H. Res. 641 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

November 4, 2009. 

Whereas Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) was 

founded in 1949 by the National Committee for a Free 

Europe with the mission to promote democratic values 

and institutions by broadcasting unbiased and factual information and ideas to audiences behind the communist 

‘‘Iron Curtain’’, and transmitted its first program to the 

former Czechoslovakia on July 4, 1950; 

Whereas many Central European and Russian leaders, including Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, and the late 

Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation, have testified to 

the important role RFE/RL broadcasts played in ending 

the Cold War; 

Whereas the former President of Estonia, Lennart Meri, 

nominated RFE/RL for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991; 

Whereas Nobel laureate and former President of Poland, 

Lech Walesa, testified to the role played by RFE/RL in 

Poland’s struggle for freedom when he stated that its influence ‘‘cannot even be described. Would there be earth 

without the sun?’’; 

Whereas RFE/RL programs were so comprehensive that communist authorities relied on secret transcripts of the 
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broadcasts for information they could not obtain from the 

local media they themselves controlled; 

Whereas RFE/RL was subjected to efforts to undermine its 

operations through offensive actions launched by communist regimes and intended to discredit the broadcasts; 

Whereas the Soviet KGB and Warsaw Pact intelligence services penetrated the radio stations with their spies, jailed 

sources, and even resorted to violence in attempts to intimidate RFE/RL staff; 

Whereas RFE/RL Bulgarian Service correspondent Georgi 

Markov was murdered in London in 1978, evidently by 

the Bulgarian communist intelligence service; 

Whereas the Romanian communist security service detonated 

a bomb at RFE/RL’s headquarters in Munich, West Germany, in 1981, critically injuring six employees; 

Whereas today, after having played a significant role in the 

collapse of communism in the former soviet union, RFE/ 

RL continues to provide news, information, and open discussion of domestic and international issues to countries 

where free and independent media are not permitted, or 

are not yet fully established; 

Whereas RFE/RL is available via FM, AM, shortwave and 

satellite radio, and employs a range of newer technologies 

including SMS text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, and 

other interactive social media; 

Whereas RFE/RL broadcasts in 28 languages to 30 million 

listeners in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Russia, 

the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Central and Southwest Asia; 
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Whereas during the June 2009 presidential election in Iran, 

RFE/RL’s ‘‘Radio Farda’’ provided 24 hour news coverage of the post-election protests; 

Whereas beginning in 2002, RFE/RL began ‘‘Radio Azadi’’, 

reaching nearly 50 percent of the Afghan people in the 

Pashto and Dari languages and making RFE/RL the 

largest international broadcaster in Afghanistan; 

Whereas in August 2009, RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi hosted a 

historic presidential debate featuring President Hamid 

Karzai and his two top opponents, the first ever in Afghanistan’s to feature an incumbent Afghan President; 

Whereas in early 2010, RFE/RL will begin Pashto language 

broadcasting to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, 

including the Swat Valley, promoting democratic values 

and institutions by providing the people of the region a 

source of independent and factual media to compete in 

the battle of ideas with those radical elements that have 

disrupted the peace in the Afghan-Pakistan border region; 

Whereas RFE/RL employees and freelance journalists are 

subject to intimidation and oppression by the authorities 

of regimes in many countries to which RFE/RL broadcasts; and 

Whereas RFE/RL has a proven history of promoting freedom 

and liberty in oppressive and autocratic regimes through 

news broadcasts based upon the principle that the first 

requirement of democracy is a well-informed citizenry: 

Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) recognizes the 60th anniversary of the founding 

of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and 
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honors its contribution to promoting freedom and liberty 

around the world; and 

(2) commends the employees and reporters of RFE/ 

RL for their commitment to provide fair and unbiased 

news to people living under oppressive regimes. 

Attest: 

Clerk.