The issue of attracting and deploying State personnel of the quality and quantity necessary is certainly recognized. The recent White House / NSC 1055 report noted this same problem:
(d) how best to expedite revitalizing and strengthening civilian department and agency capabilities, both qualitatively and quantitatively, to enable them to effectively execute these programs and activities.
The argument of missing leadership can be taken a step farther, or rather in a different direction outside the Executive Branch entirely. In Congress, with the notable exception of Sen. Lugar (and the ascending Sen. Kaufman), attention to the issues of public diplomacy and strategic communication are coming from the Congressmen and Senators on the Armed Services committees, not the foreign relations (or foreign affairs as it's called in the House) committee. The money issue last year was from the defense appropriators (recall the late Rep. Murtha's comments) and not from the foreign ops appropriators (the committees, House and Senate, that fund State). With the exception of Lugar, proposed legislation to fix SC/PD comes from SASC/HASC members. Members of SASC/HASC, not SFRC/HFAC, are paying attention to the gagging effect of the modern interpretation of the Smith-Mundt Act.

Notably, SASC successfully inserted into the NDAA a $55m authorization for State activities (which I would have loved to see the defense appropriators fund, but alas, they ignored it). This is the VOICE Act (see here for more) includes $30m for BBG and more for State proper. To be fair, HFAC (House Foreign Affairs Committee) doesn't have real power to accomplish much and few in SFRC (Senate Foreign Relations Committee) really care about these issues, except for perhaps three Senators. These three are Lugar and the only two Senators to attend the SFRC hearing that heard from four Under Secretaries of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (three past + current). Notably, the two that were present, Kaufman and Wicker, are also on SASC.

By the way, at the hearing, a prior U/S of PD/PA noted that it took 5-7 years to get a PD person online. This issue has not gained the attention it needs.