58. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rogers to President Nixon1

SUBJECT

  • Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty

Our efforts to obtain a satisfactory public mechanism for funding Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio Liberty (RL) are reaching a crucial point. At the beginning of August, the Senate passed a bill authorizing an appropriation of $35 million to the Department for FY 1972 to fund the radios “under such terms and conditions as the Secretary considers appropriate.” The bill is intended by Senator Fulbright to be a “stopgap” to keep the radios barely alive so that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee can decide next year, on the basis of studies now being done by the GAO and the Congressional Research Service, whether or not to terminate them.

The Senate bill, which is Senator Caseʼs original S. 18 amending P.L. 402 (the U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act),2 has a number of disadvantages. The principal one is that, by making the Department [Page 159] the channel for the grants, it makes it considerably more difficult for our Embassies in Eastern Europe when presented with complaints about the radios to argue that the stations are independent and that we have no means of controlling their program content. A second disadvantage is that the radiosʼ image of independence will be damaged by a direct funding link to the Department and their actual independence may well be eroded if we are obliged to press them to tailor their broadcasts in response to diplomatic pressures. A third disadvantage is that, if they become linked to a Federal agency such as State, the radios may have greater difficulty in claiming the independent status upon which their current transmitter licenses in Germany are based. A fourth disadvantage is the increased difficulty in getting annual appropriations for grants to the radios if they are considered within the State budget.

In view of these disadvantages, we feel it is important to obtain legislation from Congress distancing the radios from either the Department or USIA. This could be achieved by passage of a bill to create an American Council for Private International Communications, Incorporated, which was drafted in the State Department and introduced July 7, 1971 as H.R. 9637 in the House of Representatives by Representative Morgan, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Our contacts with members of the House Committee, however, convince us that it is extremely doubtful, in view of Senator Fulbrightʼs attitude and in the light of growing resistance in Congress to the establishment of government corporations, that H.R. 9637 could pass the House and be accepted by Senate conferees. Consequently, upon the advice of friendly members of the Committee, we have considered a proposal more likely to receive Congressional approval. This would be a bill providing for the establishment of a two-year commission charged with the responsibility for preparing a study of overseas broadcasting activities by the United States Government. The commission would be composed of a majority of Executive Branch officers and private citizens, appointed by you, plus Senators and Representatives.

During the life of the Commission, its Chairman, whom you would designate from among the private citizens you appointed, would be given the responsibility for making grants of US funds to Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty for fiscal years 1972 and 1973. By limiting that responsibility to your appointee, we would hope to avoid the problem of having members of the Legislative Branch in the position of exercising executive authority, an arrangement which might set a disadvantageous precedent.

The establishment of the study commission as a funding vehicle, however, raises questions as to how broad a study the Executive Branch would be willing to accept in its efforts to solve the funding difficulties. A commission studying all overseas broadcasting by the United [Page 160] States Government would have authority to investigate—in addition to RFE and RL—the Voice of America and the American Forces Radio and Television Service. It is possible that a study of such broad scope could lead to recommendations for the consolidation of all American-supported radios into one agency, resulting in the loss by the Defense Department of the AFRTS whose mission is troop information. It would, therefore, seem desirable to try to focus the study on international broadcasting directed toward audiences in the Warsaw Pact countries as well as international broadcasting activities originating in those countries. Particular emphasis could be given to the role of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty in that context. If a commission with this type of mandate were to be voted by the House, we could hope to avoid an examination of AFRTS or that part of VOA which is not concerned with broadcasting to Soviet Bloc audiences.

At the hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee scheduled for September 14, Under Secretary Johnson will testify in favor of the establishment of an American Council for International Communications, Incorporated, the vehicle which is our first choice. In view of the Congressional sentiment described above, however, he will, if you concur, be prepared to indicate in response to a question from Chairman Morgan, our willingness to accept a commission of the type described above—if that appears to be the best chance for separating the State Department and USIA from the administration of the grants to the radios. In taking this course, we would recognize that, in the mark-up process, the commission could emerge with a wider scope than we and USIA desire.3

Our main problem is to get strong support in the House and Senate for our bill or for the study commission alternative, which USIA regards as acceptable in the form described. If you consider that the alternative of a commission, even one in which your appointees have a majority, has too many disadvantages, we will need to have even greater involvement of the Congressional leadership to get our bill (H.R. 9637) through the House and the Conference Committee. In either event, I hope you can indicate to the Congressional leadership, as [Page 161] soon as possible after Labor Day, the importance you attach to preserving the radios through a mechanism which will reflect their independence from the Department and USIA.

General Lucius Clay, Board Chairman of Radio Free Europe, is anxious to see you and present his view that RFEʼs role would be steadily eroded unless Congress creates some structure such as a council or commission distancing the radios from the Department of State or USIA.4

William P. Rogers
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, RAD RFE. Confidential. Drafted by Baker on September 4. Cleared by Davies, Skoug, and Okun (SOV) and concurred in by Symmes (H), Coerr, Huffman (H), Alexander (USIA), and Strait (OMB). Attached to the memorandum are a copy of S. 18 as amended by Senator J. William Fulbright, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on July 30; a memorandum from Abshire to Haig, August 16, on Congressional strategy regarding RFE and RL; a memorandum from Hillenbrand to Rogers, September 4; and a letter from Kissinger to Rogers, November 1. None is printed.
  2. See Document 50.
  3. Telegram 181533 to Bonn, Bucharest, Budapest, Moscow, Prague, Sofia, Warsaw, and Munich, October 2, reads in part: “House Foreign Affairs Committee voted September 30 to report out Fascell proposal for two-year Study Commission ‘to review and evaluate international radio broadcasting and related activities’ of RFE/RL. Commission Chairman would also administer grants for continuing operations during two-year period. $36 million authorized for this purpose for FY 1972 (compared with $35 million authorized by Senate bill)…. While Department would have preferred legislation establishing permanent basis for radio operations, we have been convinced Fascell proposal has best chance for passage in present situation and provides best hope for acceptable outcome of Senate–House conference. Therefore, Department plans to urge support for it.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, RAD RFE)
  4. In his November 1 letter replying to Rogers, Kissinger wrote: “The President has reviewed your memorandum of September 13, 1971, on Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty and agrees with your views on the importance of obtaining a satisfactory mechanism for funding of the Radios…. The President particularly appreciates the yeoman efforts you and your colleagues have made with the Congress to enact some form of legislation to permit continuance of the Radios, and prefers that you continue to take the lead in this endeavor rather than his raising it in a Leadership meeting.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, RAD RFE)