Securing Democracy Dispatch

Gabbard to dissolve Foreign Malign Influence Center: US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard plans to dissolve the Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC)—an intelligence agency that analyzes and counters foreign influence campaigns targeting Americans—criticizing its alleged role in the assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election and calling its work redundant, amid broader restructuring of her department. 

See what our experts think below:

Managing Director David Salvo: “In dismantling the FMIC, Gabbard has effectively shut down the last US federal-government organ dedicated to tracking and analyzing state-sponsored efforts to interfere in US institutions, elections, and society. That’s a blow to US national security and a gift to US adversaries, who have no interest in slowing down malign influence operations against US national interests. In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, the FMIC meticulously documented state-sponsored threats, particularly from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Iran, and Russia, targeting candidates and the electoral process itself. To its credit, the FMIC did not fixate on one threat actor (say, Russia). Nor did it only fixate on attempts to help then-candidate Donald Trump and undermine his Democratic opponent. In fact, the FMIC went to great lengths to explain how some actors, notably Iran, clearly wanted to undermine Trump’s candidacy.

Not only did the FMIC avoid putting its thumb on the scales of the election results, but it also avoided doing anything that could be misconstrued as censorship of free speech. The FMIC did not recommend censoring specific sources of information, nor did it tell citizens what to read or what to believe. There was no deep-state plot to work with social-media companies to de-platform conservative voices or denigrate the Trump campaign.

In the meantime, the PRC, Iran, Russia, and other nation-state actors will continue to use information and cyber operations, in addition to other hybrid threat vectors, to destabilize the US government, subvert American society, and damage US national security. This is bad for the Trump administration and bad for the United States. It’s a shame the administration doesn’t see it this way.”

Senior Fellow Bret Schafer: “Given the Trump administration’s animus toward efforts to combat foreign malign influence, this decision was inevitable. The justifications given for the closure, however, are clearly in bad faith, with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence accusing the center of alleged transgressions that occurred years before its establishment. Calling the center’s work ‘redundant’ is also bizarre, considering that it was the last remaining part of the US government specifically tasked with fighting foreign influence campaigns.”

It is positive that the meeting between the American and Ukrainian presidents was amicable, but “Trump did little to dispel the notion that the United States would support a comprehensive peace agreement largely on Russia’s terms”, Managing Director David Salvo writes for GMF.

After meeting with Trump, Russian state media and official messaging “laid the informational groundwork to shift blame to Ukraine and Europe if negotiations stall, go in an unfavorable direction, or fall apart”, including by alleging Ukrainian and European involvement in several false-flag scenarios, Open-Source Intelligence Analyst Larissa Doroshenko assesses.

Russian diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• US-Russia Summit in Alaska: Russian officials and state media celebrated “Russia’s victory” and a “lasting peace” after the US-Russia summit in Anchorage, Alaska. Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated the opportunity to “calmly and in detail” present Russia’s position to Trump and stated that he would like to start solving all issues in a “peaceful manner”. RT’s Going Underground echoed this assessment, noting Trump’s agreement with the Kremlin on prioritizing a “peace agreement” rather than a “mere ceasefire”. Russia’s special economic envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, confirmed that “the Americans received the Russian side well” and “many issues had been resolved”. TASS also inaccurately quoted Western media reports and officials to confirm Russia’s success during the summit, including a claim that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described Putin as “a skillful” player, when in fact Tusk referred to him as “a cunning and ruthless” player.
• Security Guarantees for Ukraine: Russian propaganda outlets discussed possible security guarantees for Ukraine following summits in Alaska and Washington, DC. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev declared that Russia would not accept any NATO troops “under the guise of ‘peacekeepers’” in Ukraine. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova elaborated that NATO contingents in Ukraine “could lead to uncontrolled escalation of the conflict”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added that the Kremlin would not agree to questions of collective security that are discussed without Russia present. He also suggested that security guarantees for Ukraine should be provided by the PRC, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, demanded that the West give Russia “the same reliable security guarantees” that it promises Ukraine.

