How CIA's `QRHELPFUL' Covert Action Program Helped Polish `Solidarity' Group In 1980s: Part 5

During the 1980s a group in Poland that Lech Walesa led, called "Solidarity," was apparently secretly supported by the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] of the Republican Reagan administration. As the Chair and Director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies [CSIS]'s Transnational Threats Project, Seth G. Jones, recalled in his 2018 book, A Covert Action: Reagan, The CIA, and The Cold War Struggle in Poland:

"...The 4-page weekly Tydognzk Mazoustoe...received...covert assistance from the CIA...Solidarity's...transmitters filled the airwaves with messages...On April 12, 1982...citizens in Warsaw heard the inaugural broadcast of Radio Solidarity...Supported by covert CIA funds, Radio Solidarity went on the air from multiple, roving locations...Two CIA-supported publications, Kultura and Aneks, opened their pages...

"...The CIA entrusted...a few Catholic officials to bring money into Poland as part of QRHELPFUL...By late 1984, QRHELPFUL's infrastructure was operating at full capacity. Within the International Activities Division at CIA headquarters, Dick Malzahn remained head...He would eventually be replaced by Boyd Bishop...The CIA ramped up its media campaign to aid Solidarity. The CIA's International Activities Division boasted a worldwide covert action infrastructure of media assets and outlets to distribute a pro-Solidarity message. Malzahn's group aimed to organize political demonstrations inside--and outside--Poland..."  (end of Part 5)