Senior State Department official sought internal communications with journalists, European officials, and Trump critics

A antecedently unreported papers distributed by elder US State Department authoritative Darren Beattie reveals a sweeping effort to uncover each communications betwixt the unit of a tiny authorities bureau focused connected online disinformation and a lengthy database of nationalist and backstage figures—many of whom are longtime targets of the governmental right. 

The document, primitively shared successful idiosyncratic with astir a twelve State Department employees successful aboriginal March, requested unit emails and different records with oregon astir a big of individuals and organizations that way oregon constitute astir overseas disinformation—including Atlantic journalist Anne Applebaum, erstwhile US cybersecurity authoritative Christopher Krebs, and the Stanford Internet Observatory—or person criticized President Donald Trump and his allies, specified arsenic the blimpish anti-Trump commentator Bill Kristol. 

The papers besides seeks each unit communications that simply reference Trump oregon radical successful his orbit, similar Alex Jones, Glenn Greenwald, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In addition, it directs a hunt of communications for a agelong database of keywords, including “Pepe the Frog,” “incel,” “q-anon,” “Black Lives Matter,” “great replacement theory,” “far-right,” and “infodemic.”

For respective radical who received oregon saw the document, the wide requests for unredacted accusation felt similar a “witch hunt,” 1 authoritative says—one that could enactment the privateness and information of galore individuals and organizations astatine risk. 

Beattie, whom Trump appointed successful February to beryllium the acting undersecretary for nationalist diplomacy, told State Department officials that his extremity successful seeking these records was a “Twitter files”-like merchandise of interior State Department documents “to rebuild spot with the American public,” according to a State Department worker who heard the remarks. (Beattie was referring to the interior Twitter documents that were released aft Elon Musk bought the platform, successful an effort to beryllium that the institution had antecedently silenced conservatives. While the effort provided much item connected the challenges and mistakes Twitter had already admitted to, it failed to nutrient a smoking gun.)

“What would beryllium the guiltless crushed for doing that?” Bill Kristol

The document, dated March 11, 2025, focuses specifically connected records and communications from the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) Hub, a tiny bureau successful the State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy that tracked and countered overseas disinformation campaigns; it was created aft the Global Engagement Center (GEC), which had the aforesaid mission, unopen down astatine the extremity of 2024. MIT Technology Review broke the quality earlier this period that R/FIMI would beryllium shuttered. 

Some R/FIMI unit were astatine the gathering wherever the papers was initially shared, arsenic were State Department lawyers and unit from the department’s Bureau of Administration, who are liable for conducting searches to fulfill nationalist records requests. 

Also included among the astir 60 individuals and organizations caught up successful Beattie’s accusation dragnet are Bill Gates; the open-source journalism outlet Bellingcat; erstwhile FBI peculiar cause Clint Watts; Nancy Faeser, the German interior minister; Daniel Fried, a vocation State Department authoritative and erstwhile US ambassador to Poland; Renée DiResta, an adept successful online disinformation who led probe astatine Stanford Internet Observatory; and Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation researcher who concisely led the Disinformation Governance Board astatine the US Department of Homeland Security.

Have much accusation connected this communicative oregon a extremity for thing other that we should report? Using a non-work device, scope the newsman connected Signal astatine eileenguo.15 oregon [email protected].

When told of their inclusion successful the records request, aggregate radical expressed alarm that specified a database exists astatine each successful an American institution. “When I was successful authorities I’d ne'er done thing similar that,” Kristol, a erstwhile main of unit to Vice President Dan Quayle, says. “What would beryllium the guiltless crushed for doing that?”

Fried echoes this sentiment. “I spent 40 years successful the State Department, and you didn’t cod names oregon request email records,” says Fried. “I’ve ne'er heard of specified a thing”—at slightest not successful the American context, helium clarifies. It did punctual him of Eastern European “Communist Party minder[s] watching implicit the untrusted bureaucracy.” 

He adds: “It besides approaches the compilation of an enemies list.” 

