TRANSCRIPT:
Voice of America is critical in getting out the U.S. story in an unfiltered way, in a way that is credibly received by populations around the world who oftentimes don’t have alternative sources of information. Right now, we have countries around the world that are awash in propaganda, propaganda from countries that are hostile to the United States — whether you’re talking about Russia, China or Iran. And Voice of America has been the antidote to that propaganda.
If we dismantle Voice of America, we are essentially ceding the playing field to countries that are hostile to the United States. We’re essentially taking a microphone that the United States has been holding for many, many years through Voice of America, getting our story out there, and we’re handing off that microphone to Vladimir Putin and to Xi Jinping. I don’t think Americans want that. I want them to be able to tell our story for us.
I, you know, did all of these meetings with foreign officials, foreign militaries, in the former Soviet Union, in the Balkans, and I didn’t really have the ability or the time to talk directly to the population. But that’s where VOA came into the mix. And I would be able to explain what we were doing, even in the midst of propaganda from, particularly, Russia that was being beamed into that country, that was telling lies about what U.S. policy and U.S. intent was.
And, you know, I realized time and again the reach, because, you know, I’d be sitting down to a meeting with a foreign official and they would tell me, “Oh, yeah, I was having dinner with my family last night, and you were on TV. You were on VOA.” And I realized, oh, this really is something that, you know, reaches into the homes of these countries. So for me, that was a huge asset. And I would think that U.S. officials today would really welcome having that resource.
Published
Cooper served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia from 2017–2025 during the Trump and Biden administrations. She held a number of other senior roles at the Department of Defense during her more than 25 years of federal service.