Office of the Historian

14. Memorandum From Paul Henze of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1

Washington, March 2, 1977

SUBJECT

  • Recommendations to President on New Appointments to Board of International Broadcasting and Transmittal to Congress of Report on International Broadcasting

As you requested earlier this week, our recommendations for actions in connection with the Board of International Broadcasting have [Page 40] been put together in a single package and are ready for you to lay before the President.

You may find useful a few additional items of information which, because of the need for brevity in your memo to the President,2 we could not include:

Present membership of the BIB:

David M. Abshire, Chairman

Foy D. Kohler

John T. Murphy

Thomas H. Quinn

John P. Roche

Sig Michelson (ex officio)

Board members are not classified as U.S. Government employees. They are paid at the E–V rate ($182) per day when serving (maximum necessary about 20 days per year), plus per diem and travel expenses. Employees of the BIB staff are civil service employees.

The President’s Report to Congress recommends approval of 16 additional transmitters over the next 3–5 years for broadcasts by RFE/RL and VOA to Eastern Europe and the USSR and 12 additional transmitters for VOA broadcasts to Asia and Africa.3 No money figures for these transmitters are included but costs for the first 16 could be in the range of $30–$35,000,000 and the second 12 $25–$30,000,000. These will all be requested in BIB and USIS budget requests to Congress for the next several years for the money would be expended over a period of at least three to four fiscal years.

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Horn/Special (Henze), Box 1, Chron File: 3/77. No classification marking. Sent for action.↩
  2. Reference is to an attached, undated memorandum from Brzezinski to the President, in which Brzezinski recommended that Carter accept Abshire’s resignation as BIB Chairman, appoint Gronouski as Chairman, and fill Roche’s expired term with Griffith. (Ibid.) There is no indication that this memorandum was sent to Carter.↩
  3. Section 403 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1977 (S. 3168; P.L. 94–350; 90 Stat. 823–850) required the President to submit to Congress by January 31, 1977, a report on international broadcasting. National Security Study Memorandum (NSSM) 245, August 3, 1976, directed the preparation of a study outlining measures designed to improve the effectiveness of U.S.-funded international broadcasting. NSSM 245 is printed in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, vol. XXXVIII, part 2, Organization and Management of Foreign Policy, 1973–1976, Document 111. The Ford administration produced a 51-page report entitled “U.S. International Broadcasting Requirements” but did not forward the report to Congress; see Document 113, ibid. In a March 22 message to Congress transmitting the copy of the report, Carter indicated that his advisers had been in the process of reviewing the Ford administration report and had concluded that review. Carter noted that his review of these efforts had led him to conclude that current efforts were “inadequate” and that VOA and RFE/RL required 16 additional 250 KW transmitters for broadcast to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, in addition to 12 VOA transmitters for broadcast to Asia and Africa. (Public Papers: Carter, 1977, Book I, p. 478)↩