budget, the upcoming U.N. Millennium Summit, global humanitarian relief operations, U.N. peacekeeping, and other issues relevant to the U.S.-U.N. relationship. As with previous HDI Congressional delegations, the meetings afforded both Congressional press secretaries and U.N. Staff an opportunity to engage on a variety of topics, in an informal and off-the-record environment.

• Full Project Report
• Schedule
• Participants