The State Department has informed Congress of its intention to recreate its now-abolished Global Engagement Center as a "hub" within the agency focusing on countering foreign influence. The move rebrands the 50-plus staffers and tens of millions of dollars in funding that were assigned to the Global Engagement Center, even though its authorization to operate ceased at midnight on December 23; see The State Department's Domestic Censorship Group Goes Out of Business at Midnight but the Danger Remains.

In the congressional notification, the State Department identified the newly planned body as a “Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub” that will report to the agency’s Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy. AD 

“Should the authority for the GEC not be extended, the department plans to realign 51 employees and associated funding from the GEC to a proposed Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) Hub reporting to the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy (R),” the congressional notification said, noting that remaining GEC employees and funding would go to the Bureaus of African Affairs, East Asian and Pacific Affairs, European and Eurasian Affairs, and other offices. 

The documents said that the GEC would be transferring 51 employees to the R/FIMI office and, as a whole, $29.4 million in total funding.

The Global Engagement Center was ground zero for Biden's efforts to censor debate and discussion on critical issues such as COVID measures and election integrity. 

Established by Obama's Executive Order 13584 in 2011, its original purpose was to "recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations." In the context of aggressive Russian, Chinese, and Iranian propaganda efforts targeting the US and its allies, this seemed reasonable. 

In 2016, this temporary effort became permanent with the creation of the GEC, which was charged with the responsibility to "lead the coordination, integration, and synchronization of Government-wide communications activities directed at foreign audiences abroad in order to counter the messaging and diminish the influence of international terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), al Qa'ida, and other violent extremists abroad;" see Executive Order 13721—Developing an Integrated Global Engagement Center To Support Government-wide Counterterrorism Communications Activities Directed Abroad and Revoking Executive Order 13584.

What developed was not a defense of public discourse but a poisonous brew of overreach by a federal agency combined with the fascistic tendencies of so many Silicon Valley staffers. The natural tendency toward censorship would have been hard enough to avoid under the best of circumstances, but when combined with a polarizing Trump administration that arrived with Russia-gate dogging it, the equally polarizing COVID scamdemic, and a hotly fought 2020 presidential campaign, the Global Engagement Center became actively involved in "suggesting" topics for social media platforms to "moderate."

In addition to re-establishing the organization under a different name, the senior members of the GEC have been reassigned to powerful positions within the State Department.

James P. Rubin, GEC’s former special envoy and coordinator, is now a senior adviser to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Leah Bray, GEC’s former acting coordinator, is chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell.

“Leah, a twenty-two year military veteran, is a noted China expert, respected in bipartisan circles for her knowledge of the Indo-Pacific,” a State Department spokesperson said. “She has worked across multiple presidential administrations and served as President Trump’s Director for China at the National Security Council.”

And Daniel Kimmage, who was principal deputy coordinator for the GEC, is working for the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy’s team, the State Department spokesperson said. Kimmage was notably grilled in an October 2023 congressional hearing by Republicans over apparent GEC “censorship,” though has, along with the State Department’s press office, pushed back on any allegations of wrongdoing.