by Alex Newman
Under the guise of countering foreign “propaganda,” the GOP-controlled Congress quietly passed a bill last week that will unleash even more government propaganda on humanity, while at the same time establishing what critics blasted as an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth.” The “bipartisan” but flatly unconstitutional scheme, dubbed the Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act, also calls for providing tax funding and training to “journalists,” media outfits, and other propagandists willing to parrot the U.S. government’s viewpoints. According to its sponsors, the goal is to help promote Washington, D.C.’s “foreign policy goals.” The potential for abuse, though, is nearly endless, and the bipartisan establishment’s “foreign policy goals” are often at odds with the Constitution — not to mention common decency, human liberty, and peace. And so, critics are speaking out forcefully.
The deeply controversial legislation, approved by the U.S. Senate on December 8, was not voted on as a stand-alone bill, but was instead buried deep inside the 1,576-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2017. Because the NDAA funds the military and is considered “must pass” by lawmakers with little regard for the oath they took to the Constitution, Big Government-loving politicians often sneak outlandish schemes into the NDAA that otherwise would almost certainly be rejected. In recent years, for example, they snuck a purported authorization for the military to indefinitely detain American citizens without charge or trial. That same ploy to sneak through totalitarian schemes appears to have occurred with the latest NDAA, with the Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act stuck into the conference report and approved by huge margins, likely without even the knowledge of most lawmakers.
Under the radical measure, the U.S. government will unleash a powerful new federal bureaucracy on Americans and the world dubbed the “Global Engagement Center.” Overseen by the U.S. secretary of state — likely the pro-Russia Exxon-Mobil boss Rex Tillerson, ironically enough — the unconstitutional outfit will bring together bureaucrats from the State Department, the Pentagon, various “intelligence” bureaucracies, the lawless foreign-aid bureaucracy known as USAID, foreign governments, and more. In addition to establishing what one critic described as a “propaganda factory” to pump out U.S. government-backed propaganda, the bill also authorizes spying on journalists, funding “media” outlets willing to serve as U.S. government propaganda organs, and much more.
According to the legislation, the new Global Engagement Center should “develop, plan, and synchronize … whole-of-government initiatives to expose and counter foreign propaganda and disinformation directed against United States national security interests and proactively advance fact-based narratives that support United States allies and interests.” It should also work “to establish cooperative or liaison relationships with foreign partners and allies … and other entities, such as academia, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector.” So even universities, schools, businesses, and non-profit organizations will be harnessed and exploited to promote U.S. government propaganda.
Perhaps even more troubling is that the scheme aims to corrupt and co-opt existing media outlets and journalists, making all journalism suspect as Americans struggle to find out who is shilling for an increasingly radicalized Uncle Sam and who is not. The bill “establishes a fund to help train local journalists and provide grants and contracts to NGOs, civil society organizations, think tanks, private sector companies, media organizations, and other experts outside the U.S. government with experience in identifying and analyzing the latest trends in foreign government disinformation techniques.” Under the bill, then, the U.S. government will officially get into the business of buying and training propagandists to promote its agenda.
While the scheme was passed quietly, and was barely mentioned by the establishment’s propaganda organs aiming to quash their competition in the alternative press, the two senators behind it were cheering about their success in a press release. “The passage of this bill in the Senate today takes us one critical step closer to effectively confronting the extensive, and destabilizing, foreign propaganda and disinformation operations being waged against us,” claimed Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on the same day that failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton promoted his bill as a way for the U.S. government to respond to “fake news” and alleged propaganda.
“While the propaganda and disinformation threat has grown, the U.S. government has been asleep at the wheel,” continued Portman. “Today we are finally signaling that enough is enough; the United States will no longer sit on the sidelines. We are going to confront this threat head-on. With the help of this bipartisan bill, the disinformation and propaganda used against our allies and our interests will fail.”
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), dubbed Portman’s “partner in crime” by critics, made similarly bombastic claims in a statement. “Congress has taken a big step in fighting back against fake news and propaganda from countries like Russia,” he claimed. “When the president signs this bill into law, the United States will finally have a dedicated set of tools and resources to confront our adversaries’ widespread efforts to spread false narratives that undermine democratic institutions and compromise America’s foreign policy goals. I’m proud of what Senator Portman and I accomplished here because it’s long past time for the U.S. to get off the sidelines and confront these growing threats.”
Unsurprisingly, neither of the two chief senators behind the propaganda scheme are known for their fidelity to the U.S. Constitution they swore an oath to uphold. Senator Portman has a measly 51 percent on The New American magazine’s Freedom Index, which ranks lawmakers according to the constitutionality of their voting records. Senator Murphy, meanwhile, has a 13 percent, meaning he voted against the Constitution on almost nine out of ten bills examined for the index. In the House, the lawmakers behind the scheme, dubbed H.R. 5181 in its original form, were Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who has a 55 percent, and Congressman Ted Lieu, a California Democrat who has voted constitutionally less than a third of the time.
Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American, covering economics, education, politics, and more. He can be reached at anewman@thenewamerican.com. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU.