WASHINGTON − The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, the highly touted nerve center for coordinating U.S. efforts to counter foreign disinformation – especially by Russia and China – shut down this week after becoming a lightning rod for conservative criticism.
The mission of the GEC, as it is commonly known, was to “direct, lead, synchronize, integrate, and coordinate” the U.S. campaign against propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security and stability of the U.S. and its allies.
But the GEC, with a relatively tiny $60 million budget and staff of 120, was first criticized in 2023 by Elon Musk, the multibillionaire advisor to President-elect Donald Trump, as the “worst offender in U.S. government censorship & media manipulation.”
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The GEC was initially included in a stopgap bill to fund the government past a Dec. 20 deadline, but GOP lawmakers deleted it from a last-minute bill ultimately passed by Congress.
A State Department spokesperson said the GEC “will terminate by operation of law [by the end of the day] on December 23, 2024. The Department of State has consulted with Congress regarding next steps,” the AFP news agency reported.
GEC’s origins in countering terrorist propaganda
The GEC evolved from the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, established by the Obama administration in 2011 to counter online extremist recruitment and propaganda. An Obama 2016 executive order created the GEC to broaden its mission to include fighting disinformation by state and non-state actors.
The GEC soon began to focus primarily on using high-tech tools such as social media analytics to identify and counter disinformation campaigns by Moscow and Beijing that were increasingly targeting Washington and its allies. It sought to broaden its impact by working with other U.S. agencies, foreign allies and the private sector.
‘Calling out China’ – and Russia too
A Sept. 28, 2023 report by the GEC called out China for spending billions of dollars annually on foreign manipulation efforts. It detailed how Beijing employed “a variety of deceptive and coercive methods as it attempts to influence the international information environment.”
The report said China extensively pushed propaganda, including through fake media and research papers “falsely blaming the United States for creating COVID-19.”
Those efforts falsely promoted China and the Chinese Communist Party’s “desired narratives on issues such as Taiwan, its human rights practices, the South China Sea, its domestic economy, and international economic engagement.”
More broadly, the GEC report said, China sought to leverage propaganda, censorship and “digital authoritarianism” to encourage foreign governments, journalists and civil society at large to accept its preferred narratives and avoid criticizing its conduct as it sought more influence on the global stage.
The GEC also has published numerous hard-hitting criticisms of Russia.
In 2020, the GEC has detailed how Russia spread conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has called out the Kremlin for trying to sow chaos in U.S. And it has exposed Russian attempts to destabilize U.S. influence in Africa by spreading false claims about U.S. health programs.
In September, it called out Moscow and its state-run media organization RT for using propaganda, disinformation – and sophisticated “cyber capabilities” – to sway the global community on issues like its war against Ukraine.
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That effort by RT involved not only information operations but also covert influence and even military procurement efforts in targeting countries around the world, including in Europe, Africa, and North and South America, the GEC said in a Sept. 13 report.
“When state or non-state actors spread disinformation, material deliberately meant to deceive or divide our public, they attack the very foundations of our free and open society,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in releasing the report. He laid out specific steps the Biden administration was taking “to hold accountable those who weaponize disinformation to undermine our democracy,” including coordinated crackdowns by the State, Justice and Treasury departments.
In January, the GEC spearheaded an agreement to counter state-run disinformation campaigns that’s now backed by at least 21 countries including Spain, Poland, Finland and the West African nation of Côte d’Ivoire – and that could enable them to also create their own versions at home.
Funding for the GEC ran into congressional opposition in 2024 by Republican lawmakers who claimed it was overstepping its authority by trying to silence conservative voices in the U.S. including pro-Trump influencers.
Three ranking House Republicans wrote Blinken in July to accuse the GEC of straying from its statutory duty to counter propaganda and disinformation abroad.
“Your Department refuses to acknowledge that … any value the GEC provides is tempered by genuine concerns that the GEC is at best indifferent to, and at worst complicit in, an orchestrated and systematic effort to stretch the term ‘disinformation’ to encompass viewpoints that, among American progressives, are deemed to be politically disfavored or inconvenient…” the lawmakers wrote.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who co-authored the 2016 legislation that established the center, said such criticisms were unwarranted and politically motivated. He led the effort to save it from GOP shutdown, along with Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn. Former Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman is also a staunch supporter.
“[The GEC] has played an indispensable role in combating Russian and Chinese disinformation,” Murphy said in October. “It would unnecessarily undermine U.S. national security if we eliminated this tool.”
When Trump won a second term on Nov. 5, Republicans also retained control of the House and retook the Senate.
The GEC tweeted its last on Dec. 18, praising the European Union for its “first-time use of designations under its Russia hybrid sanctions framework.”
On Tuesday, the day before Christmas, the site went offline with this message: “This account is no longer in use as of 12/23/2024. For updates on the U.S. Department of State, please follow @StateDept.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: GOP opposition shutters US center to fight China and Russia propaganda
