WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- America's images abroad has deteriorated to such an extent that it will take the United States many years of hard and focused work to restore it, a senior US official has warned.

    The warning was voiced by Margaret Tutwiler, recently tapped totake charge of public diplomacy in the State Department, in a testimony before a US House appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday, The New York Times reported Thursday.

    Tutwiler said she agreed with the main findings of an independent panel that American outreach to the rest of the world has suffered from budget cuts and neglect since the end of the cold war.

    "Unfortunately, our country has a problem in far too many parts of the world," she said, "a problem we have regrettably gotten into over many years through both Democrat and Republican administrations, and a problem that does not lend itself to a quick fix or a single solution or a simple plan."

    The findings Tutwiler referred to were the result of an extensive bipartisan study led by Edward Djerejian, a former US ambassador to Israel and Syria.

    According to The New York Times, a report released by the panelin October asserted that American prestige had dwindled, that much of its charity was overlooked and that its overall approach lacked strategic direction.

    It identified systemic problems, including a lack of Arabic speakers in the State Department and the decline in the number of public diplomacy officers, from 2,500 in 1991 to 1,200 in 2003.

    The report also called for a greater role by America's private sector, especially its media companies, in developing creative new ways to reach out to Arab youths. Enditem