A State Department unit established in 2016 is closing its doors after the US Congress failed to provide funding amid accusations from Republicans.
A leading US government agency that tracks foreign disinformation has ended its operations, the State Department said, after Congress failed to extend its funding following years of Republican criticism.
The Global Engagement Center (GEC), a unit of the State Department established in 2016, was closed on Monday as officials and experts who track propaganda warned of the danger of disinformation campaigns from US adversaries such as Russia and China.
“The State Department has consulted with Congress on next steps,” she said in a statement when asked what would happen to GEC employees and its ongoing projects after the shutdown.
GEC had an annual budget of $61 million and about 120 employees. Its closure leaves the State Department without an office dedicated to tracking and combating disinformation from US competitors for the first time in eight years.
A measure to expand funding for the center was deleted from the final version of the bipartisan federal spending bill passed by the US Congress last week.
The CEC has long faced scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, who have accused it of censoring and monitoring Americans.
It also came under heavy criticism from Elon Musk, who accused the GEC conference in 2023 of being “the worst criminal in US government oversight.” [and] media manipulation” and called the agency “a threat to our democracy.”
CEC leaders have disputed these views, describing their work as crucial in combating foreign propaganda campaigns.
Musk objected loudly to the original budget bill that would have maintained GEC funding, but without mentioning the center. The billionaire is an advisor to President-elect Donald Trump and has been appointed to run the new so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with cutting government spending, in the incoming Trump administration.
In June, James Rubin, special envoy and coordinator of the Economic Cooperation Conference, announced the launch of a multinational group based in Warsaw to counter Russian disinformation about the war in neighboring Ukraine.
The State Department said the initiative, known as the Ukrainian Communications Group, will bring together partner governments to coordinate messaging, promote accurate reporting on the war and expose the Kremlin’s manipulation of information.
In a report last year, the GEC warned that China was spending billions of dollars globally to spread disinformation and threatened to cause a “severe contraction” in freedom of expression around the world.
