FOREIGN RADIO REACTIONS TO THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT ABOUT AN ATOMIC EXPLOSION IN THE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500730126-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 8, 2003
• Sequence Number: 126
• Publication Date: November 11, 1998
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL !NTELLI,GENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
Approved For Release 2008/03/03: CIA-RDP80-00809A000500730126-8
COUNTRY reign Go=triole
SUBJECT ?=131 RADIO REAL IOwns3 Apart tr news reports (xdticih haws been widely distributed),
the" bae bs.n nothing like an all-out propaganda capitalization of the ew,erat.L.-
E'Mm after the first full-length coaimmentary on it apr.liarad9 the bulk of the
cc mment has connsisted of 8iag1e erentenaee or p graphs embedd.Q in other
contexts.
01R2mne.a of tone: The tone of the original TASS statement hag been maintain,ai.
There are rather frequent references, for emlple, to the idea that the UM
hoe had the bomb (or the !'secret"--it is not clear which) since 1947.'
TAMM ABOUT ATWC EXPLOSION PC THE
CLASSIFICATION
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:edoe: The moat noticeable change in Moscow's radio propaganda during
the week after the announcement was not a capitaljzation of the new atomic
situation but an enormous increase in the already, considerable emphasis on peace;
and when the bomb has been mentioned it has noar1 always been in this context.
The terrifying implications of the subject have been in effect minimized by
wrapping it in many layers of, "peace" propaganda.; The impression is given that
the Soviet Union in by no means "brandishing" the bomb (which it has accused
others of doing), but considers it only as a way of neutralizing the "blackmail"
of the West, and thereby ensuring peace.
Fe threats of retaliation: Ehrenburg'a statement that "from Moscow to Philadelphia
it in as far as from Philadelphia to Moscow" has been quoted in the American prey
It is therefore relevant to note: (a) that EhrenbLrg's implied threat of bombing
American cities is paralleled in other monitored Poviet material only by'ow
abort and relatively colorless statement by a Soviet scientist; and (b) that
Ehrenburg is the least typical of the writers quoted by the Soviet radio; several
times- in the past he has departed in a similar way from the more cautious lines
which characterize Soviet propaganda as a whole. on the whole, the Soviet radio
Soes,wpt engage in "Boaremongering."
"Han the bomb": Together with the "blackmail" theme, the most frequent Dingle
theme has beon that the Soviet Union stands by it's policy of advocating unconditiaial
prohibition of atomic weapon, with "strict" enforcement of this ban.
is
No c fitment on inspection. international ownerahii,. the veto, etc.: The practical
problems of "strict" control'i however, are almost wholly avoided. For example,
there has been no monitored Soviet mention of the controversies centering around
the meaning of "adequate" inspection, international ownership of atomic energy
facilities, the veto, etc.
,Act ataeae_ on the destructiveness of a e bomb: There has not been any-..7~ .,,r
discussion of the military effectiveness of atomic as compar0il:J%LjA6A1&%er
weapons. (The general Soviet position on this has been that the effeotivenass
of the bomb is greatly overrated.)
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