The concern is that the State Department will use this new plan to interfere in and influence political processes in other countries, including democracies.
The U.S. State Department on Thursday announced a new framework to what it called, “countering foreign disinformation and undermining of democratic institutions”.
This development, apart from underscoring how serious these threats have become for democracies around the world, also indicates how the State Department is likely to use these frameworks to monitor developments and interfere accordingly in the intended countries.
“The Framework to Counter Foreign State Information Manipulation” aims to establish a common set of actions for the United States and its allies to combat foreign information manipulation and “protect free and open societies,” the State Department said in a release.
India is among the allies expected to adhere to these guidelines.
Under these frameworks, five action areas have been identified: 1) national strategies and policies; (2) governance structures and institutions; (3) human and technical capacity; (4) civil society, independent media, and academia; and (5) multilateral engagement.
US allies are expected to develop a common understanding of this threat and establish a common set of action areas and develop coordinated responses to foreign information manipulation and protect free and open societies.
The set of actions defined in these frameworks includes countries to go beyond “monitor-and-report” approaches and to include developing and implementing strategies to counter this threat.
The allies are also expected to “ensure safeguards for freedom of expression, protection for marginalized groups, transparency in media ownership, and a commitment to protect elections from foreign malign influence”.
The framework calls for “Building effective capacity includes investing in digital security tools that can detect foreign state information manipulation and ensuring interoperability between government partners working to counter this threat.”
Apart from that, it calls for, “Countering foreign state information manipulation by protecting and supporting the role of independent media, promote independent fact checking and media and digital literacy, and welcome public advocacy on the issue.”
However, what is likely to raise concerns and initiate debate on the real intent of the State Department to issue these frameworks are the allegations and claims that the US State Separtment, for long, has been interfering and going out of its way to influence the internal democratic processes of friends and foes alike.
In February last year, The Sunday Guardian had revealed details about meetings and deliberations that were taking place in New Delhi in which foreign diplomats and Indian citizens discussed ways to remove and politically damage the Narendra Modi government. (Some PIOs and European officials plan government change in 2024).
The said meetings were being coordinated by a Western country that is known for trying to meddle in internal affairs of other countries, especially South Asia, Latin and Gulf countries. After the report was published, all such endeavours were stopped.
In the past few weeks, the US State Department has come under severe criticism for allegedly trying to interfere in the recently held elections in Bangladesh.
In December last year, Michael J. Abramowitz, President of Freedom House, an influential Washington based political advocacy body, while testifying in front of Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the topic of “Transnational Repression: Authoritarians Targeting Dissenters Abroad” had spoken in detail about the alleged Indian plot to target Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Michael, who earlier edited the Washington Post, said that the “US government and law enforcement must pay increasing attention to the role of diplomatic staff and proxy actors working on behalf of origin states to intimidate exiles. The aforementioned recently unsealed DOJ indictment alleging a murder-for-hire scheme organized by an Indian government employee against a Sikh activist in New York City points to the involvement of criminal associates in such plots.” He went on to add that “For too long, democracies have missed or allowed the actions of authoritarian countries inside their borders. Such a pattern of impunity has emboldened states to act abroad without fear of consequences.”
According to him, “the United States must not hesitate to raise this issue directly at the highest levels with perpetrators of transnational repression, even when those perpetrators are close partners such as Saudi Arabia and India.”
It is pertinent to mention that the Indian state security apparatus had communicated to their counterparts in Washington that they were aware that Pannun was working in close coordination with the Central Intelligence Agency, one of the most important arms of the State Department.
The findings and deliberations of the said Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing played an important role in the framework that have been released by the US State Department.