The Center for Global Engagement, a multi-agency body within the U.S. State Department that was suspected of collaborating with domestic and international organizations to silence conservative voices, died last week. House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) was unable to include the center's one-year extension in the continuing resolution that was ultimately passed on Dec. 20.
But it appears that the censorship practices carried out by the agency created by Barack Obama in 2011 may ultimately continue in another form and under a new name.
recent documents
obtained The document, conducted by the Washington Examiner and reviewed by Republican leaders, in turn “restructured” more than 50 GEC officials and transferred tens of millions of dollars to virtually the same controversial He reportedly revealed the State Department's intention to divert the money to another agency that is in the midst of a crisis. Foreign information operations and interference hub.
This is not the first time for the agency.
be considered Elon Musk calls the U.S. government the worst offender in censorship and media manipulation following the Twitter files incident. Found A 2022 State Department Office of Inspector General report found internal dysfunction, and Sens. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.), Jack Reed (D.R.I.), and Roger Wicker. Sen. John (R-Mississippi) is a passionate advocate. Cornyn (R-Texas) — Name changed. When first established by President Obama in 2011 presidential orderthis agency was called the Strategic Counterterrorism Communications Center.
Weeks before the GEC's closure, the State Department stated in a private letter to members of Congress dated December 6, 2024, “If the GEC's authority is not extended, the Department plans to restructure 51 employees and related funding. “There is,” he reportedly said. from the GEC to the proposed Foreign Information Operations and Counter-Interference (R/FIMI) hub reporting directly to the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy (R). ”
Associated funds raised for the hub reportedly total $29.4 million.
The remaining GEC staff and funding will be assigned to the Bureau of Africa, the Bureau of East Asia and the Pacific, the Bureau of Europe and Eurasia, and other State Department bureaus, according to documents obtained by the Examiner.
“The State Department will reorganize $18.2 million in Democratic Progressive Party public diplomacy funding (of which $15 million is bureau-administered and $3.2 million is U.S. payroll) into eight bureaus and one office, with direct U.S. employment or third-party employment. “GEC as part of the restructuring,'' the document states.
A senior Republican aide told the Examiner that “Donald Trump and Marco Rubio need to go after every office, down to every employee, if they want to end the weaponization of the federal government against conservatives.'' There will be,” he said.
“There are a lot of resistant Democrats at the State Department who think they got through the first Trump administration and will get through the second one the same way,” the aide added.
While GEC may survive in spirit, people familiar with the matter told Examiner Gabe Kaminski that the proposed site would lack the grant-making authority the agency previously enjoyed. He said it would disappear.
after that was
codified into law The 2017 National Defense Authorization Act provides the GEC with grant-making authority and the ability to “build a decentralized network of private sector actors to enable the integration of capabilities and expertise available outside the U.S. government into the strategy-making process.” It had both. . ”
“GEC — a government agency that is the antithesis of a free press.”
in a lawsuit
submitted In December 2023, The Texas, Daily Wire, and Federalist newspapers filed suit against the plaintiffs, hoping to stop “one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press in the nation's history.” claimed that the GEC supported at least two rounds of American censorship. Company: Disinformation Index Inc., the American arm of a British think tank. Global disinformation indexand NewsGuard Technology.
Blaze News has previously reported that both organizations have created a blacklist of risky or misleading news outlets, with the aim of demonetizing news organizations and targeting those that regurgitate approved reporting. It was reported that the funds were being transferred.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post, Huffington Post, and other liberal news pages. GDI Fall 2022 ReportBlaze News, Reason, The Federalist, Daily Wire, New York Post and other conservative publications make the top 10 list of “Most Dangerous Sites,'' vilified as “highest risk of disinformation.'' It was done.
examiner
revealed Last year, it was revealed that GDI had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants from GEC in 2021 and 2022.
“It's an incubator for the domestic disinformation complex,” a former source previously said.
said Investigative reporter Matt Taibbi. “Some idiots decided to bring back all the shit we've brought to other countries since the Cold War.”
In addition to the apparent continuation of the GEC in the form of the proposed hub, senior GEC officials have moved under the umbrella of senior State Department officials. for example,
james rubina former special envoy and coordinator for the GEC, is currently a senior advisor to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Leah Bray, a former acting coordinator for the agency, is currently chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. It is reported that.
The State Department did not provide comment to the Examiner on the Congressional notice. However, a State Department spokesperson said,
It became clear Blinken told Politico in October that he was committed to “preserving the important work of the GEC.”
“No matter what, combating foreign intelligence operations overseas will continue to be an important part of the department's mission,” the spokesperson said.
“Congress refuses to continue funding the GEC, a government agency that is antithetical to a free press,” said Margot Cleveland, a lawyer with the New Civil Liberties Union, which was involved in the Texas lawsuit against the State Department and the GEC. That's reassuring,” he said.
said in a statement Thursday. “However, NCLA notes that the State Department has 'realigned' GEC personnel and funding to other areas of the Department, and to this day has refused for nearly a month to even provide a copy of the reorganization notice that the agency shared with Congress. I continue to be concerned. before. ”
While the case is on hold until February 18, NCLA said it “continues to investigate and obtain evidence aimed at exposing the true depths of the government's egregious censorship system.”
GEC also named in new civil lawsuit
submitted Monday by the Functional Government Initiative. According to the complaint obtained By Reclaim the Net, GEC “failed to respond to records requests that could have increased transparency and granted permission.”[ed] Citizens can learn whether and how State Department officials were cooperating [with] Or we might discuss EU censorship. ”
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