The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has reportedly rescinded its March 15 letters terminating its grants for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Open Technology Fund (OTF). The reversals come amid mounting legal challenges from USAGM’s grantees and recent court decisions in their favor.
On March 14, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” ordering the USAGM, among other small independent agencies, to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
USAGM oversees all U.S. government-supported international broadcasting and took immediate steps to dismantle the organization it funds. Kari Lake, recently appointed a special adviser to USAGM, sent letters on March 15 to RFE/RL and OTF, among others, terminating their federal grant agreements.
A statement on the USAGM website signaled Lake’s intent to harshly enforce Trump’s order. “This agency is not salvageable,” it said.
RFE/RL is a private nonprofit that broadcasts news in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. It characterizes its mission as providing “uncensored, trusted news to audiences in 23 countries where a free press is under threat.”
OTF is a nonprofit that supports global internet freedom. It grew out of a program started by Radio Free Asia and provides tools for people living in repressive states, particularly China, to circumvent internet restrictions.
RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said in a March 15 statement that “[t]he cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies. The Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years. Handing our adversaries a win would make them stronger and America weaker.”
RFE/RL’s Board Chair Lisa Curtis provided The Diplomat an information sheet expanding on a statement she made on LinkedIn laying out the organization’s argument that the grant termination was “illegal.” RFE/RL’s case centered on the notion that Lake, and USAGM, did not have the legal authority to terminate the grants, which were funds appropriated by the U.S. Congress.
On March 18, RFE/RL sued USAGM, as well as Lake and Victor Morales, USAGM’s acting CEO, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. On March 25, Judge Royce Lamberth granted RFE/RL’s request for a temporary restraining order blocking USAGM from terminating their grant funding.
On March 20, OTF filed a similar suit; Radio Free Asia (RFA) filed a suit against USAGM on March 27.
Shortly before the RFE/RL hearing, USAGM notified the court that it would disburse $7.5 million, which RFE/RL said was “equivalent to two weeks of operations,” in what seemed to be an effort to delay the hearing or woo the judge. The hearing went ahead, and the judge sided with RFE/RL, stating that USAGM did not adequately justify its decision to terminate RFE/RL’s grant and that forcing the organization to effectively halt its work while it challenges the decision in court would cause “irreparable harm.”
Lamberth also noted that “in keeping with Congress’s longstanding determination… the continued operation of RFE/RL is in the public interest.”
In a March 25 statement, RFE/RL noted, “The next step will be a decision on RFE/RL’s request for a preliminary injunction requiring USAGM to provide the approximately $77 million that Congress appropriated for RFE/RL’s activities for the rest of the fiscal year. The Court is expected to rule on that in the coming weeks.”
And then USAGM backed off.
In press releases on March 27, RFE/RL and OTF announced that they had been informed by USAGM that the agency was rescinding its prior terminations of grant funding.
RFE/RL President and CEO Capus said:
This is an encouraging sign that RFE/RL’s operations will be able to continue, as Congress intended. We await official confirmation from USAGM that grant funding will promptly resume based on the intention expressed in last night’s letter. We are eager to speak directly with USAGM leadership about the extraordinary and cost-effective work that RFE/RL performs for the American people.
This is not the time for RFE/RL to go silent. Millions of people rely on us for factual information in places where censorship is widespread. We must not cede ground to our adversaries at a time when threats to America are on the rise.
OTF President Laura Cunningham said in a statement that “OTF’s Congressionally authorized mission to counter authoritarian censorship and repressive surveillance has never been more important, which USAGM’s reversal affirms. We look forward to getting back to the critical work of ensuring that billions of people around the world, including in China and Iran, can access the internet free from censorship.”
The rescinding of the termination letters to RFE/RL and OTF is welcome news, but it may be a temporary reprieve. As Capus noted, they’re waiting on confirmation that this means funding will flow again. It’s also unclear if RFA’s termination letter has been similarly rescinded, and Voice of America (VOA) exists in a slightly different statutory category from RFE/RL and RFA. At least two lawsuits have been filed by VOA staff targeting USAGM and Lake.
The Trump administration may look to Congress, presently controlled by the president’s party and demonstrably unwilling to challenge Trump’s agenda, to cut funding when next an appropriation bill crosses the Capitol floor.
