The Trump administration has effectively completed the destruction of the United States' anti-disinformation system, built in the 2010s to counter russian and Chinese influence operations.
According to Defense One, this process began almost immediately after the 47th U.S. President took office, driven by claims that the measures against disinformation, implemented by previous governments, had "silenced and censored the voices of Americans," as called out by the ecretary of State Marco Rubio.
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In February 2025, the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force was disbanded, ts employees were suspended, and a similar unit within the Department of Homeland Security ceased operations. The R/Fimi Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub has now been dismantled, too.
Particularly, R/Fimi was established in December 2024 after the reorganization of the Global Engagement Center (GEC), originally created in 2016 to counter ISIS recruitment. However, following russia's interference in the 2016 elections, the GEC was also authorized to address foreign influence in this area. This is what led Trump to call the GEC the main censor of the United States.
The U.S. Department of Defense also disbanded units responsible for gathering information on the civilian populations of foreign countries, which had been part of the so-called U.S. "influence campaigns." At the same time, funding for civilian institutions that defended U.S. interests through countering disinformation and manipulation was cut off.
The White House is well aware of the true state of affairs regarding russia's influence on American society through information warfare. Before his current appointment as the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio in 2019 served as the chairman of the committee that released the Senate report on russian interference in the 2016 election.
Moreover, in December 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice charged two employees of russia Today, a state-controlled international news network, with paying several right-wing politicians $10 million to promote pro-russian narratives.
"Members of the Trump administration, including President Trump himself, have repeated them as well. That has blurred the line between foreign information warfare and legitimate political speech, which, of course, is exactly what such campaigns are designed to do," the publication writes. It also noted that surveys show nearly one-third of Americans now believe at least one falsehood promoted by russian propaganda to be true.
Earlier, Defense Express pointed out that key sponsors of Donald Trump's election campaign are among the top contenders for the multi-billion-dollar Golden Dome project.
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