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Documents

June 10, 1954

Thomas W. Braden, 'Operation VETO' [Approved for Release May 6, 2019]

CIA official Thomas Braden assures the State Department that RFE broadcasts which took sides in Czechoslovak factory council elections, as envisaged in FEC Czechoslovak Guidance No. 13, have ended. (The Guidance and the cited FEC telegram are available in the Hoover Archives and the Blinken Open Society Archives as FEC teletype NYC 29, June 8, 1954.)

August 23, 1968

Fred W. Valtin, 'Czech Crisis--Policy Guidance from State' [Approved for Release May 6, 2019]

CIA official Fred Valtin conveys to FEC President William Durkee requested guidance from the State Department that RFE should not broadcast calls for active resistance to the Soviet occupiers even if from high-level Czechoslovak officials.

July 16, 1951

Report on Radio Free Europe

Observations of BBC managers two months after the start of RFE broadcasting from Munich on May 1, 1951. It includes their analysis of the Czechoslovak Service broadcasts on May 26th, 1951, and of the network of field bureaus to gather information from refugees. They lauded the enthusiasm of RFE broadcasters but criticized their programs for mixing opinion with fact in newscast.

October 29, 1971

Report by KGB Chairman Andropov on Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty

A report from KGB Chairman Andropov to the Central Committee of the CPSU assessing the status of Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe in their “transition” period and measures that might be taken to weaken them. It alleges that RFE and RL are planning subversive actions against the USSR at the Munich Olympics. It credits the Soviet bloc intelligence services with increasing the problems of the Radios. The document indicates timely KGB knowledge of internal RL documents such as the March 15, 1971 revision of the Radio Liberty Policy Manual.

April 11, 1969

Report to CPSU Central Committee on Visit of Czech Delegation to Discuss Countering Enemy Propaganda in Czechoslovakia

This document indicates the continuing influence of German-language and other Western media in Czechoslovakia nine months after the Soviet invasion of August 1968. Czechoslovak officials criticized the heavy-handed Soviet broadcasts of Radio Vltava, and viewed other Soviet proposals to counter Western influence as counterproductive.

September 30, 1975

Czechoslovak Interior Ministry Note on Actions of Agent Minarik against Radio Free Europe

Pavel Minarik worked at RFE from 1968 to 1976 as an agent of the Czechoslovak Intelligence Service. During these years he provided many documents and analyses to the Service. This document contains Interior Minister Obzina’s approval of an Intelligence Service plan to recall and publicize Minarik’s activities. Minarik was recalled to Prague and surfaced at a staged press conference in 1976.

September 19, 1956

Czechoslovak Politburo Resolution on Plan to 'Counter the Czechoslovak Reactionary Exiles'

This Czechoslovak Politburo Resolution of 1956 approved an Interior Ministry plan to counter “reactionary exiles.” Radio Free Europe was an important target, and a series of disinformation actions were planned to disrupt its operations.

April 25, 1981

Minutes of Meeting between Czechoslovak and Hungarian Interior Ministry Officials on the Carlos Terrorist Group and Radio Free Europe Bomb Attack

A bomb exploded outside the RFE building in Munich on February 21, 1981, severely injuring several employees and causing major physical damage. This document, and others like it, indicates that the Ceausescu regime commissioned the “Carlos group” to carry out the attack. The Carlos group was then resident in Budapest, and this document indicates that the Hungarian Interior Ministry had advance knowledge of the bombing.

April 24, 1980

Report by the Chairman of the Delegation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Comrade Colonel Jan Kovach, during Bloc Meeting on Western Radio

In the statement by the Czechoslovak Interior Minister at the Bloc Meeting held on 23 April 1980 to discuss foreign “hostile actions,” including Western radio broadcasting, special attention is given to attempts to form a political opposition in the socialist countries.

1979

Bulgarian and Czechoslovak Interior Ministries Plan to Cooperate against Foreign Propaganda

This document details a plan for cooperation between the 6th Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria and the 10th Directorate of the Federal Ministry of the Interior of the Czecho-Slovak Socialist Republic during the period 1979-1981 against foreign propaganda operations. Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty are singled out.

Pagination