US Congressional Hearing Looks at Countering Russian Propaganda
Participants in a Congressional hearing Wednesday argued that Russia is waging sophisticated propaganda campaign that threatens American allies and interests - and that U.S. government-funded news media haven’t adequately countered that disinformation.
“Russia’s propaganda machine is in overdrive, working to subvert democratic stability and foment violence,” the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce of California, said in opening the hearing.
"Russian propaganda has the potential to destabilize NATO members, impacting our security commitments,” he added. “ This Russian campaign - what one witness describes as the ‘weaponization of information’ - seriously threatens U.S. security.”
The committee’s ranking Democrat, Congressman Eliot L. Engel of New York, described propaganda as “a critical element of Russia’s so-called hybrid warfare strategy - a strategy on devastating display in occupied Crimea and war-torn eastern Ukraine.
"Coupled with cyberattacks and other covert operations, these new capabilities and [Russian President] Vladimir Putin’s belligerence pose a direct threat to our allies and our interests," Engel said. “These measures are well financed. These measures are working. And these measures demand a robust response from us.”
As an antidote, Royce called for “righting [U.S.] international broadcasting” and “clarifying” the mission of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the independent federal agency that oversees government-supported, civilian international media. Its networks include Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Marti).
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