Targeting the “censorship concern complex”

Both GEC and R/FIMI, its pared-down successor office, focused connected tracking and countering overseas disinformation efforts from Russia, China, and Iran, among others, but GEC was often accused—and was adjacent sued—by blimpish critics who claimed that it enabled censorship of blimpish Americans’ views. A justice threw retired 1 of those claims against GEC successful 2022 (while uncovering that different parts of the Biden medication did exert undue unit connected tech platforms). 

Beattie has besides personally promoted these views. Before joining the State Department, helium started Revolver News, a website that espouses far-right talking points that often summation traction successful definite blimpish circles. Among the ideas promoted successful Revolver News is that GEC was portion of a “censorship concern complex” aimed astatine suppressing American blimpish voices, adjacent though GEC’s ngo was overseas disinformation. This thought has taken clasp much broadly; the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing titled the “Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Need for First Amendment Safeguards astatine the State Department,” connected April 1 focused connected GEC. 

Most radical connected the database look to person focused astatine immoderate constituent connected tracking oregon challenging disinformation broadly, oregon connected countering circumstantial mendacious claims, including those related to the 2020 election. A fewer of the individuals look chiefly to beryllium critics of Trump, Beattie, oregon others successful the right-wing media ecosystem. Many person been the taxable of Trump’s nationalist grievances for years. (Trump called Krebs, for instance, a “significant bad-faith actor” successful an enforcement bid targeting him earlier this month.)   

Beattie specifically asked for “all documents, emails, correspondence, oregon different records of communications amongst/between employees, contractors, subcontractors oregon consultants astatine the GEC oregon R/FIMI” since 2017 with each the named individuals, arsenic good arsenic communications that simply referenced them. He sought communications that referenced immoderate of the listed organizations.  

Finally, helium sought a database of further unredacted bureau records—including each GEC grants and contracts, arsenic good arsenic subgrants, which are peculiarly delicate owed to the risks of retaliation to subgrantees, who often enactment successful section journalism, fact-checking, oregon pro-democracy organizations nether repressive regimes. It besides asked for “all documents mentioning” the Election Integrity Partnership, a probe collaboration betwixt academics and tech companies that has been a people of right-wing criticism. 

Several State Department staffers telephone the records requests “unusual” and “improper” successful their scope. MIT Technology Review spoke to 3 radical who had personally seen the document, arsenic good arsenic 2 others who were alert of it; we agreed to let them to talk anonymously owed to their fears of retaliation. 

While they admit that erstwhile governmental appointees have, connected occasion, made accusation requests done the records absorption system, Beattie’s petition was thing wholly different. 

Never had “an incoming governmental appointee” sought to “search done 7 years’ worthy of each unit emails to spot whether thing antagonistic had been said astir his friends,” says 1 staffer. 

Another staffer calls it a “pet project” for Beattie. 

Selective transparency

Beattie delivered the request, which helium framed arsenic a “transparency” initiative, to the State Department officials successful a league country astatine its Washington, D.C., office connected a Tuesday day successful aboriginal March, successful the signifier of an 11-page packet titled, “SO [Senior Official] Beattie Inquiry for GEC/R/FIMI Records.” The documents were printed out, alternatively than emailed.

Labeled “sensitive but unclassified,” the papers lays retired Beattie’s requests successful 12 separate, but sometimes repetitive, slug points. In total, helium sought communications astir 16 organizations, including Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center and the US Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), as good arsenic with and astir 39 individuals. 

Notably, this includes respective journalists: In summation to Bellingcat and Applebaum, the papers besides asks for communications with NBC News elder newsman Brandy Zadrozny. 

Press-freedom advocates expressed alarm astir the inclusion of journalists connected the list, arsenic good arsenic the anticipation of their communications being released to the public, which goes “considerably good beyond the scope of what … leak investigations successful the past person typically focused on,” says Grayson Clary, a unit lawyer astatine the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Rather, the effort seems similar “a maneuver designed to … marque it overmuch harder for journalists to onslaught up those root relationships successful the archetypal instance.”

