2025 Articles

The Downfall of the Global Engagement Center and Disappearing Guardrails Against Disinformation

Scherling, Laura S.

The closure of R/FIMI has taken place at the same time that other US security guardrails are being dismantled. The Trump administration fired the director and deputy director of the National Security Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) staff responsible for countering foreign influence operations were placed on administrative leave in February. On April 18, the National Science Foundation terminated support for “research with the goal of combating ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation’” on the grounds of potential infringement of constitutionally protected speech rights. Among the groups losing funding from USAID’s closure were pro-democracy internet freedom and digital rights groups around the world, with as much as $250 million in annual allocations for "Independent Media and Free Flow of Information" foreign assistance at risk. Additional US State Department plans include “sweeping changes” to eliminate 132 offices and 700 positions, announced on April 22,2025.