Dear visitor,

Welcome to the Internet home of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

It is an honor to lead this storied organization. Its contribution during the Cold War to the struggle against communist tyranny in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union is well known. Less well known, perhaps, is the role it continues to play today -- in Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.

Our mission today is the same as it has always been - to promote democratic values and institutions by providing our audiences accurate and objective news and information that is denied to them by repressive governments. Nowadays, our lively discussions and debates have expanded beyond radio to include television and the Internet.

This is "soft power" at its very best. This kind of work is urgently needed in countries where decent, accountable government is weak or absent altogether, and where authoritarian forces refuse to permit free and independent media.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty works to promote universal values -- in the best American tradition.

Jeffrey Gedmin