The Broadcasting Board of Governors has redesigned its strategy over the past two years, boosting efforts to promote Internet freedom and reach Cubans on mobile phones and social networking sites.

The BBG’s Office of Cuba Broadcasting operates Radio and TV Martí. The agency requested a budget of $23.5 million for fiscal 2013.

“The OCB uses anti-censorship tools such as web-based proxies to reach Internet users in Cuba,” the budget request states. “These proxy sites enable unobstructed delivery of e-mails containing news, information, and instructions for circumventing government Internet filters.

“SMS messaging is a promising new solution for communicating with audiences in Cuba, as the medium allows OCB to easily ‘push’ information to most mobile phone users in a manner that is difficult to filter. OCB is also exploring the use of virtual chat rooms tied into SMS messaging efforts.”

The Obama administration began shifting millions of dollars in Internet freedom programs from the State Department to the BBG in 2011.

Former Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) and others had criticized the State Department’s effectiveness because it had been slow to spend $50 million in Internet freedom funds set aside since 2008, and because it seemed worried about “offending China” diplomatic baggage that wouldn’t burden the BBG.

The shift in resources allowed the BBG to expand its Internet Anti-Censorship Division, or IAC, which has a budget of $11.6 million for fiscal 2013. That division promotes Internet freedom in a dozen so-called “censored countries,” including Cuba.

As part of its Cuba effort, the BBG has paid Washington Software Inc. of Germantown, Md., $1,983,366 since 2011. Contract records show payments included:

• $531,576 to expand Internet proxy servers.
• $500,987 to develop a Short Message Service, or SMS, social network.
• $451,796 to prevent Cuban government jamming of its electronic messages.
• $173,074 to send text messages to Cuba via SMS.
• $96,028 to program computers.
• $84,000 to design and operate an SMS system.
• $83,050 to finance an unspecified task order listed under “IT strategy and architecture.”
• $60,275 to send email blasts.
• $2,580 to pay costs related to Internet gateways.

Documents don’t show how many text messages have been sent to Cuba under the program. One record shows that the BBG paid Washington Software $14,474 for 361,873 text messages sent during October 2011.

That was a busy news month: Ladies in White founder Laura Pollán died on Oct. 14, and Hugo Chávez went to Cuba for cancer treatment two days later. But federal records don’t show if 361,873 messages some 11,673 per day was an unusual amount.

In any case, it works out to 4 cents per message. And if that rate were applied to the entire $173,073, it’s conceivable that Washington Software sent 4,326,825 text messages to Cuba in less than a year.

Social media and mobile technology have clearly become some of the BBG’s preferred methods for reaching such target countries as Cuba.

The BBG runs civilian international broadcasting for the U.S. government. The sprawling agency has nearly 3,700 employees, including some 1,500 journalists around the world. That’s more than either the Fox News Channel or MSNBC.

As part of its mission, the BBG says it promotes “U.S. foreign policy priorities” while remaining “fully independent editorially.”

A January 2013 Inspector General’s report applauded BBG staffers, saying they carry out “journalism of the highest caliber” and have “a widespread devotion to supporting democracy and freedom.”