The PRC’s diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• WWII Anniversary: PRC messaging drew attention to the 80th anniversary of the Japanese surrender in World War II. Foreign Minister Wang Yi called out “certain forces in Japan” that “are still trying to whitewash” the country’s history over Japanese officials’ continued visits to a shrine that holds the remains of many war criminals. PRC diplomatic representations in Iraq, Japan, and the United States shared the same artwork translated in local languages and celebrated the “Chinese people’s war of resistance”. The PRC Embassy in the United States insisted that “Taiwan’s return to China is an important component of the victory in World War II”. Pro-PRC commentators sought to educate Westerners about China’s experience in the war, with CGTN America promoting a showing in Los Angeles of the “Dead to Rights” film about the Nanjing Massacre.
• US-Russia Summit in Alaska: Last week, PRC state media provided largely factual coverage of the Trump-Putin meeting, with particular attention to details like the display of US air power, Putin’s amused reaction to US journalists, and Trump’s interest in a potential trip to Moscow for their next meeting. In its daily press conference following the summit, the PRC MFA provided a brief, two-sentence statement of support for the talks. CGTN Europe also covered the meeting’s outcome, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s spin on the summit, the White House’s “warm welcome” for the Ukrainian president, and Trump’s meetings with European leaders. The PRC’s ambassador to Colombia posted a photo implying that Europe had been demoted in its relationship with the United States since the first Trump administration.

Iranian diplomats and state media focused on one main narrative this week:

• Israeli Protests: Iranian state messengers extensively covered international protests in support of Gaza, with a particular focus on last weekend’s widespread demonstrations in Israel against expanding operations in Gaza City. Iranian state media emphasized the scale of discontent among Israeli citizens for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, proclaiming that the “People’s Strike has begun!” and amplifying footage of protesters holding signs calling for his resignation. Press TV suggested that the protests were disrupting society enough to “shake Israel’s political landscape”, Fars News claimed the protests indicate the depth of Israel’s internal turmoil and struggle, and Tasnim News mockingly called the protests “karma” in response to a recent video of Netanyahu encouraging Iranian citizens to protest their regime. Iranian state media also contrasted the nonviolent protests with Israel’s violent response to them, amplifying videos of Israeli forces breaking up a sit-in and a police officer stomping on a protester.

• The Trump administration revoked security clearances of 37 former and current national-security and intelligence officials across various agencies, many of whom worked on foreign threats to US elections or under former presidents.
• Pro-Kremlin websites and accounts on X and Telegram spread an AI-generated image purporting to show European leaders being forced to wait in the White House corridor before their meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy, mocking them for being “powerless” and “snubbed” by Trump, according to NewsGuard.
• A network of pro-Russian and pro-Trump accounts amplified false allegations that the wife of Armenia’s prime minister embezzled $3.2 million from a children’s cancer fund, which were originally published on a fabricated news website called “EU Leaks”. 
• The White House launched an official TikTok account despite uncertainty about whether the social-media platform will be sold or face a ban in the United States.

Agonizing about Alaska. Managing Director David Salvo quoted in POLITICO’s National Security Daily Newsletter

Trump will meet face-to-face with Putin in Alaska for high-stakes summit. Managing Director David Salvo interviewed on AP News

Takeaways: Donald Trump fails to reach peace deal with Vladimir Putin. Managing Director David Salvo quoted in USA Today

Money casts shadow over Alaska… – World in 10. Managing Director David Salvo interviewed on The Times’ World in 10 Podcast

PolitiFact | Claudia Sheinbaum no dijo que la muerte de Miguel Uribe ‘es bueno para Colombia’, se manipuló su voz (Claudia Sheinbaum did not say that the death of Miguel Uribe ‘is good for Colombia’, her voice was manipulated). Research Analyst Krystyna Sikora quoted in Politifact (in Spanish)

The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone.