Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently announced that the functions of the intelligence community’s Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC) would be reduced and absorbed into other parts of the U.S. intelligence community. In doing so, Gabbard has dismantled the last remaining U.S. federal government organ dedicated to tracking and analyzing State-sponsored efforts to interfere in U.S. institutions, elections, and society. After the Trump administration shut down related units at the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and Department of Justice earlier this year, Gabbard’s announcement is a particular blow to U.S. national security and a gift to America’s adversaries, who have no interest in slowing down malign influence operations that harm U.S. national interests.
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