Beattie besides requested a hunt for communications that mentioned Trump and much than a twelve different salient right-leaning figures. In summation to Jones, Greenwald, and “RFK Jr.,” the database includes “Don Jr.,” Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Charlie Kirk, Marine Le Pen, “Bolsonaro” (which could screen either Jair Bolsonaro, the erstwhile Brazilian president, oregon his lad Eduardo, who is seeking governmental asylum successful the US), and Beattie himself. It besides asked for a hunt for 32 right-wing buzzwords related to abortion, immigration, predetermination denial, and January 6, suggesting a determined effort to find State Department unit who adjacent conscionable discussed specified matters. 

(Staffers accidental they uncertainty that Beattie volition find much, unless, 1 says, it’s “previous [FOIA] queries from radical similar Beattie” oregon discussions astir “some Russian oregon PRC [Chinese] communicative that includes immoderate of this stuff.”)

Multiple sources accidental State Department employees raised alarms internally astir the records requests. They disquieted astir the sensitivity and impropriety of the wide scope of the accusation requested, peculiarly due to the fact that records would beryllium unredacted, arsenic good arsenic astir however the hunt would beryllium conducted: done the eRecords record absorption system, which makes it casual for administrative unit to hunt done and retrieve State Department employees’ emails, typically successful effect to FOIA requests. 

This felt, they say, similar a almighty misuse of the nationalist records system—or arsenic Jankowicz, the disinformation researcher and erstwhile DHS official, enactment it, “weaponizing the entree [Beattie] has to interior communications successful bid to upend people’s lives.”

“It stank to precocious heaven,” 1 staffer says. “This could beryllium utilized for retaliation. This could beryllium utilized for immoderate benignant of improper purposes, and our oversight committees should beryllium informed of this.”

Another worker expressed concerns astir the petition for accusation connected the agency’s subgrantees—who were often connected the crushed successful repressive countries and whose accusation was intimately guarded and not shared digitally, dissimilar the nationalist lists of contractors and grantees typically disposable connected websites similar Grants.gov oregon USAspending.gov. “Making it known that [they] took wealth from the United States would enactment a people connected them,” this idiosyncratic explains. “We kept that accusation precise secure. We wouldn’t adjacent email subgrant names backmost and forth.”

Several people acquainted with the substance accidental that by aboriginal April, Beattie had received galore of the documents he’d requested, retrieved done eRecords, arsenic good arsenic a database of grantees. One root says the much delicate database of subgrantees was not shared.  

Neither the State Department nor Beattie responded to requests for comment. A CISA spokesperson emailed, “We bash not remark connected intergovernmental documents and would notation you backmost to the State Department.” We reached retired to each individuals whose communications were requested and are named here; galore declined to remark connected the record.

A “chilling effect”

Five weeks aft Beattie made his requests for information, the State Department unopen down R/FIMI. 

An hr aft unit members were informed, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio published a blog station announcing the quality connected the Federalist, 1 of the outlets that sued the GEC implicit allegations of censorship. He past discussed successful an interrogation with the influential right-wing Internet property Mike Benz plans for Beattie to pb a “transparency effort.”  

“What we person to bash now—and Darren volition beryllium large progressive successful that arsenic well—is benignant of papers what happened … due to the fact that I deliberation radical who were harmed merit to cognize that, and beryllium capable to beryllium that they were harmed,” Rubio told Benz.

This is what Beattie—and Benz—have agelong called for. Many of the names and keywords helium included successful his petition bespeak conspiracy theories and grievances promoted by Revolver News—which Beattie founded aft being fired from his occupation arsenic a speechwriter during the archetypal Trump medication erstwhile CNN reported that helium had spoken astatine a league with achromatic nationalists. 

Ultimately, the State Department staffers accidental they fearfulness that a selective disclosure of documents, taken retired of context, could beryllium distorted to acceptable immoderate benignant of communicative Beattie, Rubio, oregon others create. 

Weaponizing immoderate code they see to beryllium captious by deeming it disinformation is not lone ironic, says Jankowicz—it volition besides person “chilling effects” connected anyone who conducts disinformation research, and it volition effect successful “less oversight and transparency implicit tech platforms, implicit adversarial activities, over, frankly, radical who are legitimately trying to disenfranchise US voters.” 

That, she warns, “is thing we should each beryllium alarmed about.”