CIA wanted to have Radio Free Europe (RFE) broadcast to the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) in 1951. It was first approved by the U.S. State Department in May 1951 and again in August 1951. RFE started to plan for the broadcasts, including the selection of personnel for the broadcasts, but then the U.S. Department of State vetoed the idea in November 1951: "There is nothing that needs to be said to the Baltics that cannot be said quite adequately by Voice of America."
An attempt was made in August 1953 to secure independent radio facilities from the Pan-American Broadcasting Company, but the arrangement fell through because:
Estonian émigrés in the U.S. have been negotiating with radio stations in Madrid and Hamburg. Radio Hamburg is handicapped by Allied restrictions, while Madrid is prepared to make daily radio time available as of October 1954, when additional transmitter facilities will be ready.
A September 1954, CIA internal memorandum included these comments.
The question of RFE undertaking broadcasts to the Baltic area was reviewed several months ago, and the arguments against such an undertaking seem pertinent to the present proposal. At that time, the joint decision of the Agency and the Department of State restated that it is preferable to have broadcasting to that area handled by VOA.
The objectives of CIA Project AEBASIN for Fiscal Year 1955 included:
Radio Estonian émigré groups as such have no radio facilities of their own for broadcasts to Estonia. (Note: The VOA broadcasts, of course, are not included in this statement. They consist of three 10-minute spots daily from Munich and Algiers and are used occasionally by AEBASIN personnel on specific and limited topics acceptable to VOA.) Radio Free Europe, likewise, has no Estonian facilities at the present time.
On October 16, 1955, CIA sponsored broadcasts to Estonia began on Radio Nacional de España. In January 1956, there was an internal CIA SR/PP staff evaluation of the broadcasts, which included this comment:
The undersigned has read in translation a large number of AEBASIN
scripts dating from the inauguration of the broadcasts to October 16. In general, they are more than adequate for the audience. It is believed that if they get through the jamming networks, the programs would fulfill an important function in maintaining the morale of whatever individuals and groups in Estonia are favorably disposed towards the West and which harbor anti-Communist resentments.
Scripts refute Soviet propaganda regarding the peaceful motivation of Soviet policies and point up matters like the exploitation of individuals in the concentration camps, factories, and on the collective farms. The scripts are singularly entirely free from anti-Russianism, as distinguished from anti-Soviet sentiments, and the theme of eventual liberation is mentioned, but is sensibly not overstressed.
This comment appeared in the S.R. Division October 1958 Request for P.P. Project Renewal: "The AEBASIN operations have been conducted through the Estonian section at Radio Nacional, Madrid. Contact with Radio Regional is maintained through the Voice of Estonian Freedom, a cover organization located in New York City."
Original broadcasts to Estonia were 15 minutes per day in the evening. In May 1958, programs were rebroadcast for another 15 minutes in the morning, for a total of 30 minutes per day. As to the continuing cover of the operation: “The cover organization for contact With Radio Nacional, the Voice of Estonian Freedom, has no popular membership. It claims to receive its funds from an “anonymous” donor. These points are not considered to be significant weaknesses and sound sufficiently plausible. In addition, this arrangement permits much greater control than would be possible if this organization bad a popular base with selected leadership.”
In 1963, a CIA memorandum concluded with
It is not believed that radio broadcasting has been highly effective … [T]he quality of the scripts used has been on the order to fair to good. What the actual effect has been within the Baltic states cannot be adequately measured. Although the principle of broadcasting to the Baltic States in the Baltic languages is subscribed to, it is not felt that the program which we have been subsidizing for this purpose has been performing satisfactorily.
Broadcasting to Estonia from Radio Nacional de España was terminated on October 31, 1963, effective December 31, 1963. Staff and families in Madrid returned to the United States or Germany.
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