RFE and RL under the CIA. Documents Just Released

An interesting collection of documents has been published from when the CIA directly ran Cold War US networks Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe. The documents were used as primary sources for the book, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty: The CIA Years and Beyond (Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Stanford University Press, 2011). Documents with reference numbers preceded by “MORI” or “C” were obtained (many with redactions) by mandatory declassification review requests to CIA under the provisions of Executive Orders 13526 and 12958.  

The collection has been divided into four sections: 

1. The First Years: 1948-1955
2. Challenge of Unrest in Eastern Europe: 1956-1957
3. Détente Years: 1958-1966
4. Transition to Open Funding: 1967-1971

A brief description of each document, with reference to its citation or reference in the book when applicable, is provided. 

We looked at the RFE/RL CIA years in a Media Network programme broadcast in July 1998. The item on RFE, including a recording of one of the ads carried on US commercial radio stations, starts at 18'30 into the following programme.