State kickstarts slim effort to counter Russian election meddling
The State Department began work this week on a $40 million dollar initiative to counter Russian election interference and disinformation. Congress ordered State to pursue the initiative last year, but it is unclear when the program, in full, will actually kick in.
An initial $1 million will back an Information Access Fund, which falls under the State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC). The Internet Access Fund will solicit ideas from private companies and individuals on how to combat Russian disinformation. State is specifically looking for proposals that use new technologies, and the Information Access Fund will eventually receive up to $5 million.
The initial funding, however, comes from the State Department's own budget. They are still waiting on the total $40 million in funding to come over from the Department of Defense. The hope is that the first $15 million bucket of money will get to State from Defense in early April.
Despite constricting budget realities, the State Department has been criticized for the program's slow start. There are also voices critical of the Trump administration for not having a cohesive, unified approach to take on Russia's malicious cyber activity.
"What you have got here are very small efforts -- one in the Global Engagement Center, one in the State Department European bureau, one in USAID. None of them talk to one another and are completely under-sourced," says Brett Bruen, a former U.S. diplomat who was the Director of Global Engagement under former President Obama. "It does not look like there is any strategy behind it and this is our first line of defense against Russia. It's pathetic."
The State Department argues that they have been using the GEC to counter disinformation coming many different places -- including ISIS and other terrorist networks -- for years. They say GEC can now be used to shine a laser focus on combatting Russia's malicious activity.
"This is not the fourth quarter of the game, this is the first quarter of the game. Our goal is to stay one step ahead of the people who are trying to put this disinformation out," said Under Secretary Steve Goldstein. "This is a long process. There is a lot of whack-a-mole involved."
The State Department has not provided a timeline for when the projects will actually get underway. As they the review applications into the Information Access Fund, they will do so aware that the proposals themselves may be an effort to spread misinformation. But they welcome anyone to apply.
"If Russians citizens would like to come up with programs to fight disinformation from the Russia government we would like to consider that," said Goldstein.
