Skip to content
Jan Nowak-Jeziorański broadcasting for Radio Free Europe, 3 May 1952

Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty

This is a collection of declassified documents pertaining to Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio Liberty (RL) – Radios which were overseen and funded by the Central Intelligence Agency until 1971, funded there after by open Congressional appropriation, and merged in 1976 as RFE/RL, Inc. The documents were used as primary sources for A. Ross Johnson's book ''Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty: The CIA Years and Beyond'' or published in the appendix of ''Cold War Broadcasting: Impact on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe'' edited by A. Ross Johnson and R. Eugene Parta. See also CWIHP e-Dossier No. 32 and e-Dossier No. 59 for introductions to the documents, and the related collections Intelligence Operations in the Cold War, and Mass Media and Censorship.

Jan Nowak-Jeziorański broadcasting for Radio Free Europe, 3 May 1952

Popular Documents

April 30, 1948

George F. Kennan, 'The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare'

State Department Policy Planning Director George Kennan outlines, in a document for the National Security Council, the idea of a public committee, working closely with the US government, to sponsor various émigré activities.

April 30, 1948

George F. Kennan, 'The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare' [Redacted Version]

State Department Policy Planning Director George Kennan outlines, in a document for the National Security Council, the idea of a public committee, working closely with the US government, to sponsor various émigré activities

August 26, 1948

Memorandum of Conversation [Approved for Release, March 2009]

CIA, State Department, Defense Department, and OPC officials discuss establishing a philanthropic organization to sponsor radio broadcasts and other activities of Eastern European émigrés.

February 18, 1953

TASS to CPSU on 'Anti-Soviet propaganda of the Voice of America' on Death of Lev Mekhlis

This TASS information bulletin was sent to the Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers. Note the distribution to Stalin and Malenkov only.

May 19, 1959

KGB Report, 'On the State of Jamming anti-Soviet Radio Programs of Foreign Radio Stations'

The following KGB document reports on problems jamming Western radio stations in a range of Soviet cities. It indicates times and frequencies on which Western radio broadcasts were clearly audible and Soviet jamming was ineffective.