Communist Area Analysis Department

Subfonds

The subfonds contains four series of subject files arranged according to the same filing system of the Communist Area Analysis Department. The files consist of press clippings, analysis and reports, broadcast media and confidential reports, brochures and other sources on Berlin, China, Soviet Union and Vietnam from the early 1950’s until the late 1970’s. The records deal with themes concerning 'World Politics’, including Political Affairs and Activities, External Relations, Intelligence, Security, Hostilities, Civil Defense and Military Policy, Army, Navy, Air Force, and Weapons and Scientific Warfare, Science and Social and Cultural Forces. Of particular importance are documents concerning political, economic, social, and cultural life in West Berlin between the years 1951 and 1979, the growth of Soviet military power and its penetration into the areas of the 'Third World’, documentation of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 with all its consequences.

Not Expected

Not Restricted

Third party rights are to be cleared.

Trudy Peterson, former executive director of the OSA knew from discussions with Bill Robinson, who had worked for the Radios for many years, that in the late 1950s and early 1960s there had been a group of staff members who studied as a whole the countries to which RFE broadcast (this later was called Target Area Research and Analysis or TARA 1963 - 1980), a group who studied other countries of importance to the target area countries, such as the Soviet Union (known as the non-target area countries or Non-TARA, and later as Communist Area Analysis; materials from 1950-1980), and a small group who studied (German Affairs) East Germany; materials from 1953 - 1973. At first Trudy Peterson thought that it was likely that most of these records largely preceded the Research Institute. At first it looked like the analysis of the Soviet Union by RFE had ceased at the time of the merger of RFE and RL in 1976, because the management of the combined Radios thought RFE could use the analysis from RL. If, at the time of the merger, the records relating to the Soviet Union had already been in the warehouse and had never again been retrieved, then their last current use would clearly have been in the RFE time period. That would mean we could safely identify them as RFE’s records from the Communist Area Analysis Department.