Now More Than Ever: The Case For Broadcasting Glasnost From Israel

The Center for Security Policy today called on Congress to reject eleventh-hour efforts to scuttle a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA) broadcast transmitter facility scheduled shortly to begin construction in Israel.

The Center in particular sharply rejects the contention made by the opponents of this facility that, in the current era of glasnost and improving East-West relations, the vastly improved capability to beam accurate information into the Central Asian and other portions of the USSR, Eastern Europe and elsewhere is no longer needed.

In an article published in the Jerusalem Post on 13 February 1990 and released by the Center today, Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., its director, said, "Far from being an anachronistic irrelevancy in the so-called Post-Cold War world, the Israel relay station has an important role to play in the further evolution of that world.

"By extending the reach of objective reporting to those in need of it, the RFE/RL and VOA operation will help to enfranchise millions who have yet to benefit from this promising new era. Moreover, this facility will constitute a significant hedge against the possibility that a future Soviet government may seek to curb its citizens’ access to Western information (emphasis added)."

The Center believes that the construction and utilization of the RFE/RL-VOA is, in fact, one of the most important investments the United States can make in encouraging positive trends in the USSR and other nations — places where regular access to informative programming in the native tongue and in English is currently either impossible or inadequate.

The Center finds that other arguments being conjured up by opponents of this facility — notably those involving charges that it will impose significant environmental damage — are similarly unfounded. Such shortwave transmitters have operated for decades in the United States and elsewhere without having any demonstrable adverse effect on either people living in proximity to or working in these facilities or on migratory birds and other wildlife.

Accordingly, every effort should be made to bring the RFE/RL – VOA transmitter in Israel on line as quickly as possible.

A copy of Gaffney’s article, entitled "Our Contribution to Glasnost" is attached.