CIA and Free Europe Committee (FEC) restate policy for Radio Free Europe in the context of the 1956 upheaval in the Communist world.

Senior officials discuss US policy at a National Security Council (NSC) principals' meeting on July 12. Notwithstanding less cautionary views expressed by Vice President Nixon at the NSC discussion, on July 18 President Eisenhower approved a minor modification of the draft (NSC 5608 and the annex) as NSC 5608/1 to serve as a basic statement of U.S. policy (published as redacted document 80, FRUS, 1955-57, XXV ; unredacted document 17, Békés, Byrne, and Rainer, The 1956 Hungarian Revolution).

Staff draft of NSC 5608, concluding that ferment in the Communist world provides new opportunities to challenge Soviet control. A draft annex called for “encouraging evolutionary change” and defined as tasks of RFE and RL (and other USG-funded media) “avoiding any incitement to premature revolt” while “seeking to maintain faith in the eventual restoration of freedom.” Redacted document 76, FRUS, 1955-1957, XXV, unredacted document 12, Csaba Békés, Malcolm Byrne, and János M. Rainer, The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A History in Documents (Budapest: Central European University Press, 2002.)

An annex to the Operations Coordinating Board (OCB) “169 Study” on U.S. international communications reviews the goals and effectiveness of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.

A CIA memorandum reviews Radio Liberty policy guidance to date and outlines how it differs from the Voice of America.

CIA official Tracey Barnes, reacting to C.D. Jackson’s memorandum of November 16, 1953 ("Fomenting Unrest in the Communist World"), cautions against encouraging active resistance in Eastern Europe.

The Operations Coordinating Board forwards CIA’s acceptance of Jackson Committee recommendations that the Free Europe Committee and American Committee for Liberation concentrate on radio broadcasting to the Soviet bloc as distinct from émigré support projects.

A CIA memorandum formulates guidelines for RL broadcasts to be conducted by a Coordinating Center of Soviet exiles

Frank Wisner in a memorandum to Robert Joyce dissents from State Department criticism that exile participation on Radio Free Europe is minimal and rejects State’s proposal that East European National Councils should themselves organize broadcasts.

Richard Arens, counsel for the Senate’s Internal Security Subcommittee, accuses Radio Free Europe of harboring Marxists and broadcasting left-wing and socialist propaganda.