Nixon orders Radio Liberty shut to save $15 million
By Theo Marchetti ·
871 overseas employees faced sudden termination as Nixon moved to quietly shut down a covert CIA-funded operation that no longer stressed the need to liberate the Soviet Union.
On December 18, 1969, Laurence E. Lynn, Jr., of the National Security Council Staff, sent a memorandum to Henry Kissinger. The subject was the "Termination of Radio Liberty."
According to the record, published in the Foreign Relations of the United States (State Dept) series, the directive came directly from the top. During a meeting on the CIA budget on December 17, President Nixon reviewed the programs of Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio Liberty (RL). Both organizations were, at the time, covertly funded by the CIA. The President's conclusion was split: he decided to retain and "improve" Radio Free Europe, but he ordered the termination of Radio Liberty.
As established in the public record, RFE/RL was an American state-funded operation designed to broadcast news and analysis into communist-controlled territories. In this specific instance, the distinction between the two was geographic and strategic. RFE focused on Eastern Europe, while RL targeted the Soviet Union. For Nixon, the Eastern European operation presented "no problems," and the FY 71 budget had already allocated $22 million to it, including funds for modernization.
"No Longer Stresses the Need to Liberate"
Lynn’s memorandum identifies the termination of Radio Liberty as a "delicate matter," outlining three primary motivations for the cut. First was a perceived failure in the mission's core purpose. Lynn noted that RL programming, which had shifted toward news and editorial interpretation of current events, "no longer stresses the need to liberate the Soviet Union from Communism."
Second was a matter of physics and signal strength. Despite the programming shift, the Soviet government continued to jam the broadcasts. Lynn reported that because of this jamming and other technical factors, the signal was not received in wide areas of the USSR and was "picked up erratically elsewhere."
Third was the bottom line. Terminating the service would result in budgetary savings of approximately $15 million per year.
871 Overseas Employees
While the President's decision was firm, the logistics of shutting down a covert international broadcaster were messy. Lynn highlighted two principal problems. The first was political: RL had support within the United States, and while this support was less than that of RFE, Lynn expected it would "generate some domestic pressure for its retention."
The second problem was labor. Radio Liberty employed 871 people overseas, the majority of whom were based in West Germany. Lynn warned that the "intricacies of local labor laws" could create significant difficulties during the termination process.
There was also the question of hardware. Lynn mentioned a "small possibility" that the Voice of America could take over the powerful transmitters RL used in Spain, though this depended on whether the Spanish Government would allow the equipment to revert.
A Special Inter-agency Task Force
Because of the sensitivity of the operation, Lynn recommended that the details be managed by a special inter-agency task force. This group was to be chaired by the State Department and include representatives from the CIA, USIA, BOB, DOD, and the NSC.
The task force was given a specific checklist of problems to solve. They were tasked with determining the exact date of the shutdown and deciding whether the station should be put off the air abruptly or phased out over time. They also had to manage the diplomatic fallout and labor issues with the governments of West Germany, Spain, and Nationalist China, where the remainder of RL’s overseas facilities were located.
Beyond the staff and the antennas, the task force had to decide how to handle the public. This included determining what kind of public announcement, if any, should be made in the United States and how to mitigate "public and Congressional criticism of termination."
Finally, there was the matter of a specific cultural asset: a book presentation program that cost $700,000 a year. Lynn questioned whether this program should be transferred to the CIA or the USIA.
Related files on Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty are held in the US National Archives (NAID 1746756 and NAID 498171414), and further correspondence regarding the era's Eastern European policy exists in the State Department's FRUS volumes for 1969–1976. The specific memorandum to Elliot Richardson, which Lynn recommended Kissinger sign to trigger the task force, was attached to the original file but not printed in the published record.
There is no indication in the document that Kissinger approved or disapproved of the recommendation.