RFE/RL/CIA funded Propaganda Photo


Signing of "National Security Act"






Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Office in Munich


Radio Free Europe Balloons for dropping.

Radio Free Europe (RFE), broadcasting organization established in 1950 with the stated mission of promoting democratic values and institutions. Its original purpose was to broadcast news to countries behind the "Iron Curtain" during the cold war . In 1975, it was merged with Radio Liberty (RL), a similar enterprise that broadcast to the nations inside the Soviet Union. RFE receives most of its funding from the U.S. Congress. Until 1971, the funds were channeled through the Central Intelligence Agency; since that time the funds have been received in the form of grants through the Broadcasting Board of Governors of the U.S. Information Agency. The collapse of the USSR brought about changes including budget cuts and the relocation of headquarters from Munich, Germany, to Prague, the Czech Republic, in 1995. Broadcasts were ended in some areas but added in others. They are now sent to E and SE Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East. They continue to include news, political commentaries, sports, and music, and to be written, produced, and broadcast by nationals from the audience countries. RFE/RL now broadcasts over shortwave, AM/FM channels, and the Internet.

1949: EASTERN EUROPE. The CIA creates its most important non-domestic propaganda network, Radio Free Europe. RFE's broadcasts are so filled with blatant lies, propaganda and misinformation that it is, oh sweet irony, a crime to publish transcripts of them in the land of the free lest the American public should become aware of the ludicrous lies being told by their government.

Why in God's name do we want to control the Earth? We want to rule Russia and we cannot rule Alabama. We who hate "n******" and "darkies " propose to control a world full of colored people. We are daily being pushed into a third world war on the assumption that we are sole possessors of Truth and Right and are able to pound our ideas into the world's head by brute force. What hinders us from beginning to reason now before we fight? We are afraid.
W.E.B. DuBois
Statement to the U. S. Senate, 1949