HANOI -- I just wrapped up a 10-day speaking tour for the U.S. State Department after participating in the department's Public Diplomacy (PD) program, which sends folks to speak to universities, think tanks and public forums. The trip took me to the Russian Far East (Vladivostok and Sakhalin) and Hanoi, where I delivered two or three lectures a day to various audiences, totaling more than 500 people.

Public diplomacy is one of the lesser known options in the foreign-policy tool kit. That is unfortunate because PD can play a key role in foreign policy by helping shape public opinion in foreign countries. Public diplomacy is defined as "the cultural, educational and informational programs, citizen exchanges or broadcasts used to promote the national interest of the United States through understanding, informing and influencing foreign audiences."

Crudely, it is, as one of the students in Russia bluntly put it when asking why I was addressing his class, "propaganda."