Foreign Disinformation in America and the U.S. Government’s Ethical Obligations to Respond

Description

The U.S. no longer has a free marketplace of ideas. Instead, the marketplace is saturated with covert foreign-backed disinformation. And despite the ethical obligations to act, successive administrations have done nothing. Additionally, the decline in trust has left the door open for populism and illiberalism to enter. Some believe the very fabric of American liberalism is at stake. So what are the ethical responsibilities of the executive branch to counter covert campaigns such as the one coming from Russian-backed disinformation circulating within the US? Why has the government failed to act? So far, the practical challenges are daunting if the executive branch addresses the threat to the homeland. The process to limit this problem is wrought with profound political implications. By its very nature, social media-based disinformation is inextricably linked with existing complex societal cleavages, the First Amendment, and politics. But the failure to do anything is a serious abdication of the government’s ethical responsibilities. This raises the question of where the line is for government intervention. This work provides answers. Preface Contents About the Author Introduction Baselining Disinformation 1 Disinformation’s Three Criteria 1.1 Framework Criteria 2 Disinformation Versus Misinformation and Propaganda 3 Non-state Actors and Disinformation Disinformation and Democracy 1 Illiberal Speech 2 Polarization 3 Disinformation 4 Populism The Ground Swell of Scholarship The Disinformation Problem 1 State to State Disinformation 2 A Distinctly Russian Version of Disinformation 3 Russia’s Utilization of Domestic Disinformation 4 The Bigger Schema Disinformation and Behavior 1 Disinformation and the Change of Technology 2 Disinformation and the News 3 Disinformation and Data 4 Disinformation and Communication Structures 5 RCSMO and State-to-State Relations 6 Disinformation and Social Media 7 Disinformation, Identity and Polarization 8 Disinformation and Business Disinformation and National Power 1 Disinformation as an Element of Military Strategy 2 Russian Disinformation Objectives 3 Countering the Americanization of Russia 4 Disinformation and the Whole of Nation 5 The American Target. Scope, Scale, and Depth 6 Disinformation and Strategic Surprise 7 Disinformation’s Aftermath 8 A Sign of Success 9 Beyond Elections The Role of the Executive Branch 1 Authorities 2 The Discipline of Analysis 3 The Pendulum 4 Collaboration 5 The Executive Branch and Speech 6 The Debate over Speech 7 All Three Branches Executive Branch Ethical Obligations 1 The Role of Ethics 2 Ethics and Threat 3 Ethics, Frameworks, and Philosophers 4 Limits, Ethics and Scoping 5 Ethical Frameworks 6 Ethics and Legitimacy 7 Legitimacy and Balance 8 Trust and Legitimacy 9 The Minority Executive Branch Solutions 1 Best Practices 1.1 Sweden 1.2 Finland 1.3 Lithuania 1.4 Estonia 2 Domestic Solutions 3 Lines of Effort 3.1 LOE 1: Collection and Integration of Both Domestic and Foreign Intelligence 3.2 LOE 2: The Full Exploitation of Open-Source Intelligence 3.3 LOE 3: A Rebalancing in the Education System 3.4 LOE 4: Proactively Tagging RCSMO Accounts 3.5 LOE 5: Physical Disruption of the Threat 3.6 LOE 6: Establishment of an Integrated Center From Portland to January 6th to Election 2028, Assessing the Impact of Russian Disinformation 1 Portland 2 January 6th 3 Portland vs. January 6th 4 Election 2028 Conclusion Glossary