The actions come as #Trump & his top aides seek to bend #academic institutions to their #ideological beliefs. The #State Dept’s public *diplomacy* office is run by #DarrenBeattie, a political appointee who was fired from a job during the first Trump admin after he gave a talk at a #WhiteNationalist conference. He has made social media posts on white grievances, including one saying “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.”…

#law #Fulbright #authoritarianism

…#State Dept staffers say they fear a selective disclosure of documents…could be distorted to fit any…narrative #DarrenBeattie, #Rubio, or others create.

Weaponizing any speech…by deeming it #disinformation is not only ironic, says Jankowicz—it will also have “chilling effects” on anyone who conducts disinformation #research, & it will result in “less #oversight & #transparency over #tech #platforms, …adversarial activities, [&]…people who are legitimately trying to disenfranchise US voters.”

This is what #DarrenBeattie — & #MikeBenz —have long called for. Many of the names & keywords he included in his request reflect #ConspiracyTheories & #grievances promoted by Revolver News—which Beattie founded after being fired from his job as a speechwriter during the first #Trump admin when CNN reported that he had spoken at a conference with #WhiteNationalists.

#disinformation #law #privacy #InfoSec #RevengePolitics #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreePress #democracy
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/19/politics/darren-beattie-mencken-club/index.html

An hour after staff were informed, Secy of #State #MarcoRubio published a blog announcing the news on the #Federalist, one of the outlets that sued #GEC over allegations of *censorship*. He then discussed in an interview w/ #RightWing Internet personality #MikeBenz plans for #DarrenBeattie to lead a “transparency effort.”

“What we have to do now—& Darren will be big involved in that…is…document what happened…because…people who were harmed deserve to know…,& be able to prove…they were harmed.”

🚨🚨 Several people familiar with the matter say that by early April, #DarrenBeattie had received many of the documents he’d requested, retrieved through eRecords, as well as a list of grantees. One source says the more sensitive list of subgrantees was not shared.

…5 weeks after Beattie made his requests for #information, the #State Dept shut down R/FIMI.

#ConspiracyTheories #disinformation #law #Trump #privacy #InfoSec #RevengePolitics #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreePress #democracy