Statement for the Record by the Leaders of
Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Middle East Broadcasting Networks
Hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee

June 25, 2025

Chairman Mast, Ranking Member Meeks, and Members of the Committee,

We respect and appreciate the important role President Trump assigned to Kari Lake at the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM). We were puzzled to learn in her written statement, however, that when Ms. Lake arrived less than four months ago she was excited about the job and the chance to improve things. This has not been our experience.

Ms. Lake started at USAGM on March 2 and concluded during “the following weeks,” she notes, that the grantee organizations we lead are “largely incompetent, corrupt, biased, and a threat to America’s national security and standing in the world.” In fact, it was on March 15 — when she was less than two weeks on the job — that Ms. Lake informed us in writing that she was terminating our grant agreements.

Since she arrived at USAGM, Ms. Lake has not spent a single minute with us or our senior teams. She has not visited our offices or inspected our operations. She has not spent a moment with our editors, journalists, producers, and audience researchers. She has not met with our independent boards of directors. Simply put, Ms. Lake has shown not one iota of interest in our content; nor has she asked us about our plans for reform, restructure, and improvement.

In addition: Without advance notice, USAGM under Ms. Lake’s leadership terminated contracts for the distribution and transmission of satellite and radio feeds, thereby diminishing America’s effectiveness in the information battleground.

For all these reasons, we have been forced to conclude that Ms. Lake’s true objective from the outset has been to close us down.

This would be a cardinal error. For decades, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, you, the U.S. Congress, has funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), and Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN). Our vital work supports American foreign policy goals. Through credible, professional, mission-driven journalism and with newest technologies, we advance U.S. national security objectives.

The organizations we lead are simply not recognizable in the picture Ms. Lake has painted for you. We employ extraordinary people who do extremely valuable work — and who believe strongly in America and the values for which our nation stands. A good number place themselves at great risk for the work they do for us, and for the United States. We have urged Ms. Lake to engage with us on issues of safety and security, to no avail.

As organizations, we strive every day to be excellent stewards of resources. We report to responsible oversight boards comprised of individuals with relevant expertise and experience. We are audited each year by highly professional, independent accounting firms. We are fully committed to oversight and accountability.

When we make mistakes, we own them. We have detailed reform plans we would be eager to share with members of this Committee and with Ms. Lake.

Today’s media environment is crowded and fiercely competitive. American adversaries — from the Communist Party of China, to North Korea, to the Kremlin, to the Mullahs of Iran and their proxies — think strategically and invest seriously in international media and (dis)information policies. They advance anti-American narratives and seek to undermine U.S. credibility at every turn.

In this environment, we cannot allow value to dissipate, for capacities to be gutted, and for talent to be lost. If we retreat, rival powers will fill the void. And in circumstances such as those of recent days, when the U.S. makes monumental decisions affecting the lives of millions abroad, our accurate and honest reporting is absolutely critical.

We remain eager to sit down with Ms. Lake — and with you, Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Committee. We are fully committed to a real and rational reform process that enhances efficiency and impact on behalf of American foreign policy objectives and in service to the American taxpayer.

Time is of the essence for transparent, deliberative, and collaborative conversation about the way forward. We stand ready to work together.

Sincerely,

Stephen Capus, president/CEO, RFE/RL
Bay Fang, president/CEO, RFA
Jeffrey Gedmin, president/CEO, MBN