Richard Kauzlarich

TRANSCRIPT:

We’ve gone through a period where, you know, the idea of having access to information is almost taken as a right, as something that, you know, we don’t even think about. And we we don’t understand as Americans how important in other countries something like the Voice of America is for telling America’s story.

The commercial media are good at what they do. But their job is basically to sell advertising, or if they’re on social media, to get clicks. Voice of America has a different purpose and a different role for Americans, in that it is that vehicle for telling telling America’s story in an independent way, in an environment still where countries like Armenia and Azerbaijan do not have the same free access to information that we have become accustomed to in the United States.

It is an element of American diplomacy. Call it soft power. It allows us to have access to people that we wouldn’t otherwise have access to. Because VOA operates in the local languages and the countries that are important for the United States. And that I think is a critical need right now to be able to speak to people in their language.

Published June 9, 2025

Kauzlarich is the co-director of the Center for Energy Science and Policy at George Mason University. During his government career, Kauzlarich was national intelligence officer for Europe on the National Intelligence Council from 2003–2011. Previously, he spent 32 years in the Foreign Service, including serving as ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1997–1999 and Azerbaijan from 1994–1997.