The State Department has devised plans to distribute employees from the Global Engagement Center (GEC), which has funded the censoring of conservatives, to a new internal “hub” that will coordinate the same activities, as revealed by documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.
The Washington Examiner reports that according to exclusive documents obtained by the publication, the State Department has crafted plans to reallocate staffers from the now-shuttered GEC, an office that funded the censoring of conservatives, to a new internal “hub” that will coordinate its activities. The GEC, which was formed in 2016 to counter foreign disinformation, came under intense criticism for backing groups that pressured advertisers to defund conservative media outlets in the United States.
In a non-public letter to members of Congress on December 6, 2024, the State Department outlined its plans to “realign” more than 50 GEC officials and tens of millions of dollars in funding to a hub purporting to counter foreign interference. The newly planned body, identified as a “Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub,” will report to the agency’s Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy.
According to the congressional notification, the State Department intends to realign 51 employees and associated funding from the GEC to the proposed R/FIMI Hub. The remaining GEC employees and funding would be distributed to various bureaus within the State Department. The documents indicate that a total of $69 million in GEC funding will be shuffled around to different offices, with $29.4 million allocated to the R/FIMI office.
Senior GOP staffers who reviewed the plans suggest that the Biden administration may be simply rebranding the GEC under a different name, forming a new body that could potentially engage in work similar to that which landed the office in hot water over the past two years. This development is likely to lead to investigations from Republicans into the State Department’s handling of the GEC’s closure.
A source familiar with the matter stated that the planned hub would not have the same grantmaking power as the GEC. However, the GEC was involved in other initiatives that raised concerns among lawmakers about potential First Amendment violations.
Meanwhile, top GEC staffers have already resurfaced in high-ranking positions within the State Department. James P. Rubin, former special envoy and coordinator of the GEC, is now a senior adviser to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Leah Bray, former acting coordinator of the GEC, is the chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell. Daniel Kimmage, who was principal deputy coordinator for the GEC, is working for the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy’s team.
Margot Cleveland, an attorney for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, expressed concern about the GEC’s continuation under a so-called hub, given the evidence that the office has long ignored its congressional mandate to focus solely on foreign disinformation. The legal nonprofit group is representing conservative media outlets, the Federalist and the Daily Wire, which are suing the GEC for funding the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and NewsGuard, a media blacklisting organization that aims to censor conservatives.
Read more at the Washington Examiner here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
